Variety Of Traditional Medicinal Plants To Tame Disease, Cannabis Included?

Cannabis plant illustration (Source: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The archipelago is known for its fertile land. Various flora can be grown easily. No exception to traditional medicinal plants that can be used as an antidote to disease. Is marijuana included?

All kinds of medicinal plants are widely grown in Indonesia. The traditional concoction, as explained by the Indonesian Traditional Medicinal Herb Formulary (pdf) can cure various diseases. Such as headaches, lowering fever, to toothaches. So what are the ingredients?

Headache

There are at least three types of traditional medicinal plants that can be used to cure headaches. First is ingu.

The part that is used from this plant is fresh herbs. Meanwhile, the method of making it is that the plant is mashed and then attached to the temples, and let it dry. The dose, once (5 grams) of herbs per day.

Then the second is bengle. The part used to treat headaches is fresh rhizome.

How to make it, first mash the ingredients, add a little water until it becomes a dough like mush, then use it on the temples and let it dry. Meanwhile, the dose can be used twice a day.

Lowering fever

In addition to treating headaches, medicinal plants are also proven to be effective in treating fever. The first is Sambiloto.

The way to make it is by boiling the ingredients with two glasses of water until it recedes in half. Then cool, strain, add honey to taste and drink as well. The dose can be taken three times a day.

But unfortunately, not all can consume this medicinal plant. Those who should not drink include pregnant women, breastfeeding, people with allergies. The reason is, this medicinal plant also has side effects such as allergies, vomiting, nausea to loss of appetite.

Tooth ache

Because of the many benefits, traditional medicinal plants can also cure toothaches. Gambier plant for example. How to process it?

First, extract one part of the leaves of the gambier plant by boiling it in water for 1 hour. After that, filter the cooking water, squeeze the dregs of the leaves with a screw system tool. The liquid is then deposited for two or two days.

After the extract is finished, just use it. The trick, the ingredients are brewed with half a glass of boiling water until dissolved, cool. Then use the liquid to rinse your mouth. The dose can be used twice a day.

Apart from gambier, fracture plants can also treat toothaches. How to make it, namely break the stem, collect 1-3 drops of sap on a cotton swab and then insert it on the aching tooth.

This medicine should only be used once a day with 1-3 drops of sap. Besides that, its use also needs to be careful. Because, when exposed to the eye it can cause erosion to blindness.

Medical marijuana controversy

Indonesian traditional medicinal plants have many types and uses. Starting from what can be consumed to those prohibited by law such as marijuana. As we all know, some people do use marijuana as a medicinal plant. Then can marijuana really cure a disease?

The culture of using marijuana for true health has been done since time immemorial. In Aceh, some people even still use marijuana root decoction as a treatment for diabetes. This story was told by Dhira Narayana, Chairman of the Indonesian Cannabis Circle (LGN). Based on the results of field observations and long research on the literature related to the use of medical marijuana, LGN also proposed a research collaboration to the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes).

Unfortunately, since it was proposed many years ago, the research has not been running. The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) that was most likely to provide marijuana for research refused to get involved. BNN adheres to Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics, which states that marijuana as a class one narcotic cannot be used for anything, including medical. The BNN even has a different version, that marijuana is actually detrimental to health.

"Researchers have previously seen these adverse effects. The brain is rich in oxygen, if oxygen is exposed to marijuana, oxygen is bound by tetrahydrocannabinol or THC so it can cause calcification in brain cells so that the cells will die. How many dead cells will not be healthy again, only the rest can bind oxygen, "said the Head of the Narcotics Laboratory Center of the National Narcotics Agency, Mufti Djusnir, in his statement.

I don't know which researcher is meant by the BNN. What is clear, the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that the cannabidiol or CBD content in the cannabis plant can be used as a seizure medication due to epilepsy. Quoting HowStuffWorks, Joshua Kaplan, a cannabis researcher from Western Washington University, called CBD a compound that is very much in tune with the work of the human body.

CBD works to activate serotonin receptors, which play an important role in treating anxiety. Interestingly, CBD is identical to endocannabinoid, a chemical compound that is naturally produced in the human brain. Endocannabinoids have a major influence in controlling a person's motor, cognition, emotions, and behavior. That is, everyone has "marijuana" in each of them. "The serotonin system plays an important role in treating anxiety," says Kaplan.