Hi everyone! Joseph, Robison, and I have been working on this project for over a year. We’ve dove deep into the classics of Shen Nong, Tao Hongjing, and Li Shizhen, and equally deep into the medical literature. We’re blown away by everything the cannabis plant has to offer, especially its medicine. And we want for all of us to be better doctors through the informed and intelligent use of this superior herb. Lisa published a paper in the Journal of Chinese Medicine which was published in October 2022, and we hope you’ll read it. This paper is the STARTING point, not the end point to being on the GROWING EDGE of cannabis medicine.
The following is the abstract from the paper, and a link to the article in JCM:
Cannabis in Chinese Medicine: Modern Interpretations and Integrations
Lisa Nicholson
Abstract
Cannabis has been a part of traditional medicine in every culture where
the plant grows. Its use fell from grace, however, in the early 20th century
when it became classified as an illegal recreational drug on a worldwide
level. These days, scientific studies have shed light on this plant’s incredible
phytochemistry and how it has co-evolved to benefit animals, including
humans, opening the door to an explosion of medical use and the beginnings
of legal reclassification. This article explores the historical uses of cannabis
based on three prominent Chinese classical texts. It then reviews modern-day understanding of the endocannabinoid system and how human physiology
is primed to benefit from the phytochemistry of the cannabis plant, revealing
the chemical reasons for its ancient classification as a superior medicinal. A
discussion of how cannabis can be incorporated to augment modern Chinese
medicine formulas, and an illustrative case study are presented to begin a
dialogue about how cannabis in its modern preparations could become an
integral part of today’s Chinese medicine.
