Researchers have found synthetic cannabidiol can kill bacteria responsible for gonorrhoea, meningitis and Legionnaires’ disease.
The study, conducted by the University of Queensland (UQ) and Botanix Pharmaceuticals (which also funded the research), could lead to the first new class of antibiotics for resistant bacteria in 60 years.
According to Associate Professor Mark Blaskovich, who works at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, cannabidiol (CBD) – the main non-psychoactive component of cannabis – can penetrate and kill a wide range of bacteria including Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhoea.
CBD is able to do this because it is particularly good at breaking down biofilms – the slimy build-up of bacteria, such as dental plaque on the surface of teeth – which help bacteria survive antibiotic treatments. Gonorrhoea is the second most common sexually-transmitted infection in Australia and there is currently no single reliable antibiotic to treat it because the bacteria is particularly good at developing resistance. The study also showed that CBD is widely effective against a much larger number of Gram-positive bacteria than previously known, including antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), also known as ‘golden staph’.