Medicines or Poisons?—Why Cannabinoids Can Both Help and Hurt You

This is the final post of a 3-part series on the science of medical marijuana. Check out Part 1: What’s Wrong with “Medical Marijuana”? and Part 2: Making Medicine from Marijuana. People who write about the health benefits of marijuana sometimes think it’s ironic that a plant containing compounds that could treat disease (like THC or CBD) is banned by the government for being unsafe. But in fact many effective, FDA-approved medicines are closely related to illegal, harmful drugs and are sometimes even made from the same sources. That’s because there’s a fine (and sometimes fuzzy) line between chemicals that are good for you and those that can hurt or even kill you. In fact, the Greek word pharmakon, where we get pharmacy, originally meant both “medicine” and “poison.” Speaking the Body’s Language The opium poppy is a great example. It’s the source of a drug called morphine, part of a class of drugs called opioids.  Morphine is used to make heroin—a very addictive and sometimes deadly drug. But it is also modified and used to make many effective, relatively safe pain relievers prescribed widely by doctors and dentists. In fact, these opioids are our most valuable drugs for pain relief. Another example is cocaine, from the coca plant. It is part of a class of drugs called stimulants. Cocaine is an especially dangerous, addictive stimulant, but it is closely related to medications used to treat people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - Category: Addiction Authors: Source Type: blogs