“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]]>
Cannabinoids for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.
[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 
“Growing evidence supports the pivotal role played by oxidative stress in tissue injury development, thus resulting in several pathologies including cardiovascular, renal, neuropsychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders, all characterized by an altered oxidative status. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and lipid peroxidation-derived reactive aldehydes including acrolein, malondialdehyde, and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, among others, are the main responsible for cellular and tissue damages occurring in redox-dependent processes.
In this scenario, a link between the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and redox homeostasis impairment appears to be crucial. Anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, the best characterized endocannabinoids, are able to modulate the activity of several antioxidant enzymes through targeting the cannabinoid receptors type 1 and 2 as well as additional receptors such as the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1, the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha, and the orphan G protein-coupled receptors 18 and 55.
Moreover, the endocannabinoids lipid analogues N-acylethanolamines showed to protect cell damage and death from reactive aldehydes-induced oxidative stress by restoring the intracellular oxidants-antioxidants balance. In this review, we will provide a better understanding of the main mechanisms triggered by the cross-talk between the oxidative stress and the ECS, focusing also on the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants as scavengers of reactive aldehydes and their toxic bioactive adducts.”
“The cannabinoid (CB) receptor 2, primarily expressed in immune cells, was shown to play important immune-regulatory functions. In particular, the CB2-R63 functional variant has been shown to alter the ability of the CB2 receptor to exert its inhibitory function on T lymphocytes.
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between a common dinucleotide polymorphism, Q63R, in the cannabinoid receptor 2 gene (CNR2) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the Lebanese population.
One hundred five unrelated Lebanese RA patients and one hundred five controls from different Lebanese governorates were recruited in this study. Genomic DNA was extracted, polymerase chain reaction was performed, and CNR2 was genotyped in a blinded fashion. The χ2 test was used to determine the differences in genotypes and allele frequencies. CNR2 genotyping showed significantly higher frequencies of the CB2-R63 variant (allele frequencies, P < 0.00001; genotype distribution, P < 0.00001) in RA patients when compared with healthy controls. Moreover, RR carriers had more than 10-fold risk for developing RA (OR = 10.8444, 95% CI = 5.0950-23.0818; P < 0.0001), and QR carriers had more than 3-fold risk (OR = 3.8667, 95% CI = 1.7886-8.3591; P = 0.0006) as compared with QQ carriers.
Our preliminary results suggest a role of CB2-Q63R gene polymorphism in the etiology of RA, thus supporting its potential use as a pharmacological target for selective agonists in clinical practice.”