PHARMACOLOGY OF FIBRE HEMP


Possibly the most closely guarded secret in North America today is the
difference in THC content between fiber hemp and drug-type hemp. The
secret is so well guarded in the US that the enforcement officers at the
State, Federal, and local levels are mostly ignorant of it. Whenever
anyone points out this obvious discrepancy the keepers of orthodoxy point
to some sinister plot involving legalization. The following articles
address this issue. The important points are: 1) Fiber hemp is extremely
low in THC. 2) Cannabidiol, CBD, a precursor chemical in the
bio-synthetic pathway of Cannabis sativa L., tends to exist in an inverse
relationship with THC. In fiber hemp where THC levels are very low, CBD
levels are high. There is a third type of hemp, intermediate, where THC
and CBD levels are both high. 3) The THC/CBD levels are genetically
controlled factors. Although environmental, soil, and plant density
conditions can effect the THC level to a certain degree, the genetic
factors are most important. French monoecious cultivars used for paper
such as Fibrimon 56 even if grown in optimal resinous drug producing
conditions would still be useless for smoking or drug use. (You can't make
a silk purse out of a sow's ear!) Gilbert Fournier has said even if fiber
hemp were...."abundantly widespread, gone wild, naturalised, it still would
pose no danger." (Fournier, 1979)
International agreements and standards recommend a level of THC in the
fiber strains of less than 0.3% THC. (DeMeijer 1992) Most varieties are
even less than this. The Le Mans Hemp Institute has even developed a
Cannabigerol, CBG, dominant strain with 0.001% THC. Fournier, 1987)
(Recent evidence indicates that the Le Mans research team has successfully
eliminated THC from this strain.) By contrast notoriously weak U.S.
government supplied 'marijuana cigarettes for the nine current legal
medical recipients range in potency from 2.1-2.7% THC. (Randall, 1991)
Average 'marijuana' seized by authorities in the U.S. is about 3-3.5% THC.
(Potency Monitoring Project, 1993) Some indoor strains rank as high as 10%
THC. While this selective breeding for high THC Cannabis was going on by
many illicit growers,European Fiber Research Stations were breeding THC
contents lower. (Le Mans Hemp Institute, France, All-Union Bast Fiber
Institute, Gluckhov, Ukraine)
How much fiber hemp would a person have to consume to get a
psycho-active high? Gilbert Fournier quotes L.E. Hollister (1971) as
saying it would take at least 10 mg. of THC in order to get...." a minimal
inebriant effect, one would have to smoke all at once 50-100 cigarettes of
fiber hemp in order to obtain this effect." (Fournier, 1979) (This would
be from the leaves and flowering tops of French monoecious hemp gathered at
anthesis.) There is essentially no THC in the stalk, seeds, or roots.
(Beutler, 1978) There is usually less THC in the leaves and flowering tops
of these fiber hemp cultivars than there is alcohol in non-alcoholic beer.
Cannabidiol, CBD, is a very interesting substance. According to
Karniol (1974) it tends to block the psycho-active effects of THC. This
would make fiber hemp doubly useless for drug effects. CBD as a
non-psychoactive cannabinoid appears to be helpful for many medical
conditions....as an anti-convulsant for Epileptics, (Cunha, 1980) Dystonic
movement disorders, ( Consroe, 1986) Huntington's Disease, (Sandyk, 1986)
as an anti-inflammatory, (Formukong, 1988) as an aid to chronic insomnia,
(Carlini, 1979) and as an anti-psychotic in rats with no adverse side
effects, (Zuardi, 1991). Karniol (1973) has found that CBD tends to
enhance some of the effects from THC and block others in rats. It seems to
enhance some of the medical uses of THC, which explains somewhat why the
synthetic THC pill taken alone is of such marginal use compared to
'marijuana' the whole plant substance. (Randall, 1991) Formukong and
Evans reveal...."our results would suggest that cultivation of Cannabis
plants rich in CBD and other phenolic substances would be useful not only
as fiber producing plants but also for medicinal purposes in the treatment
of certain inflammatory disorders." (Formukong, 1988)
Much of the research and development into the medical uses of
'marijuana' usually conclude with its unacceptable psycho-active side
effects. Many drug companies in their research have tried unsuccessfully
to separate the medicinal from the psycho-active effects of Cannabis.
(Mechoulam, 1987) Here is a 'low-tech' way of doing this: grow low THC
high CBD fiber hemp. The possibility of using the leaves and flowering
tops from fiber hemp as a useful medical by product should be investigated.
If CBD turns out to be therapeutically useful, this could provide added
economic benefit to the development of fiber hemp.

Beutler, John A., and Der Marderosian, Ara H., 1978. Chemotaxonomy of
Cannabis I. Cross-breeding Between Cannabis Sativa and C. Ruderalis, with
Analysis of Cannabinoid Content. Economic Botany Vol. 32 (4) 387-394.

Carlini, E.A., Masur, et al, 1979. Possivel Efeito Hipnotico do
Cannabidiol no ser Humano. (In Portuguese) Ciencia E Cultura 3l (3)
315-322.

Consroe, et al, 1986. Open Label Evaluation of Cannabidiol in Dystonic
Movement Disorders. International Journal of Neuroscience. Vol. 30
277-282.

Cunha, J.M., et al, 1980. Chronic Administration of Cannabidiol to Healthy
Volunteers and Epileptic Patients. Pharmacology . 21 175-185.

De Meijer, E.P.M., et al, 1992. Characterisation of Cannabis accessions
with regard to cannabinoid content in relation to other plant characters.
Euphytica. 62 187-200.

Formukong, E.A., Evans, A.T., and Evans, F.J., 1988. Analgesic and
Anti-inflammatory Activity of Constituents of Cannabis Sativa L.
Inflammation. Vol 12 (4) 361-371.

Fournier, G., Paris, M.R., 1979. Le Chanvre Papetier (Cannabis Sativa L.,)
Cultive en France: Le Point sur ses Constituants. (In French). Plantes
Medicinales et Phytotherapie. Vol 13 (2) 116-121.

Fournier, Gilbert, et al, 1987. Identification of a New Chemotype in
Cannabis sativa: Cannabigerol dominant Plants, Biogenetic and Agronomic
Prospects. Planta Medica. 53 (3) 277-280.

Hollister, L.E., 1971. Man and Marijuana. Science. 172. 21-29.




Karniol, I.G., Carlini, E.A., 1973. Pharmacological Interaction between
Cannabidiol and Delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol. Psychopharmacologia. Vol
33. 53-70.

Karniol, I.G., Shirakawa, I., et al, 1974. Cannabidiol interferes with the
effects of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol in man. European Journal of
Pharmacy. Vol 28. 172-177.

Mechoulam, Rafael, and Feigenbaum, 1987. Towards Cannabinoid Drugs.
Progress in Medicinal Chemistry. Vol. 24. 159-207.

Randall, Robert, ed., 1991. Marijuana, Medicine and the Law, Vol. II.

Sandyk, Consroe, et al, 1986. Effects of Cannabidiol in Huntington's
Disease. Neurology. Vol.36 (Suppl. 1) 342.

Zuardi, A.W., et al,1991. Effects of cannabidiol in animal models
predictive of anti-psychotic activity. Psychopharmacology. 104. 260-264.


>>>It is now believed that the conversion from CBD to THC is controlled by
a special enzyme. It is of course still a genetically controlled factor.


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