GI disorders including Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and colitis, afflict more than one in five American’s, particularly women. Symptoms of  GI disorders often include cramping, abdominal pain, inflammation of the lining of the large and/or small intestine, chronic diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and weight loss; people more often than not turn to conventional treatment that poorly moderates these symptoms. In 2007 there was a clinical study assessing the impact of oral THC on colonic motility that came back with positive results. There are several anecdotal reports and a handful of case reports supporting the use of cannabinoids to treat symptoms of GI disorders; however  virtually no clinical trial work has been performed in this area. The effects of the activation of CB1 and CB2 in animals include suppression of gastrointestinal motility, inhibition of intestinal secretion, reduced acid reflux, and protection from inflammation, as well as the promotion of epithelial wound healing in human tissue. Now experts have reason to believe that cannabinoids and/or modulation of the endogenous cannabinoid system represents a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of numerous GI disorders.

[1]Roger Pertwee. 2001. Cannabinoids and the gastrointestinal tract. Gut 48: 859-867.

[2]Swift et al. 2005. servey of Australians using cannabis for medical purposes. Harm Reduction Journal 4: 2-18

[3]Massa and Monory. 2006. Endocannabinoids and the gastrointestinal tract. Journal of Endocrinology Investigation 29 (suppl): 47-57

[4]Wright et al. 2005. Differential expression of cannabinoid receptors in the human colon: cannabinoids promote epithelial wound healing. Gastroenterology 129: 437-453.