SATIVA AND INDICA CULTIVARS have been a long-term distinction within the Cannabis world. I believe there are authentic clinical reasons for these herbal varieties.
@drmikehart “We need to stop using the terms Indica and Sativa and replace it with what’s in the medicine, specifically cannabinoids and terpenes”.
MY RESPONSE: the two divisions, Indica & Sativa, are distinct phenotypes as cannabis botanists know. Sativas derive from generations of human selection and inbreeding by human cultures in the near-equatorial regions.
On one pole of equatorial globe is Thai Stick & at other Durban Poison. In between is Maui Zowie, Colombian Gold, & Panama Red. All Sativas. These are large leaf plants that make use of strong equatorial sun & grow to large sizes over longer grow season.
MY THEORY: people in equatorial regions sought herbs to help enjoyment of daytime activities, with added anxious energy, streams of wild ideas (“creativity”), and induction of energy for physical activities in pursuit of tribal lifestyles (fishing, canoeing, etc.).
The Sativa cultivars seem to have a predominant sympathomimetic (think Adrenalin) effect. Wakefulness, sociability, loquaciousness, and sports are pursuits seemingly enhanced by SATIVAS.
INDICAS on the other hand are found at higher latitudes, are smaller, & mature faster than Sativas. By time the Dutch came to the US to collect seeds, in the early 70’s, the industry had mostly supplanted Sativas with Indicas; for economic reasons.
INDICAS were inbred by human cultures wherein cold nights, injuries on rocky mountain trails, digestive/intestinal efforts & functions, & comforts were sought in cold caves. Sleep and pain relief were key concerns of people in these regions of Afghanistan & Russia.
Functional traits that INDICAS provide seem correlate with pleasure sensations evoked by parasympathetic nervous system functions. Are Indicas Parasympathomimetic?
Thus we have the Yin and Yang of the medicinal herbal world, and which herbs replicate within their medicinal spectrum of effects the Yin & Yang of human physiology, the duality of the autonomic nervous system.
I believe that regard for the medicinal effects of the various cultivars might be guided by this pharmacological duality. This understanding can guide use of the Cannabis pharmacopoeia.
Muscle weakness, Migraine, fatigue, somnolence, depression (especially of bipolar type), vomiting, POTS, intestinal overactivity (IBS, UC, IBD), IC, & other physiology dynamics benefitted by dominant sympathetic activity might be ameliorated with SATIVA medicinals.
INDICA medicinals are suggested for joint pain, muscle spasm, Gastroparesis, for inducing relaxation, reducing stress, sleep induction, hyperactivity of bipolar expression, dysmenorrhea, & for low libido.
I have been informed by Cannabis breeders that the highly inbred cultivars of Cannabis are only maintained by breeding. When these inbred strains are neglected, within “three generations” they revert to hemp. I don’t know.
Indeed, the mix of cannabinoids & terpenes in any one cultivar is the reason for the medicinal effects of that specific cultivar. These are human selections & not plant self-determinations.
What I am suggesting is that the two broad categories of Sativas & Indicas have idiosyncratic cannabinoid clinical spectra that manifest within these Yin and Yang dichotomies.
It is these broad differences between the physiological effects of Sativas & Indicas that provide doctors who recommend medicinal Cannabis a useful framework for making clinical decisions & recommendations.
The ideas expressed herein are my own insights and inventions, and ones which I have found useful in advising clients who choose to use Cannabis as a medicinal.
Doctors interested in this clinical model might ask patients what symptom/disorder they use Cannabis for & then next guess whether Indica or Sativa might work best. Next, patient asked re: favorite. Confirmation of correct guess will confirm my model.
The insights and clinical impressions herein are of my own inventions and gained via an iterative evidence based method of medical discovery.
And finally, a distinction between this chord-like sound of a single-molecule-with-key-medicinal-effect (an Orthodox Medicine tenent) & the entourage effects of 100’s of cannabinoids & terpenes in a single cultivar; in various combinations from one cultivar to another.
Idea that one cannabinoid molecule might have medicinal effects equal to entourage effects is contrary to scientific thought. The sum medicinal effects of a cultivar of Cannabis are likened not to a chord, but to a symphony of sounds.
@threadreaderapp unroll
