“The endogenous cannabinoid system—named for the plant that led to its discovery—is one of the most important physiologic systems involved in establishing and maintaining human health.
Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body: in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. With its complex actions in our immune system, nervous system, and virtually all of the body’s organs, the endocannabinoids are literally a bridge between body and mind.
By understanding this system, we begin to see a mechanism that could connect brain activity and states of physical health and disease.
…either stimulating or inhibiting the endocannabinoid system could have beneficial effects.
The most direct route of THC administration is by smoking marijuana or other forms of cannabis. Yet purified, FDA-approved medicinal preparations of THC are available in pill form… Why not just take a pill? There are several reasons that some patients prefer puffing over swallowing. One quantitatively minor factor is potential lethality.
It is possible to get a fatal overdose by swallowing too many THC pills at once, whereas documented evidence of death simply from smoking too much cannabis does not seem to exist.”