Our common enemy right now is the coronavirus (COVID-19). It all started in China then it spread almost in the whole world. As for now, there are more than 280,000 total confirmed cases around the world. China leads with 81,304 cases, followed by Italy with 47,021 people infected with the coronavirus. Although there are more people who died from COVID-19 in Italy than in China.
Countries have taken measures trying to prevent coronavirus from spreading, although it is an ongoing battle. People have been advised to stay inside their homes for a couple of weeks until this whole pandemic ends.
Furthermore, there is no vaccine that cures the coronavirus yet, but there is a global competition to win the race in this case. The World Health Organization is working with scientists around the globe on 20 different vaccines that could kill the coronavirus but there are no results yet. So, for now, all we can do is sit home and try to avoid the infection.
CBD and viruses
There are no studies yet showing that CBD and cannabis have any effect on the coronavirus. But, the case is that specific cannabinoids can help against certain types of viruses since it is an anti-inflammatory drug. Now, this is where we raise the question; can it help against the coronavirus?
Well, CBD helps against viruses that cause systemic inflammation in the process of taking over the host in order to ease the transmission to the next set of cells for infection. So, if the virus causes inflammation to achieve its effect then CBD might help reduce the severity of the infection. Does coronavirus cause inflammation? Well, the answer is not clear yet.
Although cannabis is great to cure many other health conditions we must always be careful when spreading information, so it cannot be said that cannabis kills coronavirus because if it had so, why wouldn’t it be used against it by now? Cannabis is great at curing conditions such as appetite loss, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, epilepsy, cancer, etc. But, in regards to coronavirus, there are no studies that say cannabis could help to cure it. Because COVID-19 is new as a virus.
Could coronavirus affect the cannabis industry?
Certain countries, regions, and cities are going into lockdown due to the coronavirus with more and more people getting infected every day. It is expected that this could damage the overall economy of the world. Consequently, the cannabis industry will be affected too. It would be an acceptable assumption that the demand for cannabis products could fall if the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to grow. Maybe, better cannabis marketing campaigns will be necessary.
Also, a supply chain disruption could happen, taking into account that a lot of moving parts of the supply chain come from China since it is a low-cost producer country. For example, this company is offering CBD in Switzerland across the country with discounts available.
Many cannabis companies rely on China for vaporizer production. If China due to coronavirus is unable to meet its product commitments, then these companies might be facing some shortages in supply.