14 DAY TRIAL // Psychoactive properties aside, marijuana is slowly but surely gaining ground as a medical weed. Thus, researchers who have taken the time to study it and its effects on the human body have found evidence that it can address the symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's, and even cancer.
Interestingly, a new paper in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research argues that marijuana can also heal fractures. The study, authored by a team of researchers at Tel Aviv University and their colleagues at the Hebrew University in Israel, is based on experiments carried out on lab mice.
Documenting a new use for marijuana
As part of their work, the scientists started by extracting a compound dubbed cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD, for short) from marijuana. Unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the primary ingredient in marijuana, CBD has no psychoactive properties.
Once extracted from marijuana plants, CBD was injected into mice with fractured femora. The rodents were then monitored for several weeks to assess how fast their femur fractures were healing.
The researchers found that, about 8 weeks after having been administered CBD, the animals were in far better condition than they would have been, had they been left to heal on their own.
“We found that CBD alone makes bones stronger during healing, enhancing the maturation of the collagenous matrix, which provides the basis for new mineralization of bone tissue,” Tel Aviv University specialist Yankel Gabet said in an interview.
“After being treated with CBD, the healed bone will be harder to break in the future,” the scientist went on to comment on the outcome of this study on how marijuana influences bone-healing processes.
THC has no effects on broken bones
In another series of experiments, the research team treated laboratory mice with broken femora with a combination of THC and CBD. The CBD did all the work and promoted bone healing, whereas the THC had no effect on the fractures.
What with THC being the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, this indicates that the weed can be used to treat broken bones without having patients experience an unwanted high. All that's needed is to extract CBD from it and administer it as such.