Two researchers in Alberta believe new strains of cannabis could potentially prevent the most fatal respiratory effects of COVID-19 and maybe even block the virus from entering the body at all.
The husband and wife team of Drs. Igor and Olga Kovalchuk at the University of Lethbridge have been studying the use of new strains of cannabis to fight cancer and inflammation. When the pandemic struck, they turned their attention to the novel coronavirus.
Igor Kovalchuk says their lab has developed more than 1,500 hybrid strains of cannabis over the last five years and have tested about 400 of them against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Strains the scientists are working with are cannabidiol -predominant. That means they have high presence of the medicinal ingredient of cannabis and relatively little of the tetrahydrocannabinol , which is the psychoactive component of cannabis that causes a high.
The next big step is real-world testing of the cannabis strains that have performed well in the lab, says Olga Kovalchuk.
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