"Researchers at Israel’s Meir Medical Center took 21 people with intractable, severe Crohn’s disease and gave 11 of them two joints a day for eight weeks. The other ten subjects smoked placebo cigarettes containing no active cannabinoids.
Investigators reported that smoking weed caused a “complete remission” of Crohn’s Disease in five of the 11 subjects. Another five of the eleven test subjects saw their Crohn’s Disease symptoms cut in half. Furthermore, “subjects receiving cannabis reported improved appetite and sleep, with no significant side effects.”
As someone with Crohn’s disease these tests make me very happy, but of course more work needs to be done!
That’s some good news. I read a different article that referenced this study. They said that one of the criticisms of the study was that all the data was patient self-reported side effects. In response they’re planning a followup study with endoscopy to see whether the cannabis is directly helping the gut and reducing inflammation. Here’s the article that referenced the study:
Studies have shown that Cannabinoids heal intestinal wounds. But more than this, we’re realizing that feeding our naturally occurring receptor systems feed immunity. It makes sense to see that these systems work together to promote good health and a strong immune system.
About 9 years ago I worked with a guy who grew plants with his mom’s tomatoes out back and smoked Cannabis daily because it drastically helped his Crohn’s symptoms. Now I realize how many people do the same thing.
Here’s my question: do we really need to know HOW it works if it works? I mean, yes more work needs to be done but not at the delay of someone’s healing. My buddy has Crohn’s and the sulpha meds actually bring on bathroom issues rather than keeping them at bay! Can you imagine if they ate the bud? We’re delaying healing by being so fearful of this plant while hundreds of other meds made in a petri dish are put out there for us to use as guinea pigs.
Just got my results back and I don’t have Crohn’s, which is the good news. Bad news is still no idea what is causing my digestive issues. I’ll be going back in next week for bloodwork and other tests. Guess I’ll continue to treat it with cannabis in the meantime.
