Right now, opiods are the closest thing we have to that, but they are like Cannabis in that they also have many less useful/safe side effects.
One day someone will find a drug that obliterates pain without damaging consciousness, and I suspect that society will become a more evolved place.
ipnon•59m ago
timschmidt•45m ago
Cannabinoids bind to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_protein-coupled_receptor at a minimum, which exist in every tissue of the body, and of which there are at least a half dozen varieties, probably more. Ancient humans all the way to modern growers have bred plants to achieve specific desirable effects beyond intoxication, in a tight feedback loop, testing against their own physiology.
Cannabis isn't a single drug, it's a factory for a complex family of metabolically related phytohormones.
reactordev•35m ago
Then there’s 2018 farm bill cannabis…
THCA, THCP, THC-D9, THC-D8, CBD, etc.
I use it for pain as well but started using it for creativity during college. It’s never presented a problem other than having the feeling of fuzzy teeth (brushing after eliminates this).
My friends that use alcohol all have issues from consuming it where as I don’t have any issues with my liver or anything.
The issue is the stigma and propaganda has been so strong for 120 years that people have forgotten it was one of the first medicines.
timschmidt•15m ago
I decided to look up the gene regulatory network of the pancreatic islet cells involved in manufacturing insulin. Sure enough, smack in the middle, a G-protein-coupled receptor. The Mythbusters "PLAUSIBLE" sequence played in my mind.
I'm of the opinion that we should probably be paying special attention to any substance with known activity on human cell signalling pathways. Cannabis is capable of targeting so many, spread across such a variety of organ systems, that it seems obviously useful. Wild how we've avoided studying all but the least useful strains.
mapontosevenths•13m ago
This is exactly the reason it's often a less than ideal solution. When you need a safe, reliable, and predictable medication, you don't want something that interacts with every cell in the body. Let alone something that might be interacting with those cells in multiple conflicting ways.
Don't get me wrong, if it helps you and doesnt negatively impact your health I'm in favor of it. However, it would be nice to see more research done to develop synthetics and extracts that work in a more targeted, predictable, and well understood manor.
timschmidt•8m ago
Reportedly, pure THC as administered to cancer patients to treat nausea results in much less favorable results than the compounds naturally produced by plants selectively bred for the purpose.
This is why I pointed to the tight feedback loop between plant and grower. Evolution, coupled with a good fitness function, outperforms most other methods on hard problems. Targeting specific receptors for therapeutic benefit certainly qualifies as one.
mapontosevenths•4m ago
Your own quote. It literally inetarcts with every system of the body. Seldom do we need or want that in a therapeutic drug.