Comparison of the analgesic effects of dronabinol and smoked marijuana in daily marijuana smokers.

Authors: Ziva D. Cooper, Sandra D. Comer, Margaret Haney
Neuropsychopharmacology, September 2013

Recent studies have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids to treat pain, yet none have compared the analgesic effectiveness of smoked marijuana to orally administered Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; dronabinol). This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-dumm…

The endocannabinoid system as a possible target to treat both the cognitive and emotional features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder of significant prevalence and morbidity, whose pathogenesis relies on paradoxical changes of emotional memory processing. An ideal treatment would be a drug able to block the pathological over-consolidation and continuous retrieval of the traumatic event, while enhancing its extinction and reducing the anxiety symptoms.

Survey of Psychiatrists On Medical Cannabis

Psychiatric Times invited psychiatrists to complete a survey about medicinal marijuana and didn’t expect nearly 2200 people to complete that survey in just a few days. The results, reported in…

Cannabinoids: well-suited candidates for the treatment of perinatal brain injury.

Authors: David Fernández-López, Ignacio Lizasoain, Maria Ángeles Moro, José Martínez-Orgado
Brain Sciences, 10 July 2013

Perinatal brain injury can be induced by a number of different damaging events occurring during or shortly after birth, including neonatal asphyxia, neonatal hypoxia-ischemia and stroke-induced focal ischemia. Typical manifestations of these conditions are the presence of glut…

The impact of marijuana use on glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance among US adults.

Authors: Elizabeth A. Penner, Hannah Buettner, Murray A. Mittleman
The American Journal of Medicine, July 2013

BACKGROUND: There are limited data regarding the relationship between cannabinoids and metabolic processes. Epidemiologic studies have found lower prevalence rates of obesity and diabetes mellitus in marijuana users compared with people who have never used marijuana, suggestin…

Cannabinoids inhibit energetic metabolism and induce AMPK-dependent autophagy in pancreatic cancer cells.

Authors: I. Dando, M. Donadelli, C. Costanzo, E. Dalla Pozza, A. D’Alessandro, L. Zolla, M. Palmieri
Cell Death & Disease, 13 June 2013

The anti-tumoral effects of cannabinoids have been described in different tumor systems, including pancreatic adenocarcinoma, but their mechanism of action remains unclear. We used cannabinoids specific for the CB1 (ACPA) and CB2 (GW) receptors and metabolomic analyses to unra…

Effects of marijuana smoking on the lung.

Authors: Donald P. Tashkin
Annals of the American Thoracic Society, June 2013

Regular smoking of marijuana by itself causes visible and microscopic injury to the large airways that is consistently associated with an increased likelihood of symptoms of chronic bronchitis that subside after cessation of use. On the other hand, habitual use of marijuana al…

The orphan receptor GPR55 drives skin carcinogenesis and is upregulated in human squamous cell carcinomas.

Authors: E Pérez-Gómez, C Andradas, J M Flores, M Quintanilla, J M Paramio, M Guzmán, C Sánchez
Oncogene, 16 May 2013

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) control crucial physiological processes and their dysfunction contributes to various human diseases, including cancer. The orphan GPCR GPR55 was identified and cloned more than a decade ago, but very little is known about its physio-patholog…

Medical Marijuana Laws, Traffic Fatalities, and Alcohol Consumption

Authors: D. Mark Anderson, Benjamin Hansen, Daniel I. Rees
The Journal of Law and Economics, May 2013

To date, 19 states have passed medical marijuana laws, yet very little is known about their effects. The current study examines the relationship between the legalization of medical marijuana and traffic fatalities, the leading cause of death among Americans ages 5–34. The firs…

Altered expression of type-1 and type-2 cannabinoid receptors in celiac disease.

Authors: Natalia Battista, Antonio Di Sabatino, Monia Di Tommaso, Paolo Biancheri, Cinzia Rapino, et al
PLoS One, 19 April 2013

Anandamide (AEA) is the prominent member of the endocannabinoid family and its biological action is mediated through the binding to both type-1 (CB1) and type-2 (CB2) cannabinoid receptors (CBR). The presence of AEA and CBR in the gastrointestinal tract highlighted their patho…

Does using marijuana increase the risk for developing schizophrenia?

Authors: A. Eden Evins, Alan I. Green, John M. Kane, Sir Robin M. Murray
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, April 2013

As more US states and other countries consider legalizing marijuana, clinicians need to know the possible effects of this drug. Research has shown a connection between marijuana use and an increased risk for schizophrenia in young people who are vulnerable to developing psycho…

Prenatal substance abuse: short- and long-term effects on the exposed fetus.

Authors: Marylou Behnke, Vincent C. Smith, COMMITTEE ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE, COMMITTEE ON FETUS AND NEWBORN
Pediatrics, March 2013

Prenatal substance abuse continues to be a significant problem in this country and poses important health risks for the developing fetus. The primary care pediatrician’s role in addressing prenatal substance exposure includes prevention, identification of exposure, recognition…