The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 with an intent to take ahead what millennium goals could not achieve entirely. But no one could have predicted that in December 2019 the World would be hit by COVID-19, and yet cannot predict till when we would handle the aftermath of the pandemic.
The pandemic is not only a deadly disease but it has also increased the number of hungry people and affected global health. After decades of steady decline, the number of people who suffer from hunger – as measured by the prevalence of undernourishment (i.e. an estimate of the proportion of the population whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normally active and healthy life. It is expressed as a percentage)– began to slowly increase again in 2015.
Today it is estimated that nearly 690 million people around the world are hungry, or 8.9 percent of the world population.
According to the World Food Programme, till pre-pandemic times, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger largely due to man-made conflicts, climate change, and economic downturns. The COVID-19 pandemic could now double that number, putting an additional 130 million people at risk of suffering acute hunger by the end of 2020.
The times during the pandemic have seriously impacted the good health and well-being of people. With variants of this virus taking the death toll on the rise, the physical and mental health of people across the globe has been affected. Those already living in poverty are, particularly at risk. While every society is vulnerable to crises, their abilities to respond differ significantly around the world. Swift action needs to be taken to save the hungry and keep the health of people.
At the same time, a profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed if we are to nourish the more than 690 million people who are hungry today. Increasing agricultural productivity and sustainable food production is crucial to help alleviate the perils of hunger.
Talking about sustainable change in global food and agricultural productivity, let us walk through how Cannabis is stepping up to ending world hunger, promoting good health and well-being.
Cannabis has been used in traditional formulations of medicines and treatments but it has not been efficiently recognized and researched yet. At the same time, the use of cannabis in traditional food preparations by communities cannot be ignored when talking about health benefits and as a food supplement.
Kenzi puts forward various recommendations in Cannabis policing to achieve the SDGs: Zero Hunger (Goal 2), and Good Health and Well-being (Goal 3).
Cannabis to Fight Hunger and Promote Good Health and Well-being
Cannabis as a Source of Food, Foodstuff, and Food Complements
Humanitarian aid policies and programs should rely on locally-made Cannabis seed products as an efficient, affordable, and sustainable tool in the fight against malnutrition.
The history of human alimentation, backed by contemporary research, shows the important potential of cannabis-derived food products as a functional, valuable, and healthy food resource. Seeds can be eaten raw or roasted, pressed as oils, ground as flour, etc.
Nowadays, “hemp seed” derivatives with naturally high nutritional value are manufactured, contributing to fighting malnutrition. Local hemp seeds production for seeds can help secure continued, cheap, equilibrated, and essential food supply in impoverished areas.
Cannabis-based Foodstuff for Health
Hemp seeds are rich in protein, essential amino acids, glutamic acid, omega-6, and omega-3 fatty acids. CBD-based food can contribute, as nutraceuticals, to the overall improvement of health and well-being.
Protecting the Genetic Diversity of “hemp”
Non-psychoactivity-related crops (hemp) should not undergo the same regulatory burden prevailing for psychoactivity-related crops, whether cannabis policies have been reformed or not.
Plant genetic resources (chemovars which have been developed, bred, and conserved by the local communities, and have unique chemotypic expressions) and the accompanying traditional knowledge, are invaluable assets in shaping the global food security of tomorrow.
Laws restricting non-psychoactivity-related cannabis cultivation to a list of limited registered “varieties” can alter the efforts to preserve genetic resources, practices, and knowledge associated with traditional (unregistered) cultivars. It is also of concern with regards to local communities’ rights and ownership over their traditional food products and related genetic material. It is finally a potential barrier to innovation, research, and the development of new genetics of interest.
Herbal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Products: Diverse Tools for Practitioners
Cannabis is among the most ancient plants used by humans to address health conditions. Its therapeutic potential is officially recognized by the World Health Organization.
The therapeutic potential has been documented for treatment of nausea, vomiting, anorexia, cachexia, spasticity, Tourette’s syndrome and other movement disorders, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, pain, pruritus, glaucoma, some sorts of epilepsy, asthma, sleep disorders, opioid dependency and withdrawal, some psychiatric symptoms, hyperactivity, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases, inflammations, and allergies.
Healthcare systems should provide access to patients with these medical conditions, and undertake policy regulations to provide safe and legal medical access to a variety of formulations of cannabis and cannabinoids.
Cannabis is also a traditional medicine: recognize it and protect it!
Cannabis medicines fully correspond to the World Health Organization’s definition of traditional medicine: the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures used in the maintenance of health as well in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.
Countries should mobilize their existing herbal or traditional medicine regulatory frameworks to provide for access to traditional and complementary cannabis medicines and care.
Medical Cannabis as a Potential Tool for Cessation of Opioids, Alcohol, and Benzodiazepines
Epidemiological evidence shows that the prescription of herbal cannabis or cannabinoids is always associated with a decrease in the prescription of opioid painkillers. Healthcare systems should consider cannabis as a therapeutic adjunct or complement to opioid prescription treatment as access to medical cannabis and cannabinoids correlates to a reduction in the prevalence of opioid use disorders.
There is also preliminary evidence supporting beneficial effects of cannabis use in benzodiazepine use reduction and for symptoms of alcohol use disorder withdrawal.
Unleashing Medical Research
Governments must foster independent and publicly-funded medical research of all kinds, including, but not limited to, clinical, pharmacological, botanical, ethnomedical, ethical studies, and medical anthropology.
With scientific research and governmental regulations, cannabis-based food products could become one of the sustainable changes in the food and agricultural industry. If cannabis-based food is produced locally, not only will it meet the needs, it will also improve the economy, reduce poverty, feed the hungry and malnourished and improve the health of people. With better regulations and technology, the industry could be harnessed for its traditional knowledge, keeping in mind to reach the sustainable goals as set by the UN.
