It seems hard
to believe that smoking marijuana can help asthma. Unlike smoking
nicotine that constricts the lung passageways, THC in cannabis
expands the airways. Amazingly, cannabis consumed by smoking has been
shown to reduce asthma symptoms.
Asthma attacks
are muscle contractions. Restricted breathing is initiated from a
signaling molecule called acetycholine. Dr. Tashkin, a lung expert
from UCLA, studies the use of cannabis for asthma patients. He stated
that traditional asthma medications “prevent the acetycholine from
binding to its receptor. But THC works proximal to that. It doesn't
have any competitive effect for binding to receptors. It just
prevents the acetylcholine from being released.”
Different ways
of consuming cannabis have shown a variety of results with asthma
treatment. Taken orally, it is not strong enough and takes too long
to be effective. Traditional asthma inhalers using THC make people
cough. This is due to THC being a large enough molecule to cause a
cough response. Smoking marijuana can offer immediate asthma relief.
This method is not ideal due to noxious chemicals that can cause
inflammation to the respiratory tissue. The best effective method is
with THC being delivered through a vaporizer.
A twenty year
study with people that suffer with asthma showed decrease in symptoms
from cannabis use.(Source)
Cannabis has been found to be a bronchodilator.(Source)
Currently medicine including marijuana targets short-term asthma
attacks. Researchers are looking into the possibility of cannabis
providing a long-term treatment for asthma.(Source)
Source:
http://www.leafscience.com/2014/02/04/study-explains-marijuana-isnt-bad-asthma/
