Dr. Ethan Russo: How cannabis can be better

The cannabis that most people have access to isn't what it could be. A big part of that is a result of the way the plant has been bred to have high THC levels for the recreational market over the years."For the most part, around the world, we're still dealing with cannabis that is mostly high THC and high myrcene, which is gonna be very sedating, producing what we call colloquially couch lock, where the person feels immobilized," Dr. Ethan Russo explains on The Cannabis Enigma podcast. "So that might be fine for the person that's trying to get to sleep, but it's not at all good for the person that might need to work, or study, and function well in the process, and particularly for chronic pain conditions."Science has made great advances in identifying what chemical properties of a given cannabis chemovar would be beneficial for various diseases and treatments, "but that's a far cry from saying that they would be able to access a chemical variety of cannabis that would be appropriate for their treatment," Russo explains."We really haven't seen the capabilities of cannabis properly harnessed at this point," he adds.Dr. Russo, one of the premier cannabis researchers who is responsible for the theory of clinical endocannabinoid deficiency and has done a great deal of work on proving and harnessing the entourage effect, also discussed different approaches to dosing, and why developing a tolerance can actually be a good thing."The beauty of cannabis is, even though one gets accustomed to the psychoactive effects, the benefits on whatever you're treating remain. In other words, if we have a chronic pain patient and they get benefit from using cannabis, as long as that condition is stable — it's not getting worse — we don't see dose escalation over time, and in fact, there are many people, who have taken cannabis therapeutically for decades that are using the same dose."Dr. Russo will be speaking at the Whole Plant Expo.In the second part of the episode, Dustin McDonald of Americans for Safe Access interviews Sue Lewtin, a medical cannabis patient treating lyme disease, about her journey with the plant. Like so many others, Lewtin explains how her doctors got her started on the path of medical cannabis but that bulk of the work and learning had to be done on her own.Edited and mixed by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man. Produced by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man and Matan Weil. Music by Desca. The Cannabis Enigma podcast is a co-production of The Cannigma and Americans for Safe Access.