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Bulletin .

A newsletter about cannabis and cannabinoids as medicine

2015
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    IACM-Bulletin of December 27, 2015

    🌐 Colombia — President Santos legalizes the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes

    On 22 December President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree that legalizes the medical use of cannabis, a move he says does not weaken the government's fight against illicit crops and drug trafficking. "Allowing the use of marijuana does not go against our international commitments to control drugs or against our policy of fighting drug trafficking," Santos told reporters after signing the decree.

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    IACM-Bulletin of December 13, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — CBD extract may reduce seizures by at least 50 per cent in about half of children with epilepsy according to large clinical study

    Three studies presented at the American Epilepsy Society's 69th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia highlight the efficacy and safety of Epidiolex, a cannabidiol (CBD) containing cannabis extract of the British company GW Pharmaceuticals. The largest CBD study presented data on Epidiolex from an open study at 16 sites in the USA. The study involves 261 people, predominantly children, who have severe epilepsy that had not responded adequately to other treatments. The average age of the participants was 11. Over the course of 12 weeks, the study participants were given Epidiolex in gradually increasing doses. In all cases, Epidiolex was added to their current treatment regimes.

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    IACM-Bulletin of November 29, 2015

    🏷️ IACM — How to become a member of a network of IACM patient and professional ambassador as well as partner organizations

    On its last meeting on 18 September 2015 the IACM Board of Directors formed a network committee to build up a network of patient and professional ambassadors and partner organizations. Ambassadors are representatives of the IACM in their country based on the aims described in the statutes of the IACM. The IACM Board of Directors would like to invite people and organizations active in this field to apply for becoming an ambassador or a partner organization. Please send a short CV (Curriculum Vitae) to the IACM (about half a page) or a short description of your organization together with your application.

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    IACM-Bulletin of November 15, 2015

    🌐 Germany — The government plans the reimbursement of cannabis flowers and other cannabis-based medicines by the health insurances in certain cases and the creation of a state cannabis agency

    Germany plans to set up a state cannabis agency to regulate the drug's cultivation and distribution to pharmacies, according to a draft bill. Details are not known, yet. More patients would be given regulated access to the drug on prescription and paid for by their health insurance under measures outlined in a draft bill from the ministry of health. So far about 500 patients suffering from at least 60 different diseases, including chronic pain, inflammatory diseases, psychiatric conditions, neurological diseases, appetite loss and nausea have been legally authorised to obtain cannabis at their own expense, because other treatments are not effective enough. The plans would involve the state cannabis agency determining the price that health insurance companies would have to pay.

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    IACM-Bulletin of November 1, 2015

    🌐 Australia — The government wants to allow the cultivation of cannabis in the country for sell in pharmacies

    Australia is altering its drug laws to allow for the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes, the government said on 17 October 2015. Draft amendments to the Narcotics Drugs Act are being finalised to allow for the controlled cultivation of cannabis, giving patients access to "a safe, legal and sustainable supply of locally produced products for the first time," Health Minister Sussan Ley said in a statement.

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    IACM-Bulletin of October 18, 2015

    🌐 Croatia — Legalization of limited access to cannabis-based medicines

    The Croatian government legalised the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, which may be prescribed to patients suffering from diseases such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, epilepsy or AIDS. The Croatian press reported that for now it will not be offered in pharmacies but through eight pharmaceutical companies.

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    IACM-Bulletin of October 4, 2015

    🏷️ IACM — Mark Ware elected as the new chairman

    During its General Meeting on 18 September 2015 during the Cannabinoid Conference 2015 in Sestri Levante, Italy, the IACM elected a new board of directors and five patient representatives. The following board members were re-elected: Mark Ware from Canada, Kirsten Müller-Vahl from Germany, Daniela Parolaro from Italy, Roger Pertwee from the UK, Jahan Marcu from the USA, William Notcutt from the UK, Donald Abrams from the USA and Ilya Reznik from Israel. Ethan Russo from the USA and Manuel Guzman from Spain were elected as new board members. Mark Ware was elected as the first chairman and Kirsten Müller-Vahl as the second chairwoman. Franjo Grotenhermen remains the Executive Director of the IACM.

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    IACM-Bulletin of September 20, 2015

    🏷️ IACM — Research presented at the Cannabinoid Conference 2015

    The IACM and the European Workshop on Cannabinoid Research hold the Cannabinoid Conference 2015 on 17-19 September 2015 in Sestri Levante, Italy. About 260 people participated in the conference. Unfortunately, registration had to be closed two weeks before the conference since the maximum number of allowed attendees for the conference place was exceeded. The IACM Board of Directors is very sorry that many people, who wanted to attend the conference, could not participate. More than 300 people would have liked to participate. Please find below a few excerpts from the abstract book, which is available for download as a pdf from the conference website.

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    IACM-Bulletin of August 23, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Life threatening angiooedema responded to cannabis according to a case report

    A 27-year-old man with recurrent episodes of angiooedema since he was 19 responded well to a treatment with cannabis, researchers of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel, reported in the journal Case Reports in Immunology. Initially, the patient responded well to steroids and antihistamines, but several attempts to withdraw treatment resulted in recurrence. In the last few months before prescribing cannabis, the frequency and severity of the attacks worsened.

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    IACM-Bulletin of August 9, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Adolescent cannabis use not linked with later mental health problems according to long-term study

    Chronic cannabis use by adolescent boys does not appear to be linked to later physical or mental health issues such as depression, psychotic symptoms or asthma, according to a study published by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania and Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. They tracked 408 males from adolescence until the age of 36 for the study, which was published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

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    IACM-Bulletin of July 26, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabis use improved the treatment outcome in patients, who were treated for opioid dependence

    The severity of opioid withdrawal was reduced by THC (dronabinol) and patients using cannabis had better treatment outcomes. This is the result of a study with 60 opioid dependent patients conducted by scientists of Columbia University in New York. Participants were randomized to receive THC 30mg daily (n=40) or placebo (n=20), under double-blind conditions, while they underwent detoxification in a clinic. THC or placebo was given while in the clinic and for 5 weeks afterwards.

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    IACM-Bulletin of July 12, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabidiol increases clobazam concentrations in children with epilepsy

    Patients, who receive cannabidiol (CBD) in combination with clobazam (a well-known brand name is Frisium) may experience an increase in clobazam (CLB) levels. Doctors at the Massachusetts General Hospital, USA, treated 13 children with refractory epilepsy with CBD in addition to clobazam and found elevated blood levels of the latter. Both medications are degraded in the liver by the CYP2C19 enzyme and thus compete for the function of this protein.

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    IACM-Bulletin of June 28, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Laws, which allow the medical use of cannabis in the USA, do not increase the use in adolescents

    Cannabis use did not increase among teenagers in the states of the USA in which medical cannabis has become legal, researchers of Columbia University in New York, USA, reported on 15 June 2015. The new analysis is the most comprehensive effort to date to answer a much-debated question: Does decriminalization of cannabis lead more adolescents to begin using it? The study found that states that had legalized medical use had higher prevailing rates of teenage cannabis use before enacting the laws, compared with states where the drug remains illegal. Those higher levels were unaffected by the changes in the law, the study found.

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    IACM-Bulletin of June 14, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — CBD improved therapeutic results after transplantation of blood stem cells

    In an open study with 48 adult patients undergoing blood stem cell transplantation (or: allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation) CBD improved the therapeutic outcome. “The combination of CBD with standard GVHD [Graft versus Host Disease] prophylaxis is a safe and promising strategy to reduce the incidence of acute GVHD,” researchers of Tel Aviv University, Israel, wrote in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. CBD in a daily dose of 300 mg was given orally starting 7 days before transplantation until day 30.

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    IACM-Bulletin of May 31, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabis use associated with reduced diabetes risk

    Cannabis use may have a protective effect against the development of diabetes. This is the conclusion by researchers of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics of Michigan State University in East Lansing, USA, from a meta-analysis of eight large independent studies.

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    IACM-Bulletin of May 17, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Children with epilepsy may profit from a treatment with CBD according to a survey

    According to a survey with 117 children with epilepsy 85% of their parents reported a reduction in seizure frequency, and 14% reported complete seizure freedom. These results by researchers of David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles were published in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior. They conducted a brief online survey of parents who administered CBD-enriched cannabis preparations for the treatment of their children's epilepsy. Survey respondents included 53 parents of children with infantile spasms and/or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

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    IACM-Bulletin of May 3, 2015

    🌐 Jamaica — Justice Minister plants first legal cannabis plant for medicinal purposes

    Justice Minister Mark Golding firmed a cannabis plant into the soil at the University of the West Indies Mona campus on 27 April, in a ceremonial planting. It was the first cannabis seedling to be legally planted in the country, following the passage of a law, which legalises the production of medical cannabis.

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    IACM-Bulletin of April 19, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Inhaled cannabis reduced diabetic peripheral neuropathy pain in controlled study

    Inhaled cannabis demonstrated a dose dependent reduction in peripheral treatment-refractory neuropathic pain in 16 patients with diabetes. These results of a clinical study by researchers of the University of California in San Diego were published in The Journal of Pain. In a cross-over design, each participant was exposed to a single dosing session of placebo, low (1% THC), medium (4% THC), or high (7% THC) doses of cannabis. After inhalation by a vaporizer the pain intensity and subjective highness score was measured at 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes and then every 30 minutes for an additional 3 hours.

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    IACM-Bulletin of April 5, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Animal — Cannabidiol improves bone fracture healing in rats

    Scientists of the Bone Laboratory of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, reported that the major non-psychoactive cannabis constituent, cannabidiol (CBD), enhances the biomechanical properties of healing bone fractures in rats. The maximal load capacity, but not the stiffness, of thigh bones from rats given a mixture of CBD and THC for 8 weeks was markedly increased by CBD. This effect does not apply to THC, and a combination with THC was not advantageous over CBD alone.

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    IACM-Bulletin of March 22, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabis use is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes in patients infected both with HIV and HCV

    Diabetes and insulin resistance are frequent in patients who are both infected with the HI virus [HIV] and the hepatitis C virus [HCV]. Researchers from several French institutes found that among 703 patients infected with both viruses those 319 (45%) participants, who reported cannabis use in the 6 months before the first study visit, were less likely to have insulin resistance.

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    IACM-Bulletin of March 8, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Animal — A CBD rich cannabis extract showed better anti-inflammatory effects than pure cannabidiol

    In experiments with mice a CBD rich cannabis extract was superior in reducing inflammation than pure CBD. This is the result of research by scientists of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. They used a cannabis strain called Avidekel to prepare extracts, which were given either orally or injected into the belly. CBD (cannabidiol) is a non-psychotropic compound of the cannabis plant.

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    IACM-Bulletin of February 22, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabis use may not have a significant effect on traffic accidents according to large US study

    A new study from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates cannabis use doesn't significantly increase traffic accident risk. The study looked at 9,000 drivers over the course of 20 months. It found drivers who regularly use cannabis are 25 percent more likely to be involved in a traffic accident. However, when the researchers factored in age, gender and level of alcohol consumption among cannabis users, they found that those factors were responsible for the increase. Cannabis use itself did not noticeably impact crash risk once the other factors were added.

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    IACM-Bulletin of February 8, 2015

    🌐 USA — American Academy of Pediatrics says cannabis has medical value for some children

    The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which has the largest paediatric publishing program in the world, recommends decriminalizing cannabis and says it could be good for some children in a new statement. "The AAP opposes 'medical marijuana' outside the regulatory process of the US Food and Drug Administration," says the new statement. However, it recognizes that children with some diseases could benefit from cannabis.

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    IACM-Bulletin of January 25, 2015

    🌐 Germany — Chancellor Merkel supports improvements in the medical use of cannabis

    It is "important that we extend and improve the possibilities of the use of cannabis as a medicine for severely ill patients," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in response to a request by a citizen to rethink the current legal status of cannabis in Germany. The question and the answer of the Chancellor were published on a website, where the Chancellor directly responds to questions by German citizens, if this question is supported by many others.

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    IACM-Bulletin of January 11, 2015

    🏷️ Science/Human — Nabilone reduces nightmares in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder

    Nabilone reduced nightmares in 10 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a controlled study with 10 patients, researchers of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group Headquarters in Ottawa, Canada, wrote in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. Canadian male military personnel with PTSD, who despite standard treatment continued to experience trauma-related nightmares, received double-blind treatment with 0.5mg nabilone or placebo, and then titrated to the effective dose (nightmare suppression) or reaching a maximum of 3.0 mg. Subjects were followed for 7 weeks and then, following a 2-week washout period, were titrated with the other study treatment and followed for an additional 7 weeks. Nabilone is a synthetic derivative of THC with similar effects.

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