S25 - Session P3 - Medical cannabis use in women

Authors: Paula Andrea Uribe Benavides *, Valentina Carvajal

Cannabis has been used in the world for millennia for different uses such as textiles, recreational, edible, medicinal, among others. In the medicinal use has been evidenced in different studies the benefits for diseases such as cancer, arthritis, osteoarthritis, glaucoma, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression, anxiety, among others. This is because the human body has an endocannabinoid system which is involved in different physiological processes. Now, one of the diseases that affects millions of women in the world is endometriosis and, in general, menstrual pain, which, although benign, affects the quality of life and health of women who suffer from it, since they can lose up to 10 hours of work per week when menstruation arrives. These do not have a cure, but measures can be taken to control or lessen the pain through hormonal and anti-inflammatory treatments, based on traditional medicine. Therefore medicinal plants with anti-inflammatory properties such as cannabis present a novel, effective and efficient alternative to this type of common problems that are ignored by society. In addition, Colombia has one of the best regulations around medicinal and therapeutic cannabis in Latin America supported by Decree 613 of 2017, which regulates Law 1787 of 2016 and recently approved Decree 811 of 2021 which opens the door to further economic and technological growth on the cannabis plant without neglecting the optimal bioclimatic and edaphological characteristics for the growth and high production of this beneficial plant. In this sense, through the research that together with the seedbed of Cannabis Research and Derivatives (SICAD) is carried out, it is intended to give added value to the Cannabis plant in its production chain by obtaining a final product that relieves menstrual pains from the supply of cannabinoids.