For years, cannabis was on the list in Thailand for addictive and narcotic substances. That recently changed, which opens up possibilities for tourism in Thailand, as well as for what can be done by pharmaceutical companies.
Although people will undoubtedly benefit from the use of cannabis, chickens may also benefit as well. Scientists are looking into the possibility and are testing to see if antibiotic use in commercial farming can largely be replaced through the use of cannabis.
Although they have not yet published the findings, Business Insider reports that researchers did observe that when chickens were fed a diet that was supplemented with cannabis and lived on an organic chicken farm, there were fewer cases of avian bronchitis. In addition, the meat seemed to be far superior to others in the way of tenderness compared to other chickens that were not given cannabis.
As per Business Insider, Ong-ard Panyachatiraksa is the owner of the farm who got the ball rolling. He had the license necessary to grow medical cannabis in the country and he wanted to know what he could do with extra leaves that came from the plants. When he started feeding them to his chickens, scientists were invited to come to see the results.
An often understated and overlooked issue in chicken farming is the excess use of antibiotics. It is not only something that happens with chickens, it happens in many commercial farming situations. As a result of the overuse of antibiotics, pathogens that are resistant to those medications have been seen more and more frequently. By using cannabis, you can have a similar effect but you don’t have the problem of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
In order to do the research that has not yet been public, scientists studied 1000 chickens from the farm. Those scientists, from Chiang Mai University, discovered that the use of cannabis may help to reduce how dependent commercial chicken operations are on antibiotic use.
Although they still have to do more research on the subject, they think that the gut health of the chicken is improved through the use of cannabis, which helps boost the immune system. It doesn’t necessarily mean that cannabis is killing bacteria and viruses, but if you have a healthier chicken, it will be able to naturally defend itself with a stronger immune response.
The chickens that were fed cannabis don’t have any trace of either CBD or THC in the meat, either. The Guardian is reporting that they will fetch a higher price at the farm’s restaurant, and we will just have to see where things go from here.