A newsletter about cannabis and cannabinoids as medicine
A French scientist, who already presented 6 cases on successful self-medication of restless legs syndrome (RLS) with cannabis in 2017 wrote about 12 additional patients, who reported using cannabis. All patients complained of severe to very severe RLS symptoms and were treated with one or more available standard medication with poor or limited efficacy.
An app, which allows medical cannabis patients to track their symptoms before and after using cannabis shows, that cannabis provided significant reductions in headache ratings. The study was conducted by researchers of the Department of Psychology and the Translational Addiction Research Center of Washington State University in Pullman, USA. Scientists also wanted to know, whether gender, cannabis strain, dose and THC and CBD content played a role.
Cannabis with high CBD and low THC (ratio of 75/1) may be helpful in the treatment of autism according to an observational study with 15 patients. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte and the University of Brasília, Brazil. A group of 18 autistic patients were included. Among the 15 patients who adhered to the treatment (10 non-epileptic and five epileptic) only one patient showed lack of improvement in autistic symptoms.
During its 10th Conference on Cannabis and and Cannabinoids In Medicine from 31 October to 2 November 2019 in Berlin, which attracted about 460 people from 35 countries, the IACM hold its General Meeting.
According to a study by a group of scientists from New Zealand and Australia the use of cannabis improved pain management after spinal-cord injury including function and improvement of activities of daily living. Authors interviewed 8 individuals and interpreted 6 themes.
At the end of the months the opening of the leading international conference on medical uses of cannabis and cannabinoids begins. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the leading researchers in the field, learn from their experience, exchange with others and get first-hand and latest information!
About one month until the opening of the leading international conference on medical uses of cannabis and cannabinoids. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the leading researchers in the field, learn from their experience, exchange with others and get first-hand and latest information!
In a study with 59,824 patients cannabis use was associated with a reduced prevalence of Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI). Scientists of the Department of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts, USA, used data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2014. They selected a sample and matched cannabis users to non-users in a ratio of 1 to 1 (29,912:29,912).
Cannabidiol (CBD) in an oral dose of 600 mg “attenuated the increased activation in the left insula/parietal operculum and was associated with overall slowing of reaction time, suggesting a possible mechanism for its putative antipsychotic effect by normalising motivational salience and moderating motor response.” The study was conducted by researchers of King’s College in London, UK. It included 33 subjects at clinical high risk for psychosis and 19 healthy controls. Participants received either CBD or a placebo
The IACM Board of Directors would like to invite you to the Cannabinoid Conference 2019. It will be held on 31 October – 2 November 2019 in Berlin, Germany. The deadline for reduced registration fees is 30 August 2019.
Luxembourg has called on its EU neighbours to relax their drug laws as its health minister confirmed plans to become the first European country to legalise cannabis production and consumption. “This drug policy we had over the last 50 years did not work,” Etienne Schneider told Politico. “Forbidding everything made it just more interesting to young people … I’m hoping all of us will get a more open-minded attitude toward drugs.”
According to a large longitudinal study “adolescent cannabis use is not associated with structural brain differences in adulthood.” Data for research from the Department of Psychology of Arizona State University in Tempe, USA, came from the Pittsburgh Youth Study - a longitudinal study of ˜1000 boys. Boys completed self-reports of cannabis use annually from age 13-19. A subset of 181 boys underwent structural neuroimaging in adulthood, when they were between 30-36 years old on average.
The IACM Board of Directors would like to invite you to the Cannabinoid Conference 2019 and present your research. It will be held on 31 October - 2 November 2019 in Berlin, Germany.
Cannabis legalization for adults does not appear to increase cannabis use by adolescents and instead may have the opposite effect, a study suggests. To see how cannabis use by adolescents developed in states with and without such laws, researchers examined survey data on substance use collected from 1.4 million adolescents between 1993 and 2017. During that period, 27 states and Washington, D.C. legalized medical cannabis and seven states legalized cannabis for adult use.
The Swiss government aims to make it easier for patients to get medical cannabis, proposing on 26 June to allow prescriptions for cannabis to treat people suffering from cancer or other serious conditions.
Cannabis residue has been found in incense burners apparently used during funerary rites at a mountainous site in western China in about 500 BC, providing what may be the oldest evidence of smoking cannabis for its mind-altering properties.
The IACM Board of Directors would like to invite you to the Cannabinoid Conference 2019 and present your research. It will be held on 31 October – 2 November 2019 in Berlin, Germany. The deadlines for oral abstracts are 30 June 2019 and for poster abstracts 30 August 2019.
Illinois will become the latest state in the USA to legalize cannabis, as legislators passed a bill making cannabis use for adults the legal. The Land of Lincoln is on the verge of becoming the 11th state in the nation to legalize recreational cannabis. Governor J.B. Pritzker, who campaigned in support of legalization, is expected to promptly sign the bill.
CBD in a dose of 400 or 800 mg once daily reduced craving in patients with heroin dependency according to a placebo-controlled study. Of 42 patients 15 received a placebo, 14 received 400 mg of CBD and 13 received 800 mg of CBD. The study assessed the acute (1 hour, 2 hours, and 24 hours), short-term (3 consecutive days), and protracted (7 days after the last of three consecutive daily administrations) effects of CBD administration. It was conducted at the Department of Psychiatry and Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Population and Health Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, USA.
The IACM Board of Directors is happy to announce that the programme of the 10th IACM Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine will include talks by outstanding speakers.
According to a retrospective chart review of 77 patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis treatment with cannabis allowed one third to reduce the intake of other medications, including opioids. Scientists of Dent Neurologic Institute Amherst in New York, USA, published their study results In the Journal Neurology.
Ten female demented patients with severe behavioural problems showed significant improvement after a two-month administration of an oral cannabis extract. Scientists at the Department of Primary Care and Community Medicine of Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland, published their study results in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids. Patients received a cannabis tincture, which contained a ratio of THC to CBD of 1 to 2. According to the study results they got a mean dose of 8.8 mg THC and 17.6mg CBD after 1month, which remained stable after 2 months (average of 9 mg THC and 18 mg of CBD).
In a representative group for the US population, who were followed for 3 years cannabis use was associated with a lower increase of BMI (body mass index). Researchers of the Department of Family Medicine of Michigan State University in East Lansing, USA, published their research in the International Journal of Epidemiology. Adults completed computer-assisted personal interviews on cannabis use, body weight and height at Waves 1 (2001-2002) and 2 (2004-2005).
Many patients with gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying) and related symptoms may profit from a treatment with cannabis. Out of 197 patients, who filled out a questionnaire on their symptoms and current treatments, nearly half (92 participants) reported current or past cannabinoid use including THC and CBD. Doctors of the Section of Gastroenterology at the Department of Medicine of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, USA, asked their patients with symptoms suggestive of gastroparesis, among them nausea, vomiting, heartburn and stomach pain.
When medical cannabis becomes legal in a US state, teenagers there may be slightly less likely to use the drug, a U.S. study suggests. Even though medical and recreational cannabis laws restrict use to adults, access for adults may influence how easily teens can get the drug and whether they use it, researchers write in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. To see how teen cannabis use compares in states with and without such laws, researchers examined survey data on substance use collected from 861,082 adolescents in 45 states, aged 14 to 18 years between 1999 and 2015.
Following reports about the World Health Organization (WHO) recommending a rescheduling of cannabis and several of its key components under international drug treaties, on 13 February the European Parliament adopted a resolution that would help advance the use of cannabis-based medicines in the countries of the European Union.
In a letter of 24 January to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, the Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, informed the UN about suggested changes within the international Drug Conventions. These suggestions followed meetings of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) in June and November 2018.
In an analysis of charts of 72 adult patients CBD improved anxiety and sleep. This large retrospective case series was conducted by scientists of the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Colorado in Denver, USA. The primary concern was anxiety in 47 patients per sleep in 25 participants.
In an experimental placebo -controlled study with 3 different strains of cannabis provided by the company Bedrocan THC-rich cannabis reduced pain. Study results by researchers at Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands, and Bedrocan International were published in the journal Pain. On 4 different occasions 20 patients with fibromyalgia received either the variety Bedrocan with 22 mg THC, the variety Bediol with 13 mg THC and 18 mg CBD, Bedrolite with 18 mg CBD or a placebo.