Cannabinoids in health and disease

Cannabis sativa L. preparations have been used in medicine for millenia. However, concern over the dangers of
abuse led to the banning of the medicinal use of marijuana in most countries in the 1930s. Only recently, marijuana
and individual natural and synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists and antagonists, as well as chemically related
compounds, whose mechanism of action is still obscure, have come back to being considered of therapeutic value.
However, their use is highly restricted. Despite the mild addiction to cannabis and the possible enhancement of
addiction to other substances of abuse, when combined with cannabis, the therapeutic value of cannabinoids is too
high to be put aside. Numerous diseases, such as anorexia, emesis, pain, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease),
epilepsy, glaucoma, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, obesity, and metabolic syndromerelated disorders, to name just a few, are being treated or have the potential to be treated by cannabinoid agonists/antagonists/cannabinoid-related compounds. In view of the very low toxicity and the generally benign side
effects of this group of compounds, neglecting or denying their clinical potential is unacceptable—instead, we need
to work on the development of more selective cannabinoid receptor agonists/antagonists and related compounds,
as well as on novel drugs of this family with better selectivity, distribution patterns, and pharmacokinetics, and—
in cases where it is impossible to separate the desired clinical action and the psychoactivity—just to monitor these
side effects carefully.