Abstract:
Cannabis sativa is an herbaceous plant which is mainly used as a remedy for neurological, digestive and immunological
ailments in traditional medicine. Even though Cannabis is the most illicit plant around the world, its medicinal
properties are beneficial in number of ways. Numerous beneficial effects of C. sativa have been demonstrated in
multiple in-vitro and in-vivo studies from different parts of the world. The aim of this paper was to systematically review
the literature and provide a summary on potential medicinal benefits of C. sativa. This systematic review was
conducted by using the data bases; Science direct and PubMed for studies published from 1st of January 2015 to 31st of
October 2020. In order to obtain further data, a manual search was also carried out from the reference lists of included
articles. After removing the duplicate articles 77 total number of articles included in this present review. The beneficial
health effects of C. sativa were anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-microbial, anti-parasitic, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer
properties. In addition, it revealed that C. sativa lower blood glucose, serum cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
Apart from that, the use of Cannabis in other diseases such as irritable bowel disease, renal diseases,
neurofibromatosis, and leucorrhea was also identified. The wide range of medicinal effects may be due to main active
ingredients of Tetrahydro cannabinol, Cannabidiol, Cannabinol and Tetrahydro cannabivarin. Available in-vitro and invivo evidence suggested that C. sativa has many favorable health effects and further randomized controlled clinical
trials will be needed to determine these effects thoroughly.
