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Bulletin .

A newsletter about cannabis and cannabinoids as medicine

2020
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    IACM-Bulletin of December 20, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — 20 years of IACM: a look back and ahead

    The year 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the IACM. To mark the occasion, our journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research has published an article looking back at our history, work and future prospects. At this time, when a lot is happening worldwide on all continents on the topic of cannabis as medicine, an international cooperation of scientists, physicians and patients and thus an international scientific society, which has also always focused on the patients, is more valuable than ever.

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    IACM-Bulletin of December 6, 2020

    🌐 UNO — UN drug agency loosens control on cannabis by following the advice of WHO

    On 2 December the U.N. drug agency’s member states narrowly voted to remove cannabis from the most tightly controlled category of narcotic drugs, following the World Health Organization’s recommendation to make research into its medical use easier.

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    IACM-Bulletin of November 22, 2020

    🌐 Argentina — The country allows people to grow cannabis at home for medicinal use

    On 12 November Argentina authorized people to grow cannabis at home for medicinal use. A decree issued by President Alberto Fernández also allows pharmacies to sell cannabis-derived oils, creams and other products, and it orders public and private insurance systems to cover these medications for patients who obtain a prescription.

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    IACM-Bulletin of November 8, 2020

    🌐 USA — Arizona, New Jersey South Dakota and Montana legalized the use of cannabis for adults, South Dakota and Mississippi for medical use

    According to a report by UPI of 4 November Arizona has approved legalizing recreational cannabis, with almost 60% of the vote. New Jersey appears to have passed a similar measure with almost 70%. A similar measure is favoured by 57% of voters in Montana, after more than two-thirds of votes counted.

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    IACM-Bulletin of October 25, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Free Anniversary Online Meeting on 5 November 2020 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Raphael Mechoulam

    On November 5, we want to celebrate together the 90th birthday of Professor Raphael Mechoulam - he was born on November 5, 1930 - and the 20th anniversary of the IACM. The online event will start at 5:00 pm (Central European Time), corresponding to 9:00 am (Pacific Standard Time).

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    IACM-Bulletin of October 11, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Free Webinars and Anniversary Online Meeting between October and December 2020

    The start of the IACM webinar series has been postponed from 8 October to 15 October. All webinars will begin and 6 PM Central European Time. The anniversary event on November 5th, where we will celebrate the 90th birthday of Professor Mechoulam and the 20th anniversary of the IACM, will start at 5 pm CET. All webinars will be held in English with subtitles in German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Only the webinar series will be available online afterwards as on demand recordings from October 2020 until March 2021 on the web site of our host (Congrex).

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    IACM-Bulletin of September 27, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Prof. Elisaldo Araújo Carlini, cannabinoid research pioneer, passed away at the age of 90

    The Brazilian cannabis and cannabinoid researcher Prof Elisaldo Araujo Carlini (1930-2020) passed away on September 16 at the age of 90. He was the pioneer in discovering the anticonvulsant effects of cannabidiol, still in the 70s. Carlini lived a period of his childhood in a small rural district of Pirajá, São Paulo. In this village devoid of all resources, including health care, he came into contact with herbal treatments and developed a deep sense of solidarity with human suffering. The Professor used to say to his students that his passion for research with medicinal plants began in that period.

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    IACM-Bulletin of September 13, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Free online events: webinars and anniversary online meeting

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying circumstances we are very sorry to inform you that we have to cancel our planned IACM Conference scheduled November 5th to 7th 2020. However, instead we decided to celebrate a birthday event on November 5th 2020 in honor of the 90. birthday of Professor Raphael Mechoulam and the 20th anniversary of the IACM. We are happy to announce this special event accessible to everyone free of charge. At the same time we will offer freely accessible webinars throughout October and November 2020 by outstanding cannabis experts.

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    IACM-Bulletin of August 30, 2020

    🌐 Israel — Reduced prices for medical cannabis and CBD no longer a narcotic

    Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and his deputy Yoav Kisch published on 26 August regulations that will allow for lower prices for medicinal cannabis. The regulations are also expected to simplify the process required to go through for receiving a prescription. Three weeks ago, the Knesset's Labor, Welfare and Health Committee raised various issues relating to the medicinal cannabis reform that were brought to light since it came into effect. The committee guaranteed that a row of steps will be taken in order to address that issues.

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    IACM-Bulletin of August 16, 2020

    🌐 Thailand — Patients may cultivate their own cannabis for medical use

    Thailand’s cabinet approved amendments on 4 August to its narcotics act to allow private production and sale of cannabis for medical use, officials said. With a tradition of using the drug to relieve pain, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian nation to legalise cannabis in 2017 for medical use and research, but only the government was allowed to grow plants.

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    IACM-Bulletin of August 2, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Deadline for submission of abstracts extended for the IACM 2020 Virtual Conference on Cannabinoids – Special sponsoring opportunities

    Be part of the innovative project of IACM and AMMCann and share your research in Cannabinoid Medicines at the 11th IACM Conference in November 2020. The format offers sophisticated ways to present your posters and studies online and allows engagement between you and everybody who is interested in the research you do. All selected posters will be available online from 5 November - 15 December 2020, allowing a prolonged visibility and access from all over the world. The conference is integrated into the same platform as a webinar series in October 2020.

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    IACM-Bulletin of July 19, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Sophisticated possibilities to present posters at the virtual Conference

    The 11th IACM Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine organized together with the AMMCann (Mexico) will take place on 5-7 November 2020 as a virtual 3-day meeting. There will be sophisticated possibilities to present posters. We are supported by a company, which already organized several conferences, form where we took this sample poster presentation. We have planned to have the e-posters online until 15th December, just as the virtual exhibition of sponsors. However, depending on interest we may even prolong this period.

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    IACM-Bulletin of July 5, 2020

    🌐 Switzerland — Government wants to make cannabis available for medical use

    The Swiss government wants to empower doctors to prescribe cannabis for medical purposes without authorisation. On 24 June, the Federal Council submitted a revised version of the narcotics law to parliament for deliberation. Cannabis, whether for recreational or medical purposes, has been banned in Switzerland since 1951. However, doctors may prescribe a medicine based on this substance if they get an exceptional green light from the Federal Office of Public Health.

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    IACM-Bulletin of June 21, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Free access to webinars and other benefits of an IACM membership

    Within our program to professionalize the work of the IACM, we now open our new membership page. Access to the member area of the IACM with exclusive content is only possible for regular members (e.g. videos of conference talks held at the ‘Cannabinoid Conference 2019’, or our October 2020 webinar series). All membership issues will be processed automatically from now on, including automatic confirmation of payments, receipts for donation to charity at the beginning of each year for the previous year, etc. The rest of the website is under further construction.

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    IACM-Bulletin of June 7, 2020

    🏷️ Science 🌐 Israel — Ancient Israelites may have used a cannabis high as part of religious ritual 3000 years ago

    The ancient Israelites may have used cannabis to get high as part of their religious ritual, according to Israeli researchers who found residue of the drug at a nearly 3,000-year-old shrine. The traces were found on an altar at the Tel Arad temple, in the Negev Desert about 10 km (six miles) from the southern Israeli town of Arad.

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    IACM-Bulletin of May 24, 2020

    🌐 USA — Citizens of states with recreational cannabis laws view the legislation as a success

    In a survey more than 32,000 US citizens were asked whether they believe cannabis legislation for use by adults has been more of a success or failure in the states that have legalized it. In many states where recreational cannabis is legal, a plurality of citizens believes these laws have been more of a success than a failure overall.

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    IACM-Bulletin of May 10, 2020

    🏷️ Science/Human — A high number of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease benefit from self-medication with cannabis

    New research conducted by the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney reveals a quarter of Australians with inflammatory bowel disease have used cannabis, predominantly from illicit sources, to manage their condition. Of 838 respondents 25.3% were using or had previously used cannabis to manage their symptoms. Only 3 (1.4%) of cannabis users got their medication from legal pathways provided by the government.

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    IACM-Bulletin of May 4, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Ensuring continuity of treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic for patients using Cannabis and cannabinoid medicines.

    In 2019 the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence declared that preparations of cannabis have shown therapeutic potential for various medical conditions.

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    IACM-Bulletin of April 26, 2020

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabis alleviates opioid withdrawal symptoms

    According to a survey with 200 people, who used cannabis and opiates within the past month and experienced opiate withdrawal symptoms cannabis alleviates opiate withdrawal symptoms in most patients and increases them in a few. The study was conducted by researchers of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA.

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    IACM-Bulletin of April 12, 2020

    🏷️ Science/Human — The use of cannabis alone in Multiple Sclerosis may replace several medications

    A team of Spanish researchers from different universities and hospitals propose the concept of “Spasticity-Plus Syndrome" in Multiple Sclerosis, since the use of cannabis may not only be helpful in the treatment of spasticity but because improvements in several symptoms/functions including spasms, cramps, pain, gait, sleep, bladder function, fatigue, and possibly tremor.

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    IACM-Bulletin of March 29, 2020

    🌐 Expert Opinion — Claims on infeasibility of cannabis with high THC concentrations for medical use are not supported by science

    In March 2020 the IACM Board of Directors decided to install a new category in the IACM-Bulletin, which allows the publication of opinions and statements by researchers on current scientific reports and statements by colleagues. These opinions are meant to encourage the discussion on controversial issues. Today’s opinion is by Dr Franjo Grotenhermen, Executive Director of the IACM, who is running a medical practice in Germany focused on cannabis-based treatments. It is about a claim on cannabis potency for pain relief made by Dr Alfonso Edgar Romero-Sandoval from the Department of Anesthesiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, USA, and colleagues.

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    IACM-Bulletin of March 25, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Statement of the Board on current corona virus pandemic and the use of cannabinoids

    Several laboratory studies suggest that cannabinoids may have antiviral and antibacterial effects. We have reported on this repeatedly in the IACM-Bulletin.

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    IACM-Bulletin of March 15, 2020

    🌐 UNO — Commission on Narcotic Drugs postpones vote on regulation of cannabis

    The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has decided to delay until December a vote due to take place in March on the potential global rescheduling of cannabis. The CND—which is meeting in Vienna, Austria from March 2-6—was due to vote on a set of recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) to loosen restrictions on cannabis and related substances like CBD and THC.

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    IACM-Bulletin of March 11, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — 20th Anniversary

    20 years ago, a small circle of people founded the IACM as the Association for Cannabis as Medicine, later renamed the Association for Cannabinoid Medicines.

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    IACM-Bulletin of March 1, 2020

    🏷️ Science/Human — THC may reduce opioid dose after traumatic injury

    In a study with 66 patients, who were admitted to hospital to the St. Anthony Hospital and Medical Campus in Lakewood, Colorado, USA, for traumatic injury additional use of THC (dronabinol) reduced opioid dose. There were 66 patients included: 33 cases and 33 matched controls. Dronabinol was initiated 55 (28–107) hours from admission.

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    IACM-Bulletin of February 16, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — Conferences in November 2020 in Mexico City and in October 2021 in Basel

    The IACM will hold its 11th Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine from 7 to 9 November 2020 in Mexico City. Our congress partner is the Asociacion Mexicana de Medicina Cannabinoide (Mexican Association for Cannabinoid Medicines). This association has already held an excellently organized and well attended congress in Mexico in 2019. It will be the first congress of the IACM outside Europe.

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    IACM-Bulletin of February 2, 2020

    🏷️ Science/Animal — Cannabigerol effective against infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria

    Cannabigerol (CBG), a cannabinoid of the cannabis plant has been found to destroy drug-resistant bacteria, raising hopes of a new weapon in the fight against superbugs. Scientists screened five cannabinoids for their antibiotic properties and found that one, cannabigerol (CBG), was particularly potent at killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the most common hospital superbugs.

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    IACM-Bulletin of January 19, 2020

    🏷️ IACM — IACM on Facebook and LinkedIn

    The IACM has opened a new Facebook page. There you will find the latest information on the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids in the period between the bi-weekly IACM bulletins.

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    IACM-Bulletin of January 5, 2020

    🌐 Italy — Growing small amounts of cannabis at home is not a crime, the High Court rules

    Growing small amounts of cannabis at home for private use is not a crime, Italy’s top court has ruled, putting an end to a yearlong legal dispute. A 1990s law prohibits the cultivation and sale of cannabis in Italy, but conflicting court decisions created confusion over how it should be interpreted. The country’s highest court appears to have settled at least part of the question, writing in a statement of its findings that “at home, small-scale cultivation activities are to be considered excluded from the application of the penal code.”

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