Cannabis, popularly known with street name – Weed or Ganja is among six herbs the South African government is trialling for COVID-19 treatment.
This after a groundbreaking study released this month revealed that the controversial drug proved to be the most potential adjunct treatment for COVID-19 treatments.
Researchers from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and the University of Nebraska investigated the appealing potential properties about the contentious plant – particularly the cannabis-derived CBD – has in reducing susceptibility to the disease and looking to discern if it can be used as an antiviral medication.
As such, the South African government has put aside R15 million in funding cannabis projects and other African traditional herbs or indigenous “umuthi” to ascertain if it can be used in the treatment of the virus.
Amongst six more African traditional solutions, imithi is the African wormwood (Artemisia Afra), Umhlonyane in isiZulu, or Lengana in SeSotho and Setswana. Specialists have decided not to disclose more traditional medicine for fear that people will over-harvest them in forests and unsafely use them or ‘steal government knowledge.’
