In these times of uncertainty with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, PinkStone DC is urging you to make your personal wellness and self-care a priority!

Over the weekend I closely monitored the news and social media. As a cannabis advocate and public health professional I am completely baffled that the best medical advice in the midst of a pandemic is to wash your hands! While medical experts and government agencies are urging the public to practice good hygiene and social distancing, there’s a ton of misinformation being spread. I’ve witnessed wellness and cannabis brands taking advantage of of this time by relying on a catchy claim that cannabis and plant based medicine may be cure all for the corona virus.

PLANTS > PILLS

Inevitably there’s someone asking is this really true:

Can Cannabis and CBD kill viruses like the corona virus?

The straight answer is we don’t know.

Here’s what we do know about CBD and viral infections:

There is no cure, treatment, or vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the main cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. To date, Epidiolex®, a CBD-only drug, has been approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat seizures in children with epilepsy. Since then researchers are exploring more therapeutic applications for CBD. Fragmentary evidence points to a possible use of CBD in viral infections.

CBD helps with some viruses, but not all. CBD helps reduce inflammation. Some viruses need and cause systemic inflammation in the process of taking over the hosts and easing their transmission to the next set of cells for infection. For those viruses that need and cause inflammation, CBD may indeed help reduce the severity of infection.

We don’t know if COVID-19 coronavirus a virus that causes or needs systemic inflammation.

Cannabinoids can also be immunosuppressive. Using CBD (or another cannabinoid) that reduces inflammation against a virus that doesn’t need inflammation as a mode of host invasion causes a degree of immunosuppression in the host making any chances of beating the virus worse.

There is valid cannabis data to suggest that specific cannabinoids can in fact help against certain types of viruses but the bottom line is more research is needed. As COVID-19 continues to develop we will be closely monitoring the updates and taking necessary precautions to protect ourselves and encourage you to do the same!