As more jurisdictions across the planet are moving to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational purposes, it feels like a sensible move for the world\u2019s leading health authority to publish the truth on the safety of the cannabis plant. And it has done just that\u2026 and in a big way. It was just last week that the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered in Switzerland to conduct a first-of-its-kind peer-review of the entire cannabis plant, not just specific compounds. Now, the agency\u2019s Drug and Dependence Committee has published a new report, calling marijuana \u201ca relatively safe drug\u201d that causes no significant health issues, only \u201ceuphoria, laughter and talkativeness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar to the\u00a0prohibitionary standard<\/a>\u00a0of the U.S. government, the World Health Organization has never really been a friend to marijuana. The agency still considers the herb a mostly dangerous substance in the same ranks as heroin. But if the latest review has any clout, whatsoever, world health officials could be forced to change their position.<\/p>\n Not only is cannabis \u201csafe,\u201d according to the\u00a0latest report<\/a>, but also \u201cit is not associated with acute fatal overdoses.\u201d<\/p>\n Referencing a\u00a0mega-study<\/a>\u00a0published last year by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which found no evidence of fatal overdoses from pot, the agency admits that the cannabis plant is not likely to leave bodies in the wake of widespread consumption.<\/p>\n The review goes on to touch on the subject of cannabis and its impact on the cardiovascular system. There remains a lot of confusion about whether smoking marijuana is a detriment to\u00a0cardiovascular health<\/a>. While some evidence shows there is no significant risk that pot consumption leads to cardiovascular problems, this is not to say it doesn\u2019t have some effect. WHO found that marijuana users are subject to a slightly higher blood pressure reading than non-users. Yet, the agency says this eases up over time.<\/p>\n \u201cWith repeated exposure, tolerance develops to these effects, and, in some instances, repeated cannabis exposure lowers blood pressure and heart rate beneath the baseline,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n As far as concerns regarding marijuana causing heart attacks and stroke, WHO says the evidence pointing to this madness is \u201cweak.\u201d But if there are increased risks, it is from \u201csmoking.\u201d Other consumption methods do not appear to bring about any problems.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen novel drug delivery modes other than smoking become more widely available (e.g. vaporization, sublingual or oral administration), associations between cannabis use and cardiovascular events may become less pronounced, or even absent,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n In small amounts, \u201ccannabis smoking acutely improves airway dynamics and forced expiratory capacity due to the bronchodilatory effects of \u03949-THC.\u201d But this only if the user smokes no more than five joints per month. Higher rates of smoking can produce respiratory problems. Fortunately, more non-smoking consumption methods are becoming popular in the cannabis scene.\u00a0Edibles<\/a>\u00a0are predicted to become the next big thing on the legal market, which is a good in the grand scheme of respiratory health, according to WHO officials.<\/p>\n \u201cIncreasing use of\u00a0vaporizers<\/a>\u00a0and other non-smoking modes of delivery is likely to reduce respiratory complications,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n With respect to the decline in cognitive function that some anti-drug warriors often give as a reason for leaving weed in the underground, WHO could find \u201cno association between cannabis use and reduced cognitive function. The health agency adds that this means \u201cthe effects of cannabis use on cognition were reversible,\u201d not permanent.<\/p>\n The report goes on to cover a few other topics from mental health to driving under the influence. WHO admits\u00a0driving stoned<\/a>\u00a0is less of a risk than driving drunk, and that \u201cthe relatively low risk may be due to cannabis users overestimating their level of impairment and recruiting strategies to compensate for the effects of cannabis on their driving performance.\u201d<\/p>\n But overall, the only adverse reactions the cannabis plant has on humans are \u201ceuphoria, laughter and talkativeness,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is an appetite stimulant and may promote dry mouth and dizziness as well as increasing visual, olfactory and auditory perceptions,\u201d WHO officials said. \u201cConjunctival reddening occurs, due to vasodilation of blood vessels in the eyes. Time perception may be altered and some users may experience anxiety and panic reactions.<\/p>\n Cannabis intoxication can impair attention and short-term memory function and can precipitate psychotic reactions in vulnerable individuals. The pharmacological effects of cannabis are subject to tolerance following repeated exposure and therefore many of the marked reactions observed in naive users are diminished in frequent users.\u201d<\/p>\n This is not the first time WHO published a favorable report on cannabis. Last December, the agency\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that cannabidiol, the non-intoxicating compound of the cannabis plant, \u201ccould have some therapeutic value for seizures due to epilepsy and related conditions.\u201d It went on to say that this form of medical marijuana was not addictive, nor was it likely to be abused.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>,\u00a0do you think cannabis is safe?<\/p>\n The post WHO Report: Marijuana Leads to \u2018Laughter & Talkativeness\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As more jurisdictions across the planet are moving to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational purposes, it feels like a sensible move for the world\u2019s leading health authority to publish the truth on the safety of the cannabis plant. And it has done just that\u2026 and in a big way.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,4572,90,1221,1173],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26910,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26909\/revisions\/26910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: WHO Report: Marijuana Leads to \u2018Laughter & Talkativeness\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"