Podcast Episode 31: Cannabis and Wound Management

Does cannabis have a role in wound management? Extracts from the cannabis plant have been used worldwide for over 7,000 years for a broad range of medical maladies. Numerous ancient cultures used crude extracts derived from the cannabis plant and compounded in lipophilic media such as butter or animal fat to apply directly to integumentary diseases and wounds both in humans and in animals. Between the 1500s and 1800s, there was a flurry of activity among European herbalists and botanists related to topically applied extracts derived from the cannabis plant. In the early 1900s, a prohibition on cannabis led by the American government thrust the world into the dark ages of cannabis with the result of shutting down all cannabis related healthcare research. The renaissance of cannabis as a medical treatment was launched in the 1990s with the discovery of the endogenous cannabinoid signaling system, also referred to as the ECS, the endocannabinoid system, is the most ubiquitous signaling system in the body. It, together with the endogenous opioid system, are the only two surviving signaling systems that have survived over 50 million years of human evolution. The endocannabinoid system and its receptors and other elements are located on cell surfaces as well as being located and situated intracellularly. The integumentary system consisting of both cutaneous membranes, namely our skin, and the mucous membranes, that is to say what lines our mouths, noses, genitals, et cetera, is the largest and the heaviest organ system in our bodies. It is thus logical to conclude that the endocannabinoid system is intrinsically involved in integumentary conditions and wounds. It is theorized that integumentary diseases in wounds are states of endocannabinoid system dysregulation. The caveat being, the use of cannabis-based medicines may be effective in treating them. It is important and significant to note that the cannabis plant is a veritable Trevor trove of molecular families, many of which have robust clinical potentials. Although there are numerous molecular families, the three most dominant and the three most studied and documented that are yielded from the cannabis plant are the cannabinoids, the terpenes, and the flavonoids. It is being increasingly recognized that although each of these These molecular families individually have the potential to treat integumentary diseases, heal wounds, and relieve wound-related pain. Clinical experience and research is showing that their combined effects are even greater. Hence, the term entourage effect, which is used to describe the potentiation that occurs when these three main molecular families are used together. I recently published the results of an open label trial using proprietary topical cannabis-based medicines to treat complex recalcitrant wounds among medically complex patients. I will soon be embarking on clinical trials. I passionately believe that cannabis-based medicines administered both topically and systemically will usher in a new era in integumentary and wound management. Truly, in quotations, less pain with more gain. This is Vincent Maida. I thank you very much for your attention.