“While the US has been experiencing an opioid epidemic, 29 states and Washington DC have legalized cannabis for medical use. This study examined whether statewide medical cannabis legalization was associated with reduction in opioids received by Medicaid enrollees.
FINDINGS:
For Schedule III opioid prescriptions, medical
cannabis legalization was associated with a 29.6% (p=0.03) reduction in number of prescriptions, 29.9% (p=0.02) reduction in dosage, and 28.8% (p=0.04) reduction in related Medicaid spending. No evidence was found to support the associations between medical
cannabis legalization and Schedule II opioid prescriptions. Permitting medical
cannabis dispensaries was not associated with Schedule II or Schedule III opioid prescriptions after controlling for medical
cannabis legalization. It was estimated that, if all the states had legalized medical
cannabis by 2014, Medicaid annual spending on opioid prescriptions would be reduced by 17.8 million dollars.
CONCLUSION:
Statewide medical
cannabis legalization appears to have been associated with reductions in both prescriptions and dosages of Schedule III (but not Schedule II) opioids received by Medicaid enrollees in the US.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29989239
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/add.14382]]>
“Recent surveys suggest that many parents are using illicit cannabis extracts in the hope of managing seizures in their children with epilepsy. In the current Australian study we conducted semi-structured interviews with families of children with diverse forms of epilepsy to explore their attitudes towards and experiences with using cannabis extracts.
Contrary to family’s expectations, most samples contained low concentrations of cannabidiol, while Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol was present in nearly every sample. These findings highlight profound variation in the illicit cannabis extracts being currently used in Australia and warrant further investigations into the therapeutic value of cannabinoids in epilepsy.
The phenomenon is not without supporting scientific evidence. Many preclinical studies have identified potent anticonvulsant effects of various cannabinoids in animal models of epilepsy, and a mechanistic understanding of such effects is emerging.
A considerable proportion of families reported cannabis extracts being “effective” in reducing their child’s seizure burden and improving their overall condition, with one family reporting seizure-freedom in their child for at least 12 months. Over half of the cannabis extracts were associated with families reducing or ceasing their use of the child’s conventional antiepileptic drugs.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28127-0
“Inflammation and oxidative stress play main roles in neurodegeneration. 
“Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by the reexperiencing of a traumatic event and is associated with slower extinction of fear responses.
Impaired extinction of fearful associations to trauma-related cues may interfere with treatment response, and extinction deficits may be premorbid risk factors for the development of PTSD.
We examined the effects of exposure to a severe footshock followed by situational reminders (SRs) on extinction, plasticity, and endocannabinoid (eCB) content and activity in the hippocampal CA1 area and basolateral amygdala (BLA).
The findings suggest that targeting the eCB system before extinction may be beneficial in fear memory attenuation and these effects may involve metaplasticity in the CA1 and BLA.”
“Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a severe and dose-limiting side effect of cancer treatment that affects millions of cancer survivors throughout the world and current treatment options are extremely limited by their side effects.
