“Cannabis does have therapeutic properties for certain indications.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29302228 “The legislative policies that have been established to reduce the risks in relation to cannabis have long represented an obstacle to research concerning medical cannabis use. Improved knowledge of the endocannabinoid system and of exocannabinoids has proven that cannabis may have significant therapeutic effects.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5741114/]]>
Cannabidiol for drug-resistant seizures in the Dravet syndrome
“Dravet syndrome (severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy) is characterised by difficult-to-control seizures. Media reports and small clinical trials suggest that cannabidiol, a non-toxic extract of cannabis, can reduce seizure frequency. A recent multicentre randomised controlled trial of 120 children aged 2–18 years with Dravet syndrome supports its efficacy. Over a 14-week period, children taking 20 mg/kg/day of cannabidiol had a 22.8% reduction (95% confidence interval 5.4–41.1) in seizure frequency compared to a 4-week baseline period. Median convulsive frequency fell from 12.4 to 5.9 per month on cannabidiol, while the placebo group had no change from baseline. No attempt was made to measure non-convulsive seizures (e.g. absences). Subjects took a median of three other anti-convulsant drugs during the trial. Adverse effects were common with cannabidiol, particularly somnolence, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhoea. Eight patients in the cannabidiol group withdrew compared to one in the placebo group. Nevertheless, 62% of caregivers in the cannabidiol group felt the patient’s overall condition had improved, using a validated global score, compared to 34% in the placebo group (P = 0.02). Unfortunately, the high rate of adverse events may have led to widespread loss of caregiver blinding, and the study is relatively short term. Nevertheless, the reduction in seizures is clinically relevant, and further longer-term randomised controlled trials are clearly warranted. ” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29314377 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpc.13803/full]]>
Cannabis Use is Associated with Lower Odds of Prescription Opioid Analgesic Use Among HIV-Infected Individuals with Chronic Pain.
“Chronic pain is common in the United States and prescribed opioid analgesics use for noncancer pain has increased dramatically in the past two decades, possibly accounting for the current opioid addiction epidemic. Co-morbid drug use in those prescribed opioid analgesics is common, but there are few data on polysubstance use patterns.
We explored patterns of use of cigarette, alcohol, and illicit drugs in HIV-infected people with chronic pain who were prescribed opioid analgesics.
Almost half of the sample of people with HIV and chronic pain reported current prescribed opioid analgesic use (N = 372, 47.1%). Illicit drug use was common (N = 505, 63.9%), and cannabis was the most commonly used illicit substance (N = 311, 39.4%).
In multivariate analyses, only cannabis use was significantly associated with lower odds of prescribed opioid analgesic use (adjusted odds ratio = 0.57; 95% confidence interval: 0.38-0.87). Conclusions/Importance: Our data suggest that new medical cannabis legislation might reduce the need for opioid analgesics for pain management, which could help to address adverse events associated with opioid analgesic use.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29338578 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10826084.2017.1416408?journalCode=isum20]]>Medical Cannabis, a Beneficial High in Treatment of Blepharospasm? An Early Observation.
“The objective of this study was to observe the effect of medical cannabis in benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) as an adjunct to botulinum toxin.
Three out of four patients (75%) reported symptomatic improvement.
Medical cannabis has made great strides as a treatment modality for symptom relief for many disease processes, including muscle spasms related to multiple sclerosis. Medical cannabis is an accepted therapy for muscle spastic disorders.
We believe that this observational case series provides a backdrop to exploring prospective, double-masked studies to determine the therapeutic effect of cannabis for patients suffering from BEB” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764009/
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01658107.2017.1318150?journalCode=ioph20
“Blepharospasm is any abnormal contraction or twitch of the eyelid” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blepharospasm
Cannabis use is associated with reduced prevalence of progressive stages of alcoholic liver disease.
“Abusive alcohol use has well-established health risks including causing liver disease (ALD) characterized by alcoholic steatosis (AS), steatohepatitis (AH), fibrosis, cirrhosis (AC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Strikingly, a significant number of individuals who abuse alcohol also use Cannabis, which has seen increased legalization globally. While cannabis has demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties, its combined use with alcohol and the development of liver disease remains unclear.
To determine the effects of cannabis use on the incidence of liver disease in individuals who abuse alcohol.We analyzed the 2014 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project – Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) discharge records of patients 18years and older, who had a past or current history of abusive alcohol use(n=319,514). Using the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Edition codes, we studied the four distinct phases of progressive ALD with respect to three cannabisexposure groups: non-cannabis-users (90.39%), non-dependent-cannabis-users (8.26%) and dependent cannabis users (1.36%). We accounted for the complex survey sampling methodology and estimated the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for developing AS, AH, AC and HCC with respect to cannabis use (SAS 9.4).
Our study revealed that among alcohol users, individuals who additionally use cannabis (dependent and non-dependent cannabis use) showed significantly lower odds of developing AS, AH, AC and HCC (AOR: 0.55[0.48-0.64], 0.57[0.53-0.61], 0.45[0.43-0.48] & 0.62[0.51-0.76]). Further, dependent users had significantly lower odds than non-dependent users for developing liver disease.CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings suggest that cannabis use is associated with reduced incidence of liver disease in alcoholics.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29341392 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/liv.13696/abstract]]>Benefits of VCE-003.2, a cannabigerol quinone derivative, against inflammation-driven neuronal deterioration in experimental Parkinson's disease: possible involvement of different binding sites at the PPARγ receptor.
“Neuroprotection with cannabinoids in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been afforded predominantly with antioxidant or anti-inflammatory cannabinoids. In the present study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties of VCE-003.2, a quinone derivative of the non-psychotrophic phytocannabinoid cannabigerol (CBG), which may derive its activity at the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ). The compound is also an antioxidant. We have demonstrated that VCE-003.2 is neuroprotective against inflammation-driven neuronal damage in an in vivo model of PD and in in vitro cellular models of neuroinflammation. Such effects might involve PPARγ receptors, although in silico and in vitro experiments strongly suggest that VCE-003.2 targets PPARγ by acting through two binding sites at the LBP, one that is sensitive to T0070907 (canonical binding site) and other that is not affected by this PPARγ antagonist (alternative binding site).” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29338785 https://jneuroinflammation.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12974-018-1060-5]]>
The therapeutic potential of targeting the peripheral endocannabinoid/CB1 receptor system.
“Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are internal lipid mediators recognized by the cannabinoid-1 and -2 receptors (CB1R and CB2R, respectively), which also mediate the different physiological effects of marijuana. The endocannabinoid system, consisting of eCBs, their receptors, and the enzymes involved in their biosynthesis and degradation, is present in a vast number of peripheral organs. In this review we describe the role of the eCB/CB1R system in modulating the metabolism in several peripheral organs. We assess how eCBs, via activating the CB1R, contribute to obesity and regulate food intake. In addition, we describe their roles in modulating liver and kidney functions, as well as bone remodeling and mass. Special importance is given to emphasizing the efficacy of the recently developed peripherally restricted CB1R antagonists, which were pre-clinically tested in the management of energy homeostasis, and in ameliorating both obesity- and diabetes-induced metabolic complications.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29336868
“Dysfunction of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) has been identified in metabolic disease.