This category needs to be renamed to be meaningful than “Miscellaneous” but it will do for now. Basically it’s intended for news, research, legal actions and other information about medical marijuana for the general, nonexpert audience: patients, jouralists, the curious, etc.
Fossil records suggest that close ancestors of the cannabis plant existed around 34 million years ago. Initially identified in central China, cannabis is thought to have been one of the first cultivated crops from which hemp was used to make rope, paper, and clothing.1 The cannabis plant was also used as food. Seeds from the plant were made into oil, and certain parts of the plant were used to make psychotropic drugs
Cannabidiol (CBD), the main non-psychoactive cannabinoid of the Cannabis sativa plant, is a powerful antioxidant compound that in recent years has increased interest due to causes effects in a wide range of biological functions. Zika virus (ZIKV) is a virus transmitted mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which causes neurological diseases, such as microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome. Although the frequency of viral outbreaks has increased recently, no vaccinations or particular chemotherapeutic treatments are available for ZIKV infection. The major aim of this study was to explore the in vitro antiviral activity of CBD against ZIKV, expanding also to other dissimilar viruses.
Damage caused by physical exertion (anti-inflammatory) (Gamelin et al., 2020;Kennedy, 2017;Stone et al., 2023;Villanueva et al., 2022), and reduce pain caused by high physical demands (pain and soreness reliever) (see figure 1) (Gamelin et al., 2020;Henson et al., 2022;Kennedy, 2017). substances promote sleep controlled by the endocannabinoid system, which we can activate by consuming CBD (McCartney et al., 2020;Rojas-Valverde, 2021).Sleep management requires a precise balance of neurotransmitters, and CBD’s actions on the endocannabinoid system contribute to this balance. CBD interacts with adenosine receptors, which is significant since adenosine is a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep and relaxation.CBD promotes tranquillity and preparedness for sleep by boosting adenosine signalling.Furthermore, CBD’s effect on GABAergic neurotransmission adds to its sleep-enhancing properties (Kaul et al., 2021;Kesner & Lovinger, 2020). GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation and drowsiness by lowering neuronal excitability.CBD’s effect on GABA receptors can promote deeper, more comfortable sleep. Furthermore, CBD’s ability to relieve anxiety and stress, which are significant causes of sleep disruption, indirectly supports greater sleep quality (Blessing et al., 2015;Moltke & Hindocha, 2021;Ortiz Rios et al., 2022). CBD provides a biological foundation for its action via modifying endocannabinoid system signalling, increasing adenosine effects, and regulating GABAergic neurotransmission (Martinez Naya et al., 2023;Yarar, 2020;Zou & Kumar, 2018).
Our study uses data from the mobile health app, Releaf AppTM, through which 1,882 people tracked the effects of Cannabis flower on a multitude of health conditions during 16,480 medical cannabis self-administration sessions recorded between 6/5/2016 and 3/11/2021. Session-level reported information included plant phenotypes, modes of administration, potencies, baseline and post- administration symptom intensity levels, total dose used, and real-time side effect experiences.
Recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) continue to grow in popularity, but the effects on mental health treatment are unclear. This paper uses an event-study within a difference-in-differences framework to study the short-run impact of state RMLs on admissions into mental health treatment facilities. The results indicate that shortly after a state adopts an RML, they experience a decrease in the average number of mental health treatment admissions. The findings are driven by white, Black, and Medicaid-funded admissions and are consistent for both male and female admissions. The results are robust to alternative specifications and sensitivity analysis.
Cannabis use has become popular among athletes, many of whom are exposed to repetitive subconcussive head impacts. We aimed to test whether chronic cannabis use would be neuroprotective or exacerbating against acute subconcussive head impacts. This trial included 43 adult soccer players (Cannabis group using cannabis at least once a week for the past 6 months, n = 24; non-cannabis control group, n = 19). Twenty soccer headings, induced by our controlled heading model, significantly impaired ocular-motor function, but the degrees of impairments were less in the cannabis group compared to controls. The control group significantly increased its serum S100B level after heading, whereas no change was observed in the cannabis group. There was no group difference in serum neurofilament light levels at any time point. Our data suggest that chronic cannabis use may be associated with an enhancement of oculomotor functional resiliency and suppression of the neuroinflammatory response following 20 soccer headings.
SCC Member, Dave Gordon MD, was recently invited to review a middle school cannabis curriculum. Read below to see how education for this population has evolved since the DARE Program days.
It is with great honor and pride that we share that our SCC Board Member, Dr. Patricia Frye, on the 17th of May 2023, gave the Commencement Ceremony to the…
Hemp is an understudied source of pharmacologically active compounds and many unique plant secondary metabolites including more than 100 cannabinoids. After years of legal restriction, research on hemp has recently demonstrated antiviral activities in silico, in vitro, and in vivo for cannabidiol (CBD), Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), and several other cannabinoids against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and γ-herpes viruses. Mechanisms of action include inhibition of viral cell entry, inhibition of viral proteases, and stimulation of cellular innate immune responses. The anti-inflammatory properties of cannabinoids are also under investigation for mitigating the cytokine storm of COVID-19 and controlling chronic inflammation in people living with HIV. Retrospective clinical studies support antiviral activities of CBD, Δ9-THC, and cannabinoid mixtures as do some prospective clinical trials, but appropriately designed clinical trials of safety and efficacy of antiviral cannabinoids are urgently needed.
Research describing patients using medicinal cannabis and its effectiveness is lacking. We aimed to describe adults with non-cancer diagnoses who are prescribed medicinal cannabis via a retrospective medical record review and assess its effectiveness and safety. From 157 Australian records, most were female (63.7%; mean age 63.0 years). Most patients had neurological (58.0%) or musculoskeletal (24.8%) conditions. Medicinal cannabis was perceived beneficial by 53.5% of patients.
The development of long-term symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) more than four weeks after primary infection, termed “long COVID” or post-acute sequela of COVID-19 (PASC), can implicate persistent neurological complications in up to one third of patients and present as fatigue, “brain fog”, headaches, cognitive impairment, dysautonomia, neuropsychiatric symptoms, anosmia, hypogeusia, and peripheral neuropathy. Pathogenic mechanisms of these symptoms of long COVID remain largely unclear; however, several hypotheses implicate both nervous system and systemic pathogenic mechanisms such as SARS-CoV2 viral persistence and neuroinvasion, abnormal immunological response, autoimmunity, coagulopathies, and endotheliopathy. Outside of the CNS, SARS-CoV-2 can invade the support and stem cells of the olfactory epithelium leading to persistent alterations to olfactory function. SARS-CoV-2 infection may induce abnormalities in innate and adaptive immunity including monocyte expansion, T-cell exhaustion, and prolonged cytokine release, which may cause neuroinflammatory responses and microglia activation, white matter abnormalities, and microvascular changes. Additionally, microvascular clot formation can occlude capillaries and endotheliopathy, due to SARS-CoV-2 protease activity and complement activation, can contribute to hypoxic neuronal injury and blood–brain barrier dysfunction, respectively. Current therapeutics target pathological mechanisms by employing antivirals, decreasing inflammation, and promoting olfactory epithelium regeneration. Thus, from laboratory evidence and clinical trials in the literature, we sought to synthesize the pathophysiological pathways underlying neurological symptoms of long COVID and potential therapeutics.
Cannabidiol is showing promising results for the treatment of COVID-19, due to its capa- bility of acting on the unleashed cytokine storm, on the proteins necessary for both virus entry and replication and on the neurological consequences of patients who have been infected by the virus. Here, we summarize the latest knowledge regarding the advantages of using cannabinoids in the treatment of COVID-19.