Diabetes and Cannabis: Myth or Reality

Abstract

Medical marijuana is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States and in developing countries such as Colombia, but research into the benefits of the plant is a global issue. Although there are studies that present evidence that people who take or smoke it, may have a lower susceptibility to diabetes due to metabolic acceleration caused by the plant in the body, with this review we intend to show that the evidence obtained is not is still enough to think that marijuana could be a treatment for diabetes or other non-transmissible chronic diseases. This presumption is due to the lack of knowledge of its adverse effects and the consequences of cannabis use on the severity of these pathologies. Additionally, more clinical studies are required to demonstrate that marijuana activates the balance between metabolism and glucose and therefore demonstrate that this "medicinal" plant can help patients who already have the disease to decrease their dependence on insulin.

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“…There are two classes of phytocannabinoids in a cannabis plant: psychoactive and non-psychoactive types, with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) as the most prevalent, isolated, and studied psychoactive and nonpsychoactive cannabinoid (active ingredients) respectively 20,26,27,28 . Early studies divided the many varieties of cannabis into distinct groups based on the qualitative and quantitative differences in their cannabinoid ratios, distinguishing the medical-grade cannabis plants from the fibre grade.…”

“…The interest in cannabis as a starting point for drug discovery and synthesis of novel pharmacological moieties has gradually increased over the last 45 years; this is evident by the drastic rise in the number of research on the plant 27 . Cannabis plants and their derivatives have been accepted and used as alternative traditional and orthodox medicines over time, and their use is still growing globally 41 .…”