Cannabis Protects the Brain from Damage Produced by Alcohol

Cannabis could be the best remedy to mitigate alcohol's effects. We already told you that marijuana helps you to stave off hangovers after a big binge, but there's more to it: cannabis can also reduce the brain damage alcohol inflicts.

The excessive consumption of spirits can lead to neurodegeneraton, and behavioural and cognitive alterations. As researchers at the universities of Kentucky and Maryland explain in astudy, the transdermal administration of cannabidiol may be an appropriate treatment for the neurodegeneration produced by excessive alcohol consumption. Why? Due to its powerful antioxidant properties.

The authors of the study conducted the experiment with rats, and noticed that cannabidiol, whether administered via patches or injected with a needle, yielded similar degrees of brain protection, around 50%. However, more studies are still needed to corroborate these effects.

But cannabis does more than combat the brain damage done by alcohol. Another study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation states that cannabinoids favour neurogenesis (the production of neurons in the central nervous system) and can have antidepressant effects.

In the long term, the effects of alcohol can entail multiple health problems. The smoke from marijuana, however, does not have the same negative effect as that from tobacco on our lungs, as some compounds of cannabis could contribute to counteracting out its unhealthy consequences. In addition, marijuana smokers tend to smoke smaller amounts than tobacco smokers. So, now you know: the most natural thing to do is to always go green.

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With information from 420 magazine and Live Science