Citation

Stea JN. Sci. Am. 2019; 321(1): e10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Scientific American)

DOI

10.1038/scientificamerican0719-10

PMID

39010437

Abstract

Cannabis has been hailed as a potential magic bullet in the fight against all sorts of ills, including chronic pain and depression. But it has also been called the "devil's lettuce," with claims that using it will lead to laziness, insanity and even murder. These polarized views can, in part, be explained by the drug's complexity: cannabis is not a single substance but rather a mixture of more than 500 individual chemicals whose proportions vary from one plant strain to another.

Because cannabis is such a complicated chemical soup, until recently most often prepared for the black market, it has been difficult to draw clear research conclusions about whether the substance harms or helps. This assessment is particularly true in the area of addiction and mental health, where advocates believe that the drug could be the white knight of the opioid epidemic. ...

Language: en