A Canadian court heard Thursday that cannabis is safer than aspirin and can restore the balance in people's bodies to help fight illness.
That was the testimony of Dr. Robert Melamede, an associate professor at the University of Colorado, who was brought in by the defense team for the four men accused in the Holy Smoke Culture Shop drug trafficking case taking place in Nelson this week.
Melamede's testimony comes on the second day of what is supposed to be a week-long trial. In a lengthy scientific explanation, the U.S. expert told the court that the human body produces marijuana-like compounds, or endocannabinoids, which act as a "lubricant" for food produced chemicals called "free radicals" that are very reactive and can cause an imbalance in the body.
"You can look at the harm caused by free radicals as biological friction or biological rust and the endocannabinoid system minimizes the impact of that and directly acts as an antioxidant as well as modifying the biochemistry in a way that minimizes the impacts," said Melamede outside court Thursday, likening endocannabinoids to humans like oil is to cars. He said if you don't have lubrication in your car, your car breaks. In the human body, the damage comes in the form of age-related diseases.
"I'm saying what science has now shown is that marijuana and cannabinoids are effective anti-aging agents which means that they are effective in minimizing the onset and the severity of age-related illnesses which include cognitive dysfunction things like Alzheimers, cardiovascular disease be it heart attacks, strokes, or clogged arteries," he said.
But while it does not work for every one, cannabis can also help those people with auto-immune diseases and cancer.
Melamede explained that you would have to take 40,000 times the therapeutic dose before causing harm to your body. But the therapeutic index for aspirin is 15 to one.
"It's extremely safe," said Melamede of marijuana, noting the overdose amount would equal 40,000 joints.
"And you die happy," added Judge Don Sperry during a rare moment of levity in Thursday's testimony.
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