Animals and Weed: New Laws at Work
As cannabis becomes more socially and medically accepted in the United States, a new branch of research has been created through veterinary science. California has become the first state to allow veterinarians to recommend and prescribe cannabis for animals. With cannabis providing substantial medical relief to people, the potential to help animals with similar issues is exciting. People should be cautious when approaching this topic as marijuana intoxication is a very prevalent issue in veterinarian settings.
There are two types of classifications for cannabinoids, endocannabinoids are made naturally in our body while phytocannabinoids are grown through a cannabis plant. Most living creatures have an endocannabinoid system (ECS) that is responsible for many functioning aspects of day to day life such as learning and memory, emotional processing, sleep, temperature control, pain, inflammatory and immune responses, and eating. Youβll notice that many of these attributes are related to ingesting cannabis, people use the medicinal plant for sleep aid, pain management, appetite stimulation, anxiety relief, etc. The ECS is located throughout the body with two types of receptors, CB1 and CB2 receptors, each of which play a unique role in processing cannabinoids. Our bodies produce endocannabinoids naturally that act as regulators, however, when we ingest cannabis, THC hijacks control of this system causing psychoactive effects along with a change in how the body regulates itself.
CB1 receptors are primarily found in the brain where they act as regulators for other neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are responsible for communicating bodily needs to the brain, including temperature adjustments, messages from the stomach when it's hungry or full, and acknowledging pain throughout the body. These receptors are responsible for the psychoactive high associated with cannabis that can cause emotions ranging from euphoria to paranoia. CB2 receptors are responsible for the anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties, they do not provide a psychoactive high which is why these receptors are targeted for medicinal benefits.
So far, in the United States, cannabis is not a widely accepted treatment for animals. Veterinarians arenβt supposed to prescribe or recommend cannabis tinctures since there isnβt enough published research detailing the outstanding benefits that cannabis provides. However, this doesnβt mean that cannabis isnβt being utilized for pets. Since hemp products are federally legal, people can find CBD pet treats at most pet stores across the country. Additionally, in recreational shops in legal states, you can also find pet specific tinctures that contain CBD and miniscule amounts of THC in a variety of flavors such as roasted chicken and bacon. There isnβt enough THC to cause a heavy psychoactive effect but rather to work in conjunction with and to boost the effects of CBD. There are many instances of anecdotal evidence proving that cannabis has dramatically improved the health and well being of dogs, cats, and even large zoo animals.
There havenβt been too many studies focused on the use of hemp products with animals but due to its increasing popularity and social/legal acceptance, a few universities have decided to start conducting experiments. Since this is a new field of research, dosing is something that has yet to be perfected and standardized making it difficult to gauge the amount needed for each animal which can provide inconsistency between animals. Cornell found that 80% of dogs with osteoarthritis showed drastic improvement in mobility and activity after taking CBD treats, giving hope to owners looking to manage their petsβ pain. Cornell conducted another study to test CBD as an anti-anxiety medication, they found that 83% of dogs that were medicated showed a decrease in anxiety during a stressful event. Ongoing research at Colorado University is using CBD in conjunction with seizure medication, so far, the results have been promising but no official statement has been made. An Australian animal therapeutics company started treating skin allergies with a topical and found that 50% of dogs have shown a reduction in itching/irritation, among these dogs, half of them lost the desire to scratch altogether. These groundbreaking studies are promising and exciting, however, it's important to understand the risks of medicating your animals.
Itβs important to remember to keep your stash away from your pets, some dogs have a natural attraction to the smell of cannabis and can have consequences if they ingest your flower. When a person eats raw bud, it doesnβt really affect them since humans donβt have the enzyme to convert THCA (the main component in cannabis) to its psychoactive component THC. Dogs and cats, however, donβt have this issue, even small amounts of bud can send an animal into a dazed state of marijuana poisoning/intoxication. Symptoms include vomiting, urinary incontinence, diarrhea, whining, stumbling, lethargic behavior, tremors, and anxiety - if you donβt know theyβve ingested weed, these symptoms can be very concerning out of the blue. Most pets donβt need medical intervention and there isnβt much a vet can do to help the animal through the high other than monitoring the symptoms and potentially administering fluids. Not all animals react the same way, while some are plagued with debilitating symptoms, others will simply sleep it off or mellow out for a couple hours.
The New York Times recently wrote an article about Dr. Mish Castillo the chief veterinary officer at ICAN Vets, a company from Mexico that is advocating, studying, and promoting cannabis use in veterinary medicine. Castillo has treated animals of all sizes from elephants to ferrets with tremendous success. Nidia is a 55 year old asian elephant located in a wildlife park in Mexico, she developed fissures on her foot pads, lost her appetite, and developed cracked/ingrown nails which caused her substantial pain. When traditional medicine wasnβt working, her caretaker Dr. Quetzalli HernΓ‘ndez was desperate to provide relief, when her options ran out she decided to turn to Castillio for help. ICAN Vets had never treated an elephant before but they were happy to work with Hernandez to find an appropriate dose for such a large animal. Due to an elephant's size, intuitive thinking would tell us that a mammal that eats over 350 lbs of food a day would need a large dose of CBD but that was not the case. Metabolisms vary across various species so the doctors were cautious about the amount of medicine they wanted to administer. Out of caution, they wanted to start with a small dose, it was decided that .02 mg/lb of Nidiaβs weight would be a good starting point. For reference, this is one tenth to one fourteenth (proportionally) the amount of CBD theyβd generally give a dog or a cat.
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Californiaβs Governor, Gavin Newsom passed a law in 2023 that would allow veterinarians to recommend cannabis without legal consequences. Guidelines for use were required from Californiaβs Veterinary Medical Board; they were released in early 2024. The Department for Cannabis Control is supposed to give guidelines on animal cannabis product guidelines by mid 2025. This will be the first state in the US to allow animal prescriptions or recommendations in the veterinary world. Hopefully, this will give researchers more opportunities to explore how cannabis affects various species and provide insight into the benefits and relief that hemp products can provide.
