The Global Reality

British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals is testing a marijuana-based drug it believes may be useful in treating obesity by suppressing the appetite, according to a published report.

While marijuana is typically known for its appetite-boosting effects, Dr. Stephen Wright, director of GW Pharma’s research and development department, told The Telegraph recently that two specific compounds have been identified that could be a godsend for obese people struggling with diabetes or even metabolic syndrome, a condition used to describe a patient suffering from a combination of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.

The compounds, THCV and cannabidol, are non-psychoactive, meaning people who take this experimental drug will not experience a “high” as if they’d inhaled smoke from a burned marijuana plant. Instead, THCV acts like an inhibitor to marijuana’s main psychoactive component, THC. Added with cannabidol, GW Pharma found that THCV helps suppress the appetite, increase insulin sensitivity and reduce cholesterol in the bloodstream, all while boosting the body’s fat-burning engine.