Cannabis Research Finds That Cannabis Enhances Night Vision
Recently, marijuana positive effects have been scientifically confirmed once again, and with quite unexpected findings. During their study, a group of American and Canadian researchers discovered that cannabis improved the night vision of vertebrates.
In their marijuana research paper available online in the journal eLife, the scientists shared that weed could potentially be used for treating eye disorders like retinitis pigmentosa, as the received findings showed that cannabinoids enhanced night vision.
These results explain the excellent night vision of Jamaican and Morocco fishermen who used marijuana regularly. A quarter of a century ago, a local pharmacologist noticed that those fishermen drank weed-based rum and smoked cannabis. In 2002, a research team investigated this observation by giving marijuana to volunteers in Morocco and then measuring their night vision before and after. Their results confirmed the earlier conclusions by showing that all participants had improved night vision.
However, Loïs Miraucourt and his colleagues investigated the behavior of African tadpoles, not the seasoned stoners.
During the testing, the researchers noticed that CBD made the retinal cells of vertebrates more light-sensitive and increased the eye reaction to dim stimulus. After applying a synthetic cannabinoid to their eye tissues, retina became more sensitive to light, which helps tadpoles escape predators in darkness.
It seemed quite surprising to the researchers, as they expected to discover that the marijuana compounds would inhibit the frogs' retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that ensure information transmission from eye to the brain. Instead, CBD improved the excitability of eye cells that connect to the brain.
These marijuana positive effects allowed the vertebrates to see better in low-light conditions and flee predators faster. The researchers concluded that the tadpoles under the influence of CBD could find their way in the dark just as well as the stoned fishermen in Jamaica.
