No, cannabis is not a miracle cure for covid-19

It didn’t cure plague or cholera in the 19th century, either

Pandemic panic has sparked sensational claims that cannabis cures covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. On social media and in the advertisements of cannabis and CBD retailers, the idea that cannabis prevents or remedies covid-19 is spreading rapidly.

While medicinal cannabis and CBD increasingly have gained credibility as effective palliative treatments for anxiety, epilepsy and muscular dystrophy, the notion that cannabis “kills” or “resolves” the coronavirus or any other viral infections is bunk and flies in the face of current science. In fact, smokable and vape-able cannabis, which accounts for roughly 80 percent of legal sales in the United States, when consumed only compromises respiratory function and thus increases one’s susceptibility to contracting covid-19.

And yet, cannabis sales continue to grow alongside the popular misconception that it is once again a miracle cure for an epidemic disease. In the mid-19th century, physicians in France and across the West also made the claim that hashish provided a “heroic remedy,” as one contemporary physician put it, in the fight against the plague and cholera. They were wrong, of course, and patients — and the reputation of cannabis — paid the price. [Read More @ The Washington Post]

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