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Opportunities for cannabis in supportive care in cancer.

Authors: Amber S. Kleckner, Ian R. Kleckner, Charles S. Kamen, Mohamedtaki A. Tejani, et al
Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology, 1 August 2019

Cannabis has the potential to modulate some of the most common and debilitating symptoms of cancer and its treatments, including nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, and pain. However, the dearth of scientific evidence for the effectiveness of cannabis in treating these symp…

Should Oncologists Recommend Cannabis?

Authors: Donald I. Abrams
Current Treatment Options in Oncology, 3 June 2019

Cannabis is a useful botanical with a wide range of therapeutic potential. Global prohibition over the past century has impeded the ability to study the plant as medicine. However, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been developed as a stand-alone pharmaceutical initially …

Patient Counseling Guidelines for the Use of Cannabis for the Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea/Vomiting and Chronic Pain.

Authors: Patrick Makary, Jayesh R. Parmar, Natalie Mims, Nile M. Khanfar, Robert A. Freeman
Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, December 2018

The use of cannabis medications has grown in recent years for the symptomatic relief of chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting (CINV) and chronic pain (cancer-related and non-cancer-related). As states legalize the use of cannabis, it is important for pharmacists and other healt…

Cannabis use predicts risks of heart failure and cerebrovascular accidents: results from the National Inpatient Sample.

Authors: Aditi Kalla, Parasuram Krishnamoorthy, Akshaya Gopalakrishnan, Vincent Figueredo
Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, September 2018

BACKGROUND: Cannabis for medicinal and/or recreational purposes has been decriminalized in 28 states as of the 2016 election. In the remaining states, cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug. Cardiovascular effects of cannabis use are not well established due to a…

Evidence for cannabis and cannabinoids for epilepsy: a systematic review of controlled and observational evidence.

Authors: Emily Stockings, Dino Zagic, Gabrielle Campbell, Megan Weier, Wayne D Hall, et al
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, July 2018

Review evidence for cannabinoids as adjunctive treatments for treatment-resistant epilepsy. Systematic search of Medline, Embase and PsycINFO was conducted in October 2017. Outcomes were: 50%+ seizure reduction, complete seizure freedom; improved quality of life (QoL). Tolerab…

A National Needs Assessment of Canadian Nurse Practitioners Regarding Cannabis for Therapeutic Purposes.

Authors: Lynda G. Balneaves, Abeer Alraja, Daniel Ziemianski, Fairleth McCuaig, Mark Ware
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, March 2018

Introduction: In Canada, the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) has given nurse practitioners (NPs) the power to authorize cannabis for therapeutic purposes (CTP) to eligible patients. This expansion in NPs’ scope of practice underscores the importance…

Cannabis in Parkinson’s Disease: Hype or help?

Authors: Tina Mainka, Jan Stork, Ute Hidding, Carsten Buhmann
Fortschritte der Neurologie · Psychiatrie, February 2018

Cannabis buds and extracts as well as synthetic cannabinoids have been available on prescription to patients with severe diseases since March 2017, with the costs covered by health insurance companies.The prescription of medical marihuana is not restricted to specific symptoms…

Medical Cannabis in Parkinson Disease: Real-Life Patients’ Experience.

Authors: Yacov Balash, Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider, Amos Korczyn, Herzel Shabtai, Judith Knaani, et al
Clinical Neuropharmacology, November/December 2017

BACKGROUND: The use of medical cannabis (MC) is controversial. Support for its benefits is based on small clinical series. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to report the results of a standardized interview study that retrospectively assessed the effects of MC on symptoms o…

Physicians-in-training are not prepared to prescribe medical marijuana.

Authors: Anastasia B. Evanoff, Tiffany Quan, Carolyn Dufault, Michael Awad, Laura Jean Bierut
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 1 November 2017

BACKGROUND: While medical marijuana use is legal in more than half of U.S. states, evidence is limited about the preparation of physicians-in-training to prescribe medical marijuana. We asked whether current medical school and graduate medical educational training prepare phys…

Cannabinoids in treatment-resistant epilepsy: A review.

Authors: Brooke K. O’Connell, David Gloss, Orrin Devinsky
Epilepsy & Behavior, May 2017

Treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) affects 30% of epilepsy patients and is associated with severe morbidity and increased mortality. Cannabis-based therapies have been used to treat epilepsy for millennia, but only in the last few years have we begun to collect data from adequ…

Using Medical Cannabis in an Oncology Practice

Authors: Donald I. Abrams
Oncology, May 2016

As oncologists, we treat patients who have devastating diagnoses with potent therapies. Hence, we demand solid evidence before recommending any intervention. Unfortunately, when it comes to supporting the use of cannabis in clinical situations, we are frustrated by a dearth of…

Marijuana Use in Epilepsy: The Myth and the Reality.

Authors: Kamil Detyniecki, Lawrence Hirsch
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, October 2015

Marijuana has been utilized as a medicinal plant to treat a variety of conditions for nearly five millennia. Over the past few years, there has been an unprecedented interest in using cannabis extracts to treat epilepsy, spurred on by a few refractory pediatric cases featured…