There’s nothing like a report linking pot with preventing COVID to whip up a social media frenzy—and jokes from late-night comedians—even if the purportedly definitive findings are not what pro-marijuana advocates, always eager to find another benefit of the drug, had hoped to hear. It all started with a scientific paper from researchers at Oregon State University that found that certain cannabis-derived preparations, given in the right amount, might help people fight off COVID-19. Nowhere does it say that smoking weed helps protect you from the coronavirus, or that contracting the virus (or avoiding it) has any relation to marijuana products that are currently available on the market. The study was looking for natural compounds that could possibly help humans fright off the virus; neither THC nor CBD, the main components of cannabis, were effective, the report noted, while two compounds from hemp plants did “prevent entry” into isolated human cells. Not exactly a compelling argument to run over to your local dispensary to buy some weed to prevent COVID. As Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital put it, “these compounds need to be tested in animals and then in humans, and actually demonstrate effectiveness against Covid. This is a long way off, assuming they work, which is by no means guaranteed.”
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