According to the video, non-smokers are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than regular smokers of cannabis, and the abundance of the drug in Jamaica is apparently the reason why there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country.
However, while studies have shown that cannabis has medicinal properties, and a cannabis-based drug has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, there is no evidence to suggest it can be used to prevent COVID-19.
In fact, when the video was published on March 31, 2020, Jamaica had already confirmed 38 cases of COVID-19, indicating that smoking cannabis does not provide immunity against the disease.
The World Health Organization identifies people with pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease, are the ones more vulnerable to COVID- 19, rather than those who don’t smoke cannabis as claimed.
Further, smoking cannabis can damage the lungs according to the American Lung Association, and can cause chronic bronchitis, which results from damage to the cells that line the airways. Lung damage from smoking has been cited by the World Health Organization as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 and could contribute to serious symptoms and death among patients that have underlying cardiovascular diseases
The five measures that the World Health Organization recommends to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are washing hands regularly for 20 seconds with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub, not touching one’s eyes, nose and mouth, covering one’s nose and mouth with a disposable tissue or flexed elbow when coughing or sneezing, social distancing by avoiding close contact with people who are unwell and staying home and self-isolating from others if unwell.
PesaCheck has looked into a claim that smoking cannabis can prevent COVID-19 and finds it to be FALSE.