Maximum Yield Cannabis USA December 2017 / January 2018 | Page 55

RAFAEL MECHOULAM
MEDICAL SCIENCE
myhydrolife.com
“
AS THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA
MOVEMENT CONTINUES
TO STRUGGLE
WITH ACCEPTANCE IN MAINSTREAM
MEDICINE, MECHOULAM’S
DISCOVERIES ARE NOTHING SHORT
OF REVOLUTIONARY AS THEY
SET THE STANDARDS FOR YOUNGER
GENERATIONS OF CHEM
ISTS,
SCIENTISTS, AND DOCTORS TO FOL
LOW.
”
grow. heal. learn. enjoy.
55
Rafael Mechoulam is one of the most influential, yet least
publicized, figures in the contemporary cannabis space. His
significance in the industry is the result of his profound con-
tributions to the medial science surrounding marijuana. As a
professor of medicinal chemistry at the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, Mechoulam is famous for the discovery and isola-
tion of cannabinoid compounds from both the marijuana plant
and the human body. Beginning his research into the medical
benefits of cannabis in the mid-twentieth century, Mechoulam
set forth to establish a legitimate understanding of the herb’s
chemical compositions in an era steeped with prohibition and
naïveté. To put this notion in context, some of his most notable
scientific discoveries occurred during the 1960s. At this time,
when counterculture celebrated marijuana for it’s psychoac-
tive, quasi-mystical attributes, Mechoulam recognized the herb
as a genuine medicine and sought to objectively investigate it
in controlled laboratory settings.
The importance of Mechoulam to modern day medical
marijuana movements cannot be overstated, as the research
he conducted 50 years ago is still ahead of its time by today’s
standards. To elaborate, in 1964 Mechoulam discovered the
chemical composition of the main psychoactive compound
in marijuana: tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. In other words,
Mechoulam isolated and broke down chemically the primary
psychoactive component in cannabis that has been getting
individuals high for thousands of years. Interestingly, his
discoveries represent a convergence of ancient and modern
cultures—he described a plant suffused in a supernatural
aura with the objective classifications of Western science.
Mechoulam’s laboratory work continued, and the scientific
community recognizes him as “the first to complete the total
synthesis of major plant cannabinoids 9-tetrahydrocannabinol,
cannabidiol, cannabigerol, and others.” Mechoulam’s success
with the synthetization of cannabinoids opened the door for the
creation of pharmaceutical-grade, synthetic cannabis medi-
cines. These meds, such as marinol, have been prescribed to
terminally ill cancer and aids patients in the US for decades.
As Mechoulam’s medical research into cannabis continued
into the 1980s, he made another paradigm-shifting discovery:
that of the endocannabinoid system. As part of Mechoulam’s
research methodology, he was attempting to discern “where
the psychoactive compounds in cannabis THC” interact with
the human body and discovered an entire network of “chemi-
cal compounds and receptors” now referred to as the endocan-
nabinoid system. Upon discovering this previously unknown
neural network, Mechoulam and his peers theorized that the
endocannabinoid system acts to regulate chemical equilibri-
ums within the human body. To elaborate further, Dr. Robert
Melamede from the University of Colorado postulates that “it
is the role of our bodies’ endocannabinoids to regulate healing
processes by controlling free radicals... [he] refers to free radi-
cals as the friction of life and the endocannabinoids as the oil.”
As a result, Mechoulam’s discovery has set the stage for under-
standing alternative causes, as well as cures, for such human
maladies as migraine headaches, irritable bowel syndrome,
and fibromyalgia by way of the endocannabinoid system.
As the medical marijuana movement continues to struggle
with acceptance in mainstream medicine, Mechoulam’s
discoveries are nothing short of revolutionary as they set the
standards for younger generations of chemists, scientists, and
doctors to follow. Today, Mechaulam remains on the cutting-
edge of medical science research into cannabis, serving
on the scientific advisory board for such cannabis-based
pharmaceutical manufactures as Kalytera.