“The purpose of this study was to investigate same-day alcohol or marijuana use and dating abuse (DA) perpetration in a sample of 60 noncollege-attending young adults. Participants reported daily data for 3 months. DA perpetration was more likely on days when participants also reported alcohol use (odds ratio [OR] = 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.38, 3.42]), but analyses of the temporal order indicated that alcohol use was not a proximal predictor of DA. Same day marijuana use was not associated with elevated risk of DA perpetration (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = [0.89, 2.21]). Results suggest the alcohol-DA relationship may vary by sample and context.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30037318 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801218781959?journalCode=vawa]]>
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[A brief history of marijuana in the western world].
Therapeutic applications of cannabinoids.
“The psychoactive properties of cannabinoids are well known and there has been a continuous controversy regarding the usage of these compounds for therapeutic purposes all over the world. Their use for medical and research purposes are restricted in various countries. However, their utility as medications should not be overshadowed by their negative physiological activities.
This review article is focused on the therapeutic potential and applications of phytocannabinoids and endocannabinoids. It highlights their mode of action, overall effects on physiology, various in vitro and in vivo studies that have been done so far and the extent to which these compounds can be useful in different disease conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, pain, inflammation, glaucoma and many others.
Thus, this work is an attempt to make the readers understand the positive implications of these compounds and indicates the significant developments that can occur upon utilizing cannabinoids as therapeutic agents.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30040916
“Cannabinoids can be used as therapeutic agents.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009279718307373?via%3Dihub
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“Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) support wound healing processes. These cells express toll-like receptors (TLRs). TLRs perform important key functions when the immune system is confronted with danger signals. TLR ligation by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) activates MSCs and induces intracellular signaling cascades, which affect their differentiation profile, increase the release of inflammatory cytokines and the production of reactive oxygen species. Continuing exposure to LPS triggers prolonged inflammatory reactions, which may lead to deleterious conditions, e.g. non-healing wounds.
“The endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is composed of the cannabinoid receptors types 1 and 2 (CB1 and CB2) for marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THC), the endogenous ligands (AEA and 2-AG) and the enzymatic systems involved in their biosynthesis and degradation, recently emerged as important modulator of emotional and non-emotional behaviors. In addition to its recreational actions, some of the earliest reports regarding the effects of Cannabis use on humans were related to endocrine system changes. Accordingly, the ∆9-THC and later on, the ECS signaling have long been known to regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, which is the major neuroendocrine stress response system of mammals. However, how the ECS could modify the stress hormone secretion is not fully understood. Thus, the present article reviews current available knowledge on the role of the ECS signaling as important mediator of interaction between HPA axis activity and stressful conditions, which, in turn could be involved in the development of psychiatric disorders.”
“There has been an increased use of medical Cannabis in the United States of America as more states legalize its use. Complete chemical analyses of this material can vary considerably between producers and is often not fully provided to consumers. As phytochemists in a state with legal medical Cannabis we sought to characterize the accumulation of phytochemicals in material grown by licensed commercial producers.
We report the development of a simple extraction and analysis method, amenable to use by commercial laboratories for the detection and quantification of both 
“Endogenous cannabinoids are diffusible lipid ligands of the main cannabinoid receptors type 1 and 2 (CB1R and CB2R). In the central nervous system endocannabinoids are produced in an activity-dependent manner and have been identified as retrograde modulators of synaptic transmission.
Additionally, some neurons display a cell-autonomous slow self-inhibition (SSI) mediated by endocannabinoids. In these neurons, repetitive action potential firing triggers the production of endocannabinoids, which induce a long-lasting hyperpolarization of the membrane potential, rendering the cells less excitable. Different endocannabinoid receptors and effector mechanisms have been described underlying SSI in different cell types and brain areas.
Here, we investigate SSI in neurons of layer 2/3 in the somatosensory cortex. High-frequency bursts of action potentials induced SSI in pyramidal cells (PC) and regular spiking non-pyramidal cells (RSNPC), but not in fast-spiking interneurons (FS). In RSNPCs the hyperpolarization was accompanied by a change in input resistance due to the activation of G protein-coupled inward-rectifying K+ (GIRK) channels. A CB2R-specific agonist induced the long-lasting hyperpolarization, whereas preincubation with a CB2R-specific inverse agonist suppressed SSI. Additionally, using cannabinoid receptor knockout mice, we found that SSI was still intact in CB1R-deficient but abolished in CB2R-deficient mice.
Taken together, we describe an additional SSI mechanism in which the activity-induced release of endocannabinoids activates GIRK channels via CB2Rs. These findings expand our knowledge about cell type-specific differential neuronal cannabinoid receptor signaling and suggest CB2R-selective compounds as potential therapeutic approaches.”
“Introduction: Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that cannabidiol (CBD) found in Cannabis spp. has broad therapeutic value. CBD products can currently be purchased online, over the counter and at Cannabis-specific dispensaries throughout most of the country, despite the fact that CBD is generally deemed a Schedule I controlled substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and renounced as a dietary supplement ingredient by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Consumer demand for CBD is high and growing, but few studies have examined the reasons for increasing CBD use.
Results: Almost 62% of CBD users reported using CBD to treat a medical condition. The top three medical conditions were pain, anxiety, and depression. Almost 36% of respondents reported that CBD treats their medical condition(s) “very well by itself,” while only 4.3% reported “not very well.” One out of every three users reported a nonserious adverse effect. The odds of using CBD to treat a medical condition were 1.44 (95% confidence interval, 1.16-1.79) times greater among nonregular users of Cannabis than among regular users.
Conclusion: Consumers are using CBD as a specific therapy for multiple diverse medical conditions-particularly pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. These data provide a compelling rationale for further research to better understand the therapeutic potential of CBD.”
“Marijuana use is increasing worldwide, and it is ever more likely that patients presenting with acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) will be marijuana users. However, little is known about the impact of marijuana use on short-term outcomes following AMI.
Accordingly, we compared in-hospital outcomes of AMI patients with reported marijuana use to those with no reported marijuana use. We hypothesized that marijuana use would be associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes in AMI patients.
Interestingly, marijuana-using patients were significantly less likely to die, experience shock, or require an IABP post AMI than patients with no reported marijuana use.
These results suggest that, contrary to our hypothesis, marijuana use was not associated with increased risk of adverse short-term outcomes following AMI.
Furthermore, marijuana use was associated with decreased in-hospital mortality post-AMI.”