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Health Benefits Of Industrial, Medicinal, and Recreational Hemp
By Hempology | August 26, 2002
By James Geiwitz, Ph.D.
August 22, 2002
I have spent close to 30 years debating Drug-War scientists on the
health risks of marijuana, which I consider nonexistent. It’s time,
I think, to turn our attention to the plentiful health benefits of
hemp in its various forms, industrial, medicinal, and recreational.
The health benefits of industrial hemp derive from hemp foods and
bodycare products. These products are made from the hemp seed, which
is botanically a nut. There are two major components of the hemp
nut, the oil and the nutmeat. Hemp oil is made by cold-pressing the
seed; what’s left is the hempseed “press cake,” which is commonly
converted to flour for hemp breads and similar foods. The hemp nut
can be eaten whole, as it’s very nutritious and quite tasty.
Hemp Oil
Hemp oil has many desirable ingredients, the most important of which
are the essential fatty acids, Omega 6 and Omega 3. These fatty
acids are present in hemp oil in the ratio of 3:1, which is the
“optimal ratio” for health benefits.
The membrane of every cell in our body is composed of oil. It is
this oil that acts as a superconductor allowing an unimpeded flow of
the bio-electric currents that govern nerve, muscle, heart, and all
other bodily functions. When our body creates new cells, it uses the
oil available to it. If the oils in your diet are primarily of low
quality, such as supermarket oils and fats that stay solid at room
temperature, then the oil coating on your cells is going to have some
of the insulating properties of tar and be a less than ideal
conductor. If the oils in your diet are essential fatty acids, the
bio-electric current will flow much more smoothly, and all our bodily
functions will be easier to perform..
If cell membranes are constructed from hemp oil, the health benefits
are considerable. Perhaps the primary beneficiary is the heart.
Hemp oil reduces the level of bad cholesterol (LDL), reduces
inflammation in blood vessels, thins the blood (by reducing platelet
stickiness), and reduces blood pressure. Thus, hypertension is
relieved and the risk of heart attacks and strokes is reduced. The
chances of heart disease in general are significantly reduced.
A second major benefit of hemp oil is a strengthening of the immune
system. It inhibits tumour growth, kills bacteria (including staph),
and heals wounds.
In summary, the essential fatty acids in hemp oil are used to
- construct cell membranes, which create and carry electrical currents
- bring toxins within cells to the surface, where they can be
removed, and deliver nutrients from the cell surface - facilitate recovery of fatigued muscles by delivering oxygen,
producing hemoglobin, and removing waste products - strengthen the immune system, preventing infections and allergies
- Develop nerve cells in the Central Nervous System
- promote healthy liver function
- increase stamina, vitality, and calmness
- reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling in muscles and joints
The essential fatty acids in hemp oil will beneficially affect (partial list)
- AIDS
- allergies, asthma
- Alzheimer’s disease
- arthritis
- Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- cancer
- cellulite, aging spots, cataracts
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- cystic fibrosis
- diabetes
- dyslexia
- endometriosis
- enlarged prostate
- fibrocystic breast disease
- hair loss in men
- heart disease, hypertension
- lupus
- mental disorders: bipolar depression disorder, schizophrenia
- multiple sclerosis
- obesity
- PMS
- stroke
- tuberculosis
- ulcers, constipation, diarrhea, digestive problems
- violent personality disorders
- yeast infections
Hemp nuts, hemp flour, and hemp protein
When the oil is squeezed from hemp seed, the remaining press cake is
made into flour for hemp breads, pastries, and other products. This
press cake contains two high quality proteins called edestin and
albumin. These proteins contain all eight of the essential amino
acids in highly favourable proportions, and they are easier to digest
than the protein in soybeans and other foods. Like essential fatty
acids, proteins are the basic building blocks of the human body.
There are few bodily functions that are not affected, in a positive
way, by hemp protein.
The dehulled hemp seed (hempnut) is perhaps the best way to ingest
hemp foods. The delicious hempnut contains not only the proteins
mentioned above, but also the highly beneficial essential fatty
acids, better preserved in the nutmeat matrix.
An interesting report has turned up on the use of hemp protein to
treat tuberculosis in Czechoslovakia during and after World War II
(Sirek, 1954). At an institution for children with TB, doctors had
no medicine and very little food. The doctors decided to treat the
children with hemp seeds, because of the protein (edestin) in the
nutmeat. Edestin contains not only the appropriate amino acids but
also a wealth of healthy enzymes. A total of 26 children were
treated with a diet of hemp seed, oats, and cottage cheese. All 26
were cured or significantly improved, and all grew to be healthy
young adults.
Benefits of Hemp Bodycare Products
Hemp oils are used to make body lotions, soaps, and other products
that heal the skin, restoring natural health and beauty. The
essential fatty acids that are used by the body to build and maintain
healthy body cells work directly on epidermal cells, entering the
lipid layers of dry skin cells to replenish their oils.
The essential fatty acids also repair skin damage, promoting healing
in wounds and burns, and they are antibiotic. Research has shown
that essential fatty acids are effective treatments for atopic
dermatitis, eczema, and psoriasis.
Health Benefits of THC
The US DEA and Health Canada have issued warnings about the health
risks of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana and other
forms of hemp. These warnings are unwarranted, for the health risks
do not exist; they are figments of the junk scientist’s imagination.
In my efforts to discredit the outrageous claims made by the
anti-drug warriors, I have become convinced, by the research, that
THC has a number of health benefits. These health benefits of THC
are in addition to the benefits claimed by advocates of medicinal
marijuana.
For example, consider the effect of THC on our immune system. The
early research showed suppression of the immune system, but these
studies have been discredited. For example, the Nahas experiments,
which applied THC in massive doses to human cells in a petri dish,
are by all accounts meaningless, the real-life equivalent of smoking
a 50 kg joint. Better studies failed to replicate Nahas’s work and,
instead, found immune system stimulation at more reasonable doses.
Let us be clear about these findings: What the research shows is
immune system suppression at very high doses, but immune system
stimulation (enhancement) at low doses. This means that the trace
amounts of THC in hemp foods (and in marijuana as well) probably
strengthen the immune system of humans. It’s a basic principle of
pharmacology: high doses may be poisonous whereas low doses are
curative.
THC and Cancer
Immune-system stimulation by THC at low doses should be apparent in
macro-level health benefits. The stunning (but rarely reported)
success of THC treatments of cancer may be representative. One of
the first studies had rats ingest a large dose of THC daily for two
years. At the completion of the experiment, 70 percent of the dosed
animals were still alive, but only 45 percent of the undosed animals
survived. This sizeable difference was due almost entirely to a
reduced incidence of cancer in the animals given THC.
A more direct test of THC’s cancer-fighting properties was performed
on rats with brain tumours. The tumours, called gliomas, are fatal
in humans. The researchers infused THC directly into the rats’
brains. The comparison group, rats given no THC, died in two to
three weeks. A third of the THC rats died in a similar time, without
benefit. Another third of the THC rats, however, lived four times as
long. In the remaining third of the THC group, the tumours
disappeared, gone forever.
The researchers claimed that the THC worked by stimulating the cancer
cells to “commit suicide” in a natural process called “apoptosis.”
Normal cells were unharmed. The THC in this experiment was very low
dosage, and the cancers were at a late stage, when untreated rats
were already starting to die. The researchers suggest that THC would
work even better if given earlier.
Medicinal Marijuana
The health benefits of marijuana taken as medicine are many,
well-documented by Ted Smith and others. Among the more prominent
medical benefits are treatments for pain, glaucoma, nausea and
vomiting, and various neurological disorders such as multiple
sclerosis and dystonia. I have not evaluated the research on
medicinal marijuana at the same level as I have with hemp foods and
cosmetics, but the scientific summaries, such as the US Institute of
Medicine’s evaluation, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science
Base, either confirms the benefits or finds the research promising
enough to call for more research.
I would like to say that, in my opinion, some of the primary benefits
of medicinal marijuana reflect the primary effects of recreational
marijuana: mood elevation, appetite stimulation, and an increase in
what we might call a person’s zest for life. For cancer patients,
for example, who often face severe weight loss because of
chemotherapy, the end to nausea and vomiting is important, but so is
the appetite stimulation. Depression is common, treated more
effectively by marijuana than by Prozac and the serotonin drugs,
which are not, in my opinion, antidepressants at all.
In terms of zest for life, marijuana increases one’s appreciation of
music, art, food, and, let’s not forget, sex, saving many a marriage
from the doldrums of decreasing libido.
And one last benefit: marijuana induces sleep, if you’re tired, but
reduces fatigue, if you’re not. How can you not love a drug like
this? Let’s all go home and have a good night’s sleep.
James Geiwitz, Ph.D., is a research scientist, the author of 14
scientific books and over 60 articles and reports. He has taught at
Stanford, Michigan, and the University of California. From 1997 to
1999, he was director of research and development for Transglobal
Hemp Products Corporation, helping farmers to plant, cultivate, and
harvest industrial hemp; he was creator and manager of the Pacific
Islands Hemp Farmers Cooperative. He wrote a document for the
Industrial Hemp Growers Association of BC entitled Industrial Hemp
FAQs. In 2001, Dr. Geiwitz organized an international committee of
hemp scientists to report to Health Canada on the (nonexistent)
health risks of industrial hemp foods and cosmetics, and he prepared
a report for Ted Smith’s attorney on the (nonexistent) health risks
of marijuana consumption. At Ted Smith’s Hempology convention at
Camosum on March 17, 2002, Dr. Geiwitz spoke on the invalid
techniques of “junk science,” which is used by the anti drug warriors
to discredit marijuana. Dr. Geiwitz has been following marijuana
research since 1975, when he published a textbook with a section on
marijuana. The conclusion then was “The only feature of marijuana
that all scientists agree is negative is the fact that possession is
illegal and that jail is not a fun place to be.” After 27 years of
research, this conclusion is still appropriate.
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