A bi-weekly newsletter about cannabis and cannabinoids as medicine

2023
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    IACM-Bulletin of 26 March 2023

    Science/Human: Cannabis is safe and effective in treating severe chronic diseases

    A retrospective analysis of data from 157 Australians, who were prescribed medicinal cannabis for different diseases, showed that the medication is safe and effective. Investigators of the University of New South Wales in Sydney and other academic institutions in Sydney, Australia, published the results according to which cannabis was perceived beneficial by 53.5% of patients.

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    IACM-Bulletin of 12 March 2023

    IACM: Raphael Mechoulam has passed away at the age of 92

    On 9 March 2023, Raphael Mechoulam, professor emeritus of medicinal chemistry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, passed away at his home in Jerusalem at the age of 92. He is often referred to as the father or grandfather of cannabinoid research because of his ground-breaking discoveries. He had first determined the exact chemical structure of the cannabis active ingredient delta-9-THC in 1964, together with Yehiel Gaoni, and his research group discovered the first endocannabinoid in 1992, which he named anandamide.

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    IACM-Bulletin of 26 February 2023

    Science/Human: Cannabis use may have a favourable effect on hospital stays of patients with inflammatory bowel disease

    Cannabis users suffering from inflammatory bowel disease are less likely to be hospitalised then non-users. Investigators at the Department of Internal Medicine of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, USA, compared hospitalised adult patients in Colorado and Washington before (2011) and after (2015) recreational cannabis legalization.

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    IACM-Bulletin of 12 February 2023

    🏷️ Science/Human: Treatment of childhood epilepsy with a combination of THC and CBD may be much more effective than treatment with CBD alone

    A case series of 35 children (<18 years old) with treatment resistant epilepsy from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry was analysed. Data were presented by investigators of the Department of Surgery & Cancer of Imperial College London, UK. Patients received either CBD isolate oils (n = 19), CBD broad-spectrum oils (n = 17), and CBD/THC combination therapy (n = 17).  

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    IACM-Bulletin of 29 January 2023

    🏷️ Science/Human: Cannabis may improve agitation and sleep in Alzheimer’s disease according to observational study

    A retrospective, observational trial aimed to investigate the clinical action of THC: CBD cannabis extract administration in patients with Alzheimer’s disease on severe symptoms such as agitation, weight loss, cognitive impairment, and sleep disturbance. Thirty patients (9 men and 21 women) diagnosed with mild, moderate, or severe Alzheimer’s disease, aged 65-90 years, were enrolled by the Second Opinion Medical Network in Modena, Italy. They used olive oil-diluted cannabis extract twice a day for 12 weeks.

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    IACM-Bulletin of January 15, 2023

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabis legalisation has no relevant effects on psychiatric disorders according to a twin study

    Using data from a longitudinal study with 4043 twins from the USA, investigators from the Universities of Minnesota and Colorado, USA, and the University of Helsinki, Finland, found that the legalisation of cannabis in the USA had no relevant effects on a wide range of adult psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes. The participants were first assessed in adolescence and now at the age of 24-49 residing in states with different cannabis policies (40% resided in a recreationally legal state).

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    IACM-Bulletin of January 1, 2023

    🏷️ Science/Human — Cannabis had no negative effect in lung cancer patients treated with immunotherapy

    According to a study with 201 lung cancer patients by the Oncology Institute of the Tel Aviv Medical Center, and the Sackler School of Medicine, Israel, the use of cannabis had no negative effects on a treatment with pembrolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, for metastatic disease. 102 (50.7%) patients received licence for cannabis within the first month of treatment. The most common indication for cannabis was pain (71%) followed by loss of appetite (34%).

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