Dagga not panacea for all ills, warns expert

The narrow focus on the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) on the human brain and body has not allowed healthcare professionals to fully explore how the numerous other compounds within cannabis really affect humans, according to Dr Louis Roos, practising psychiatrist at Akeso Arcadia.

Roos made this, and other assertions in a 2017 Neuron SA journal entry titled “Cannabinoid use in neuropsychiatric conditions: An introduction to cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system and potential therapeutic applications”.

“The boom of home-growers who sell whole cannabis, edibles and extracts and promote them as a cure-all for a variety of conditions is of concern,” Roos says.

“[The cannabis] industry is unregulated and illegal, as the law currently stands.”

He believes this is deeply troubling and that the public should be warned about the potential risks in using cannabis, as it contains more than 500 active components – the effects of which have yet to be studied.

In general, Roos states that dagga use gives rise to the risk of addiction, respiratory complications from smoking it, as well as tenuous causal links to some cancers and negative effects on mental health.

“Using cannabis regularly can have detrimental effects on the stability of a multitude of psychiatric disorders, including mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, anxiety and psychotic disorders,” writes Roos.

“Significant evidence suggests a link between schizophrenia and cannabis use.

“However a causal link has not been definitively established. It has been suggested that cannabis use may act as a trigger for schizophrenia in predisposed individuals, thereby resulting in an earlier age of onset of schizophrenia,” he added.

According to the doctor, long-term heavy use of cannabis is also associated with “amotivational syndrome”, which is described as a sense of apathy, poor concentration and lack of motivation for work and social activities.

It’s not all bad, however, as preclinical evidence suggests that CBD could potentially prove helpful for multiple anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and social anxiety disorder.

However, there has not been enough long-term research done on the effects in individuals with existing anxiety disorders, as well as the implications of CBD as a longterm treatment, Roos says.

There have also been smallscale studies into use as a treatment for certain symptoms of psychosis and epilepsy, but not enough to warrant its wide-scale scientific application as a tried and tested treatment method.

It is for this reason Roos believes medical professionals should dig deeper into the existing subject matter in order to come to a fuller understanding of the range of cannabis compounds.

This is imperative, as cultivation and distribution has become less regulated and legalised.

Cannabis can have detrimental effects