Interesting Benefits Of Marijuana

The American public largely supports the legalization of medical marijuana. At least 84% of the public believes the drug should be legal for medical uses, and recreational pot usage is less controversial than ever, with at least 61% of Americans in support.

Even though some medical benefits of smoking pot may be overstated by advocates of marijuana legalization, recent research has demonstrated that there are legitimate medical uses for marijuana and strong reasons to continue studying the drug's medicinal uses.

Even the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse lists medical uses for cannabis.

There are at least two active chemicals in marijuana that researchers think have medicinal applications. Those are cannabidiol (CBD) — which seems to impact the brain without a high— and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — which has pain relieving properties and is largely responsible for the high.

But scientists say that limitations on marijuana research mean we still have big questions about its medicinal properties. In addition to CBD and THC, there are another 400 or so chemical compounds, more than 60 of which are cannabinoids. Many of these could have medical uses. But without more research, we won't know how to best make use of those compounds.

More research would also shed light on the risks of marijuana. Even if there are legitimate uses for medicinal marijuana, that doesn't mean all use is harmless. Some research indicates that chronic, heavy users may have impaired memory, learning, and processing speed, especially if they started regularly using marijuana before age 16 or 17.

For some of the following medical benefits, there's good evidence. For others, there's reason to continue conducting research.

Jennifer Welsh contributed to an earlier version of this story.

The best-supported medicinal use of marijuana is as a treatment for chronic pain.

A medical marijuana display.  (REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn)

A recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said there was definitive evidence that cannabis or cannabinoids (which are found in the marijuana plant) can be an effective treatment for chronic pain.

The report said that is "by far the most common" reason people request medical marijuana.

There's also strong evidence medical cannabis can help with muscle spasms.

Medical marijuana is displayed in Los Angeles, California, U.S. August 6, 2007.  (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo)

That same report said there's equally strong evidence marijuana can help with muscle spasms related to multiple sclerosis.

Other types of muscle spasms respond to marijuana as well. People use medical marijuana to treat diaphragm spasms that are untreatable by other, prescribed medications.

It doesn't seem to harm lung capacity, and may even improve it.

It doesn't seem to harm lung capacity, and may even improve it.  (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

There's a fair amount of evidence that marijuana does no harm to the lungs, unless you also smoke tobacco. One study published in Journal of the American Medical Association found that not only does marijuana not impair lung function, it may even increase lung capacity.

Researchers looking for risk factors of heart disease tested the lung function of 5,115 young adults over the course of 20 years. Tobacco smokers lost lung function over time, but pot users actually showed an increase in lung capacity.

It's possible that the increased lung capacity may be due to taking a deep breaths while inhaling the drug and not from a therapeutic chemical in the drug.

The smokers in that study only toked up a few times a month, but a more recent survey of people who smoked pot daily for up to 20 years found no evidence that smoking pot harmed their lungs, either.

The National Academies report said there are good studies showing marijuana users are not more likely to have cancers associated with smoking.

It may be of some use in treating glaucoma, or it may be possible to derive a drug from marijuana for this use.

It may be of some use in treating glaucoma, or it may be possible to derive a drug from marijuana for this use.  (thematthewknot via Flickr)

One of the most common reasons that states allow medical marijuana use is to treat and prevent the eye disease glaucoma, which increases pressure in the eyeball, damaging the optic nerve and causing loss of vision.

Marijuana decreases the pressure inside the eye, according to the National Eye Institute: "Studies in the early 1970s showed that marijuana, when smoked, lowered intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma."

For now, the medical consensus is that marijuana only lowers IOP for a few hours, meaning there's not good evidence for it as a long term treatment right now. Researchers hope that perhaps a marijuana-based compound could be developed that lasts longer.

It may help control epileptic seizures.

It may help control epileptic seizures.  (AP/Damian Dovarganes)

Some studies have shown that cannabidiol (CBD), another major marijuana compound, seems to help people with treatment-resistant epilepsy.

A number of individuals have reported that marijuana is the only thing that helps control their or their children's seizures.

However, there haven't been many gold-standard, double-blind studies on the topic, so researchers say more data is needed before we know how effective marijuana is.

It also decreases the symptoms of a severe seizure disorder known as Dravet's Syndrome.

Charlotte Figi has Dravet's Syndrome, and her parents are giving her marijuana to treat her seizures.  (CNN/WEED)

During the research for his documentary "Weed," Sanjay Gupta interviewed the Figi family, who treated their 5-year-old daughter using a medical marijuana strain high in cannabidiol and low in THC.

The Figi family's daughter, Charlotte, has Dravet Syndrome, which causes seizures and severe developmental delays.

According to the film, the drug decreased her seizures from 300 a week to just one every seven days. Forty other children in the state were using the same strain of marijuana to treat their seizures when the film was made — and it seemed to be working.

The doctors who recommended this treatment said the cannabidiol in the plant interacts with brain cells to quiet the excessive activity in the brain that causes these seizures.

Gupta notes, however, that a Florida hospital that specializes in the disorder, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Drug Enforcement agency don't endorse marijuana as a treatment for Dravet or other seizure disorders.

A chemical found in marijuana stops cancer from spreading, at least in cell cultures.

A chemical found in marijuana stops cancer from spreading, at least in cell cultures.  (crafty_dame via flickr)

CBD may help prevent cancer from spreading, researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported in 2007.

Other very preliminary studies on aggressive brain tumors in mice or cell cultures have shown that THC and CBD can slow or shrink tumors at the right dose, which is a strong reason to do more research.

One 2014 study found that marijuana can significantly slow the growth of the type of brain tumor associated with 80% of malignant brain cancer in people.

Still, these findings in cell cultures and animals don't necessarily mean the effect will translate to people — far more investigation is needed.

It may decrease anxiety in low doses.

It may decrease anxiety in low doses.  (KieferPix/Shutterstock)

Researchers know that many cannabis users consume marijuana to relax, but also that many people say smoking too much can cause anxiety. So scientists conducted a study to find the "Goldilocks" zone: the right amount of marijuana to calm people.

According to Emma Childs, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an author of the study, "we found that THC at low doses reduced stress, while higher doses had the opposite effect."

A few puffs was enough to help study participants relax, but a few puffs more started to amp up anxiety. However, people may react differently in different situations.

THC may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

THC may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.  (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Marijuana may be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, a study led by Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute suggests.

The 2006 study, published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, found that THC (the active chemical in marijuana) slows the formation of amyloid plaques by blocking the enzyme in the brain that makes them. These plaques kill brain cells and are associated with Alzheimer's.

A synthetic mixture of CBD and THC seems to preserve memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Another study suggested that a THC-based prescription drug called dronabinol was able to reduce behavioral disturbances in dementia patients.

All these studies are in very early stages, though, so more research is needed.

The drug eases the pain of multiple sclerosis.

Customers shop for "Green Friday" deals at the Grass Station marijuana shop on Black Friday in Denver  (Thomson Reuters)

Marijuana may ease painful symptoms of multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Jody Corey-Bloom studied 30 multiple sclerosis patients with painful contractions in their muscles. These patients didn't respond to other treatments, but after smoking marijuana for a few days, they reported that they were in less pain.

The THC in marijuana seems to bind to receptors in the nerves and muscles to relieve pain.

It seems to lessen side effects from treating hepatitis C and increase treatment effectiveness.

It seems to lessen side effects from treating hepatitis C and increase treatment effectiveness.  (Reuters)

Treatment for hepatitis C infection is harsh: negative side effects include fatigue, nausea, muscle aches, loss of appetite, and depression. Those side effects can last for months, and lead many people to stop their treatment course early.

But a 2006 study in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that 86% of patients using marijuana successfully completed their Hep C therapy. Only 29% of non-smokers completed their treatment, possibly because the marijuana helps lessen the treatment's side effects.

Marijuana also seems to improve the treatment's effectiveness: 54% of hep C patients smoking marijuana got their viral levels low and kept them low, in comparison to only 8% of nonsmokers.

Marijuana may help with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Marijuana may help with inflammatory bowel diseases.  (Bruce Bennett/Getty)

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis could benefit from marijuana use, studies suggest.

University of Nottingham researchers found in 2010 that chemicals in marijuana, including THC and cannabidiol, interact with cells in the body that play an important role in gut function and immune responses. The study was published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

The body makes THC-like compounds that increase the permeability of the intestines, allowing bacteria in. But the cannabinoids in marijuana block these compounds, making the intestinal cells bond together tighter and become less permeable.

But the National Academies report said there isn't enough evidence to be sure whether marijuana really helps with these conditions, so more research is needed.

It relieves arthritis discomfort.



It relieves arthritis discomfort.

  (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)

Marijuana alleviates pain, reduces inflammation, and promotes sleep, which may help relieve pain and discomfort for people with rheumatoid arthritis, researchers announced in 2011.



Researchers from rheumatology units at several hospitals gave their patients Sativex, a cannabinoid-based pain-relieving medicine. After a two-week period, people on Sativex had a significant reduction in pain and improved sleep quality compared to placebo users.

Other studies have found that plant-derived cannabinoids and inhaled marijuana can decrease arthritis pain, according to the National Academies report.

Marijuana users tend to be less obese and have a better response to eating sugar.

Marijuana users tend to be less obese and have a better response to eating sugar.  (Flickr)

A study published in the American Journal Of Medicine suggested that pot smokers are skinnier than the average person and have healthier metabolism and reaction to sugars, even though they do end up eating more calories.

The study analyzed data from more than 4,500 adult Americans — 579 of whom were current marijuana smokers, meaning they had smoked in the last month. About 2,000 people had used marijuana in the past, while another 2,000 had never used the drug.

The researchers studied how the participants' bodies responded to eating sugars. They measured blood-sugar levels and the hormone insulin after participants hadn't eaten in nine hours, and after they'd eaten sugar.

Not only were pot users thinner, their bodies also had a healthier response to sugar. Of course, the study couldn't determine whether the marijuana users were like this to begin with or if these characteristics were somehow related to their smoking.

While not really a health or medical benefit, marijuana could spur creativity.

While not really a health or medical benefit, marijuana could spur creativity.  (Getty Images / Marc Piscotty)

Contrary to stoner stereotypes, marijuana usage has actually been shown to have some positive mental effects, particularly in terms of increasing creativity, at least in some contexts. Even though people's short-term memories tend to function worse when they're high, they actually get better at tests requiring them to come up with new ideas.

Researchers have also found that some study participants improve their "verbal fluency," their ability to come up with different words, while using marijuana.

Part of this increased creative ability may come from the release of dopamine in the brain, which lowers inhibitions and allows people to feel more relaxed, giving the brain the ability to perceive things differently.

Cannabis soothes tremors for people with Parkinson's disease.

Cannabis soothes tremors for people with Parkinson's disease.  (Walter Hickey / BI)

Research from Israel shows that smoking marijuana significantly reduces pain and tremors and improves sleep for Parkinson's disease patients. Particularly impressive was the improved fine motor skills among patients.

Medical marijuana is legal in Israel for multiple conditions, and a lot of research into the medical uses of cannabis is done there, supported by the Israeli government.

Marijuana may help veterans suffering from PTSD.

Marijuana may help veterans suffering from PTSD.  (Walter Hickey / BI)

In 2014, the Colorado Department of Public Health awarded $2 million to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (one of the biggest proponents of marijuana research) to study marijuana's potential for people with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Naturally occurring cannabinoids, similar to THC, help regulate the system that causes fear and anxiety in the body and brain.

Marijuana is approved to treat PTSD in some states already — in New Mexico, PTSD is the number one reason for people to get a license for medical marijuana.

But there are still questions about the safety of using marijuana while suffering from PTSD, which this study — which has taken a while to get off the ground — will hopefully help answer.

Animal studies suggest that marijuana may protect the brain after a stroke.

Animal studies suggest that marijuana may protect the brain after a stroke.  (.v1ctor. via http://www.flickr.com/photos/49699516@N06/4752171903/in/photolist-8eW89k-aEAm15-aEAm13-aEAkZW-aEAm17-bAXGYV-afXms2-7D8UyM-bmqtbF-bpFMB9-8Q8SYA-a4gLEC-aeYEGc-bZb9p7-8r1Jfg-9hspKG-dtZHQE-bbTetz-7EjqEn-7C9Afb-7STdyH-ase3oo-9Ki7D3-7ZA1a8-7KdkWz-dCLkd7-9D7hiy-bCxzqo-c67WSy-7KLGkS-eaHQeW-8gfZd2-agj1U4-8wZx1d creative commons)

Research from the University of Nottingham shows that marijuana may help protect the brain from damage from a stroke by reducing the size of the area affected by the stroke — at least in rats, mice, and monkeys.

This isn't the only research that has shown neuroprotective effects of cannabis. Some research shows that the plant may help protect the brain after other types of brain trauma.

Marijuana might even protect the brain from concussions and trauma.

Marijuana might even protect the brain from concussions and trauma.  (Al Bello/Getty Images)

Lester Grinspoon , a professor of psychiatry at Harvard and marijuana advocate, recently wrote an open letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. In it, he said the NFL should stop testing players for marijuana, and that the league should start funding research into the plant's ability to protect the brain instead.

"Already, many doctors and researchers believe that marijuana has incredibly powerful neuroprotective properties, an understanding based on both laboratory and clinical data," Grinspoon wrote.

Goodell said he'd consider permitting athletes to use marijuana if medical research shows that it's an effective neuroprotective agent.

At least one recent study on the topic found that patients who had used marijuana were less likely to die from traumatic brain injuries.

It can help eliminate nightmares.

It can help eliminate nightmares.  (AP)

This is a complicated one, because it involves effects that can be both positive and negative. Marijuana disturbs sleep cycles by interrupting the later stages of REM sleep. In the long run, this could be a problem for frequent users.

However, for people suffering from serious nightmares, especially those associated with PTSD, this can be helpful, perhaps in the short term. Nightmares and other dreams occur during those same stages of sleep. By interrupting REM sleep, many of those dreams may not occur. Research into using a synthetic cannabinoid — similar to THC but not the same — showed a significant decrease in the number of nightmares in patients with PTSD.

Additionally, even if frequent use can be bad for sleep, marijuana may be a better sleep aid than some other substances that people use. Some of those, including medication and alcohol, may potentially have worse effects on sleep, though more research is needed on the topic.

SOURCE: pulse.ng

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Marijuana Uses, Dangers, And Effects

The legalization of marijuana in a most states in countries on either on medical or recreational use is making marijuana usage seriously trending.

It makes pediatricians to have one-on-one conversations with parents and teenagers who are allergic to the susbstance considering the harmful effects of the substance.

Currently, the global change has enormously affected the life of every individual in different ways, but in the line of marijuana, the era of legalization of marijuana globally is really on the rise and I think the best is by having more and more conversations with teenage patients who “think that weed is acceptable and safer than alcohol”.

The above statement is a disturbing and worrisome one. It's a known fact that majority of the teens are using marijuana on daily basis, and do not realize any long term disastrous effects of the use.

“Marijuana is not a benign drug, especially for teens. Their brains are still developing and marijuana can cause abnormal and unhealthy changes” according to a just published clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Studies have shown that teens who use marijuana on a regular basis may develop serious mental health disorders including addiction and depression.

It may also decrease memory and concentration, as well as causing attentional and problem solving issues.

There are also studies that have shown that addiction may be related to daily marijuana use. 17% of people who use marijuana in adolescence may become addicted and that number may increase to 50% for teen who smoke marijuana daily.

Daily alcohol use and marijuana use are harmful but do effect the brain in different ways.

But even knowing those statistics, teen surveys done by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services found that there is decreasing concern for the risk of using marijuana once or twice a week among 12-17 year olds.

Parental use of marijuana is equally concerning. Parents not only expose their child to second hand smoke, but seeing parents using marijuana recreationally makes a child more likely to use marijuana themselves.

Just like alcohol, being “high” on marijuana makes it difficult to parent and to provide a healthy home environment for a child.

While there is a place for marijuana use in medicine for those with certain chronic conditions or for the management of reducing the side effects chemotherapy, marijuana use is not harmless and will never be.

Consult and talk to your teens about drug use and specifically marijuana use…legalization does not make it safe. It is a slippery slope.

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Positivity In Young Pregnant Teens On Marijuana

More younger women are testing positive to marijuana usage in the cause of been pregnant, especially in Northern California, according to a new study.

The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association , analysed the results of urine tests which was gannered during standard pre-natal care of 280,000+ who were enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health-care system.

The results that was received from 2009 to 2016 shows the percentage of women who tested positive for marijuana at roughly 8 weeks into pregnancy increases from 4 percent to 7 percent.

Marijuana use was particularly common among teenage pregnancy who are 18+ (22 percent), and women between ages 18 and 24 (19 percent).

The high rate of marijuana consumption among pregnant women ages 25 and older was considerably lower. (less than 5 percent).

Evidence indicates the use of maternal marijuana may impair foetal growth and brain development, but in conclusive links between marijuana and prenatal, complications haven't been conclusively established.

Marijuana use may be less harmful during pregnancy than that of alcohol or tobacco.

Therefore, it may turn out to be more destructive but presently we simply don't know either way.

The study was limited to Northern California and not globally, Norther California is a region that's not exactly represented by the behaviours and attitudes towards marijuana.

After California has legalised medical marijuana in 1996, a robust marijuana growing industry took hold in the Emerald Triangle region of the northern part of the state.

Marijuana cultivation and the use are woven into the culture of Northern California like no place else in the country.

Marijuana is detectable in the urine up to 30 days after the last use, and many women do not realise they are pregnant until several weeks into their pregnancy.

"Pre-natal use before and after women realised they were pregnant could not be distinguished," the study's authors noted.

Still it's clear that changing attitudes toward the plant are spilling over into the realm of pregnancy.

Marijuana has been shown to be effective at treating nausea , and research shows that some pregnant women are using it to treat morning sickness.

A study published earlier this year found that 4 percent of pregnant American women reported using marijuana in the past month of their pregnancy in 2014, up from 2 percent in 2002.

By comparison, the rate of past-month alcohol consumption is roughly 10 percent among pregnant American women .
In part because of the lack of knowledge about marijuana's effects during pregnancy, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has a simple recommendation for moms-to-be contemplating pot use: don't do it.

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Effects of Smoking Marijuana daily

Smoking marijuana daily can have adverse effects on teens because their young brains are developing, and introducing superfluous cannabinoids in their body can  affect the brain development.

There are various side effects of smoking marijuana. It has been found that marijuana uses produced effects on every body organ including the nervous system and the immune system while short-term effects can be seen during the first few minutes of consumption include paranoia, disorientation, increased heartbeat leading to cardiac arrest, dizziness, dry mouth, dilated pupils, shallow breathing, etc, the major long-term side effects include tar build-up that can lead to chronic bronchitis, sometimes lung cancer; cardiovascular events like myocardial infarction, stroke; impaired memory, learning, alertness, and executive functions, which can result in accidents, sometimes even resulting in death.

Additionally, two real bad side effects that can be seen in heavy users are severe withdrawal symptoms such as craving, irritability, boredom, anxiety and sleep disturbances, and the highly controversial risk of psychosis.

Studies have proved that these effects can vary in impact depending upon whether the user is an adolescent or an adult.

A 25-year study conducted at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland recently revealed that if one smokes a lot of marijuana, over a long period of time, it may have effect on his or her verbal and short-term memory, which may make the concerned individual forget more words than someone who doesn’t smoke as much, or even at all.

The above information elucidates how harmful smoking marijuana every day can be.

Hence, overcoming marijuana dependence is extremely important if a person desires to live a happy and healthy life, else the probability of a long life cut short is quite inevitable.

The high can lose its novelty and become less enjoyable. The high can change over time with familiarity (can be a positive or negative change).

Tolerance can increase over time resulting in more weed used for the same effects. The user can fall into a habit of expecting to be high at certain times which can be hard to change.

The user can routinely overeat and feel shitty because of it. The user can become sleepy easily after smoking and feel like they are wasting time.

The user might make decisions that they might make differently if they were free of the habit.

Just because weed isn't addictive in the technical sense doesn't mean people shouldn't think twice about starting a habit that can be hard to shake.

Thanks for the A2A that'll make me work twice as hard providing you info ;)

Aside from the obvious stupid events that could lead to death as a result of being stoned, and the potential risks of Cancer as with smoking anything, 
throughout life, one can "burn out" from Marijuana.

The way your brain functions is by neurons processing information by releasing chemicals called "neuro-transmitters" from the axon(tail) of one neuron to the dendrite(tentacle or arm) of another, either exciting or inhibiting the electrical charge of the receiving neuron.

This creates very complex forms of communication within the brain in a matter of milliseconds.

This communication has to happen every thought, breath, or movement you make.

Keep in mind that this much information was only to help you understand the process of "burning out" there are no life-threatening effects of the devil's lettuce.

Also, cannabis works on our body because it modulates the endocannabinoid system which consists of a network of CB1 and CB2 receptors throughout the body and endocannabinoids which are the body’s natural chemicals equivalent to the chemicals in the cannabis plant. The CB1 receptor is now believed to be the most prevalent receptor in the brain but does not exist in the brain stem which controls the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. This is why, unlike opiates, alcohol or other drugs, cannabis cannot depress basic life functions to the point of death.

Many doctors are unaware of the endcocannabinoid system because it was only discovered in 1988 and so has only recently been documented in medical education. It is now believed to be the most important physiological system in our body, regulating the central nervous system, immune, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and reproductive systems. This is why mankind has found cannabis such a safe and effective medicine for at least 5,000 years for such a wide variety of conditions.

SOURCE: QUORA

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Medical Marijuana Has No Health Risks, World Health Organisation Confirms

The World Health organisation (W.H.O) has reiterated that the relaxant in cannbis used for medical marijuana poses no health risks.

After years of speculations WHO declared that the component is a conducive treatment for epilepsy and palliative care.

It is neither dangerous nor addictive.

WHO is scheduled to undergo a more expansive review of cannabis in 2018.

The report, which was published Wednesday, said:

There is increased interest from Member States in the use of cannabis for medical indications including for palliative care.

Responding to that interest and increase in use, WHO has in recent years gathered more robust scientific evidence on therapeutic use and side effects of cannabis and cannabis components.

They added:

Recent evidence from animal and human studies shows that its use could have some therapeutic value for seizures due to epilepsy and related conditions.

Raul Elizalde, the Mexican father who spearheaded the Mexican government to legalise medical marijuana so his daughter Grace could help treat the hundreds of seizures she suffered a day, was overjoyed at the news.

I’m ecstatic that these international health leaders agree that CBD is a substance that should not be scheduled and has therapeutic value for a variety of medical conditions.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of many cannabinoid molecules produced by Cannabis, second only to THC in abundance. These plant-derived cannabinoids, or phytocannabinoids (phyto = plant in Greek), are characterized by their ability to act on the cannabinoid receptors that are part of our endocannabinoid system.

While THC is the principal psychoactive component of Cannabis and has certain medical uses, CBD stands out because it is both non-psychoactive and displays a broad range of potential medical applications. These properties make it especially attractive as a therapeutic agent.

They added:

CBD is famous for the promise it holds for treating treatment-resistant forms of childhood epilepsy.

A number of clinical trials, testing the efficacy of CBD in human epilepsy patients, are currently underway.

But there is also evidence, mainly from animal studies and in vitro experiments, that CBD may have neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain-relieving) properties, and potential therapeutic value in the treatment of motivational disorders like depression, anxiety, and addiction.

What’s the biological basis for this wide range of potential medical uses? A key part of the answer lies in CBD’s promiscuous pharmacology—its ability to influence a wide range of receptor systems in the brain and body, including not only cannabinoid receptors but a host of others.

What an extraordinary leap. Let’s hope those needlessly suffering can get closer to the help they desire.

SOURCE: UNILAD

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Researchers In Florida Explore Cannabis and HIV with Major Grant

The University of Florida Health’s Dr. Robert Cook has lead investigator of a study starting in January that will look at the health effects of cannabis on people with HIV as well as its potential as an alternative to addictive opioids.

Awarded a $3.2 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Cook and his team will conduct a study of 400 persons living with HIV infection to identify relationships between marijuana consumption and control of HIV symptoms, HIV viral suppression, markers of chronic inflammation, and cognitive or behavioral aspects of health.

Florida has the third-highest number of residents living with HIV infection in the U.S., according to a 2015 study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Was that a factor in why you developed this study?

Fifty percent of people with HIV in Florida are now 50 years old or more. So, we have a lot of older people who currently use marijuana or who are thinking about it. And we don’t have a lot of information on what happens to people over age 50.

What was the impetus for you to study the effects of cannabis on HIV?

As a clinician, I have seen a lot of patients who seem interested in trying medical marijuana for a variety of conditions. I was looking for some data to support which kinds of marijuana might be more beneficial than others and I couldn’t find any evidence so I decided we really needed to do some type of study.

Had you researched cannabis before you decided to do this study?

In the last couple of years, we have been doing some research looking at marijuana and its effects on cognitive function. We have also been looking at marijuana use in HIV viral suppression and we have been looking at a few other things but most of this is limited because all we know about people is: Do you use any marijuana; and if so, how often? So, we can compare people who report daily use vs. non-daily use. We were frustrated by how limited information about how people use marijuana was in the current research. For our study we are going to try to ask a lot more questions about what kind they use; do they get it from a dispensary or not; do they ingest it or smoke it or vape it? We are going to do a urine toxicology to try and figure out if what they use has any of the cannabinoids in it or if it’s only THC. I think there’s a lot of medical interest around the CBD part. It does seem like what’s available to purchase is mostly THC products and the CBD stuff costs more. I would like to be able to tell patients if this is worth it. We need to have data to show if you do have a CBD product that it is better for pain and things like that. Those are the types of questions that I think we need more data on but have been hard to study because marijuana is illegal at the federal level. It’s very hard for researchers to directly study it. One of the biggest limitations of the research we are going to do is that it is going to be reported by the participants themselves. Even though we are going to do this urine screen to see whether there’s THC or not, we still aren’t directly controlling what people use or don’t use. It’s all based on their reporting.

As you begin the study, what is your hypothesis for medicinal cannabis and HIV?

I do believe that people who are getting effective relief from pain, for example, will be using it slightly differently than those who don’t get effective relief from pain. I suspect the CBD part is important, but I don’t have a lot of data to prove it. And I am interested in comparing some of the side effects of people are who are using products that are either long-lasting or that they use several times a day compared to people who use marijuana intermittently. Because even with that I wonder as a physician should we be encouraging people to just dose it all day long versus use as needed. There is an endocannabinoid system in our bodies that’s natural and it may react differently when people are constantly being exposed versus intermittent and I am not sure yet which is better.

Many HIV patients take cannabis to help with sleep, pain and stress, do you believe any other useful information will come out of this study such as aiding HIV’s viral suppression?

It’s very challenging to really prove whether it is helping or not in terms of things like anxiety and stress because we are enrolling people in our study who are already using it for anxiety and stress because you really don’t know what their level would be if they weren’t using it. People may perceive that’s helping but we really don’t know. I hope I get some people in the study who haven’t used marijuana before and they begin to use, because it’s now legal to prescribe it for people with HIV in Florida, so that will be interesting to see what happens to people when they haven’t used it before and now they start. We are also especially interested in inflammatory markers. HIV virus, if it’s unsuppressed, does cause chronic inflammation in the body and that is usually associated with more rapid aging, more rapid progression of heart disease, and probably feeling fatigued and tired. If marijuana could suppress some of that chronic inflammation or at least some parts of marijuana, it really could help people with a chronic virus feel better. We do suspect that many people truly do feel better with it and I suspect it’s because of its relationship to inflammation. But most of the data we have so far is short-term studies, which are helpful, but we will be looking at a longer view, over several years and that will be something different about our study over previous studies.

How many study participants do you need?

We want 400 participants who ultimately will use marijuana, we will have probably at least 100 who don’t use marijuana as a comparison group.

What do you see as your biggest challenge regarding this study?

Science is an animal project, you can control everything except for the marijuana and learn a lot. But in real life our participants, in addition to having different marijuana patterns, also do have different patterns of other substance use, different medical comorbidities, and different experiences of stress and abuses in their lives. It can be hard to tease out an effect with all this variation but at the same time that’s the real world. People living with HIV in Florida do have many medical conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and so we want to know if it’s safe to use in these types of people with lots of health issues.

UF Health researchers applied for the NIDA grant twice before receiving it. How many years have you been trying to get this study in place?

At least two years. This is kind of a common story with National Institutes of Health-funded research. Usually you have to be in the top ten percent of grants to get it and those often take several tries where you get feedback from other scientists who make suggestions on how to improve the science and I tried to be responsive to their suggestions. For example, they did think we should focus a little bit more on pain and pain medication so we tried to adapt the study to that.

Do you think the reason you received the grant has to do with the nation’s opioid problem and cannabis’ potential to be an alternative?

You would have to ask NIH, but I do think our grant was funded in part because there are so few studies trying to gain scientific evidence on marijuana and any type of chronic health issue. HIV is one, but they might be interested in other types of conditions people might use it for. We have very little information and so there was a perception in the past that NIH was more interested in marijuana as a drug of abuse and not so much on its health effects. But I do think that attitude has shifted a lot in the last ten years where NIH is open to both and looking at it as a drug that could be beneficial while also it could still have harms associated with it.

With the $3.2 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, you are in a very elite group, researchers who have been given a federal grant to study cannabis, did you think you would get federal funding?

That’s what I have been trained to do for my academic career. They train us to write grants and as you gain more experience as a scientist you learn to write better grants and you get feedback that helps you to be a better scientist. I was optimistic that we had a good chance to get funded, otherwise, I don’t think we would try but it is a competitive process and certainly takes a team of scientists, and I have a great team with a lot of different areas of expertise and I think that helps. There is just a need for research.

I do hope over the next several years the information that we get will be helpful. It’s important to me that the data we collect ultimately will help to guide patients who might benefit, to guide people who might be vulnerable to harm, to guide providers, at least in Florida, who are specifically recommending doses and types and writing prescriptions which is different than what I think is happening in many other states in which people can get a license and the clinical recommendations are made by the people working at the dispensaries.

I should note that the people working at the dispensaries often seem to have an incredible abundance of knowledge about the medical effects. So how do we translate what they seem to know to data that’s more typically required in order to practice medicine in the U.S.? We don’t just want anecdotal reports or personal experience, we want harder data. It does seem like people know a lot of information out there and I want to try and translate some of what they know into more typical health data. Our research can influence practice guidelines and things as simple as do Sativa products truly cause people to feel more alert and creative? Do Indica products cause people to really be more laid back and sedate? And is that the same in people who are older than 50? Those are the type of things I would want, as a provider, to know and make suggestions as to which product a patient should try.

What are some potential negatives that could result from the study?

We have to be really careful about confidentially, when you do this type of research we have staff that we train, but staff can make mistakes. We have to do our best to ensure that people aren’t outed as being HIV positive or that people aren’t outed because they are marijuana users. There is a lot of need for researchers to make it safe for people to participate.

What about cannabis being federally illegal?

People are worried at the University that we could lose federal funding because it is involved in research that is federally illegal. When the political administration is stating pretty clearly they aren’t going to tolerate a lot of marijuana activity and that’s the public stance, we need to be cautious. As a researcher I am not applying to have marijuana onsite. We do have the potential to work with the dispensaries themselves and let them dispense the products which they can do legally and collaborate with them as scientists to try and do some clinical studies. That’s something I am interested in, in the next year or two, to really figure out a way where we can try to randomly assign people who are willing to participate in a different study with product A vs. product B, or product A that’s consumed orally vs. inhaled and see if we can get some clinical evidence both in terms of people’s perceived symptoms, which is important, but also any biological measures like inflammatory markers. Ultimately, I do hope we generate some data that can be helpful for consumers and providers.

SOURCE: MARIJUANA

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