ABSTRACT
Delta-nine-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol is an active bronchodilator. Its mode of action, though not fully elucidated, differs from that of the commonly used sympathomimetic medicaments such as salbutamol and terbutaline. Cannabis, as a bronchodilator, is undergoing reevaluation and development. Tetrahydrocannabinol has been administered intravenously dissolved in ethanol and diluted to 10% with sterile human plasma, but there is no need in the treatment of bronchoconstriction for such a technique, and psychic disturbance is likely to occur. Inhalation of smoke from a cigarette made from marijuana decreases airways resistance in normal male volunteers or in subjects in whom constriction was induced by exercise or by inhalation of an aerosol of methachol. Little has been done to investigate possible bronchodilator activity in the other principal cannabinoids. The observation that cannabinoid may in some circumstances act as an inhibitor of monoamine oxidase is not relevant. This enzyme system plays a minimal part in the inactivation of transmitter norepinephrine.
