Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

Significant advances have been achieved in ECS research, but there are gaps and challenges in adolescent and cannabis use during pregnancy. CB1Rs and CB2Rs are differentially expressed in the PNS and CNS- and are emerging targets for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Evidence suggests a relationship between changes in ECS and some symptoms of psychiatric disorders. However, with the increasing global medical and recreational use of cannabis, it is predictable that cannabis use disorders (CUDs) will increase in vulnerable population. The functional neuronal expression of CB2Rs is controversial despite new knowledge and advances in the neurobiology of CB2Rs indicating neuronal expression of CB2Rs that are involved in drug reward and synaptic plasticity. In this symposium, we provide data from our pre-clinical and clinical studies with background on advances in endocannabinoid system (ECS)-CB2Rs, indicating their functional expression in neurons, microglia, astroglia and endothelia cells. The selected speakers from Spain, Mexico, Japan, and USA will present and discuss data from their current studies and approaches on the impact of cannabinoid research advancement in new understanding of the role CB2Rs in neurodevelopment, and in the development of drug addiction and other psychiatric disorders. The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic and the infection with SARS-CoV-2 causes inflammation due to immune response, and a ‘cytokine storm’, resulting in severe and critical COVID-19 induced comorbidity in neuroCOVID-19 disorders. It is of interest to investigate whether cannabinoids can quell the cytokine storm and as adjunctive therapy for COVID-19, but require more studies and trials. Supported NIH/NIAAA grant AA027909.