Week 7: Reading -Ch5. Cannabis and why did Queen Victoria Take it?

Question 1

Cannabis Intro

Answer 1

o Originates from Asia
o Used by humans for thousands of years
o Has three usesl
 1. Hemp – versatile plant fibres
 2. Cannabis indica, to relieve pain and spasm
 3. Ganja, weed or skunk, the most widely used recreational drug in the world behind alcohol and tobacco

Question 2

Three uses of Cannabis

Answer 2

 1. Hemp – versatile plant fibres
 2. Cannabis indica, to relieve pain and spasm
 3. Ganja, weed or skunk, the most widely used recreational drug in the world behind alcohol and tobacco

Question 3

Cannabis as hemp

Answer 3

 Made from the stem of the cannabis plant
 Key for making ropes in seafaring societies
 Now hemp is used for banknotes, bibles, fabric and low-carbon building materials
 The variety of plant grown for these purposes has trace psychoactive properties

Question 4

o Cannabis as a drug

Answer 4

 Psychoactive part is in the buds and resin of female plants
 The rein is known as hash and the buds as weed and the whole plant is marijuana
 The active ingredient in cannabis is THC which act on cannabis receptors
 These act in a similar way to endocannabinoids which control systems regulating appetite, pain sensation, mood and memory

Question 5

Benefits of cannabis

Answer 5

 It’s used for pain and spasm historically in Chinese medicine
 Used in Indian medicine too but also for recreational purposes
 Became populat in Britain in the 1840s by an army surgeon who had served in india
* It as a popular pain killer like opium (laudanum)
 Queen victorias physician Is believed to have given it to her to help with period pains after childbirth
 MS seems to benefit from cannabis significantly. About 1% of MS patients in the UK self-medicate with it
 It also benefits people with phantom limb pain and seizures in epileptics
 Can also improve weight in cancer paitnets thanks to the munchies
 It can however, worsen psychotic symptoms

Question 6

o Harms of cannabis

Answer 6

 Most of cannabis harms come from smoking
 Dependence occurs in 10% of cannabis users
 And there’s physical withdrawal symptoms from stopping
 The biggest effect of cannabis arguably is the lack of motivation and enjoyment people experience when not high when using regularly. It can also affect cognitive skills

Question 7

o Cannabis routes of use

Answer 7

 Three traditional use and a fourth for Sativex- a medical spray
* 1. Spraying the medicinal form on the back of your throat – is the least harmful
* 2. Eating – avoids health problems associated with smoking and slower onset of the high
* 3. Inhaling with a bong – it’s better than smoking but because people don’t choke or cough they can get far more intoxicated
* 4. Smoking – same risks as having tobacco cigarettes
 People smoking a spliff hold the smoke longer, but this in evidence has been proven to not make you more high – it just causes oxygen deprivation

Question 8

o Skunk vs Hash

Answer 8

 When there was the war on drugs, gangs started breeding new cannabis plant variants with higher THC levels – these variants were called skunk because of their unpleasant smell. – it has 3 times the smell of unmodified weed or has
 Skunk is potentially more harmful than has as it has less CBD (cannabidiol) a psychoactive compound that reduces anxiety and mitigates the negative effects of THC
* But many people tritrate the dose, so have less when THC is higher in skunk
* Plus many has smokers find skunk too strong

Question 9

o Why did Cannabis stop being seen as medicine?

Answer 9

 The painkilling qualities of cannabis has often been overshadowed by opium as this was easier to convert into laudanum, morphine and heroin
 Cannabis tinctures – extract dissolved in alcohol- was sold as a cure for cramps, opiate withdrawals, migraines and insomnia
 Stereotypes around chronic hasmism causing insanity drove cannabis to be seens as a negative things, despite people in india who used the drug widely not experiencing this. It was banned in the 1925 Dangerous Drugs Acts in the UK which banned the recreational use of opium, cannabis and cocaine
 In tge US cannabis use was strongly associated with immigrants from Mexico. People in the US also didn’t like that hemp paper posed a threat to wood pulp paper which some influential americans has an economic steak in. So, people went on a ramage to create hysteria and disliking towards weed to get it banned so it was harder to grow for help
* One of these myths were reports of medixan immigrants attacking white women whilst high

Question 10

o Medicinal cannabis use in the UK toda

Answer 10

 In 2010 cannabis spray Sativex was approved for use in birtain under prescription
 But it’s still very hard to access and is linked with negative stigma