“There is increasing debate about cannabis use for medical purposes, including for symptomatic treatment of chronic pain. We investigated patterns and correlates of cannabis use in a large community sample of people who had been prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain.
Cannabis use for pain relief purposes appears common among people living with chronic non-cancer pain, and users report greater pain relief in combination with opioids than when opioids are used alone.”
“The field of pain medicine is at a crossroads given the epidemic of addiction and overdose deaths from prescription opioids. Cannabis and its active ingredients, cannabinoids, are a much safer therapeutic option.
Despite being slowed by legal restrictions and stigma, research continues to show that when used appropriately, cannabis is safe and effective for many forms of chronic pain and other conditions, and has no overdose levels.
Current literature indicates many chronic pain patients could be treated with cannabis alone or with lower doses of opioids.
To make progress, cannabis needs to be re-branded as a legitimate medicine and rescheduled to a more pharmacologically justifiable class of compounds.
This paper discusses the data supporting re-branding and rescheduling of cannabis.”
“Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the major immune-mediated, demyelinating, neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system.
Compounds within cannabis, notably Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) can limit the inappropriate neurotransmissions that cause MS-related problems and medicinal cannabis is now licenced for the treatment of MS symptoms.
However, the biology indicates that the endocannabinoid system may offer the potential to control other aspects of disease.
… we and others can experimentally demonstrate that they may limit neurodegeneration that drives progressive disability.
Here we show that synthetic cannabidiol can slow down the accumulation of disability from the inflammatory penumbra during relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in ABH mice, possibly via blockade of voltage-gated sodium channels.
In addition, whilst non-sedating doses of Δ9-THC do not inhibit relapsing autoimmunity, they dose-dependently inhibit the accumulation of disability during EAE. They also appear to slow down clinical progression during MS in humans…
… demonstrated a significant slowing of progression by oral Δ9-THC compared to placebo.
Whilst this may support the experimental and biological evidence for a neuroprotective effect by the endocannabinoid system in MS, it remains to be established whether this will be formally demonstrated in further trials of Δ9-THC/cannabis in progressive MS.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25537576
http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/experimental-autoimmune-encephalomyelitis/
http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/multiple-sclerosis-ms/
“Cannabinoids, psychoactive substances present in cannabis, have been known to mankind for hundreds of years.
Apart from 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) substances found in the cannabis herb with the highest toxicological value are cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN).
The discovery of CB1 and CB2 receptors, located in various tissues (ranging from the brain to peripheral tissues), has defined the potential objective of these new chemical substances’ effects.
Many studies on the application of cannabinoids in the treatment of various diseases such as diabetes, neoplasms, inflammatory diseases, neurological conditions, pain and vomitting were conducted.
Drugs containing e.g. THC appear on the pharmaceutical market.
Substances affecting cannabinoid receptors may show beneficial effects…”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25518584
“In this epidemiological study, we aim to present estimates on suspected cannabis-attributable immunomodulation as manifest in serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as non-specific inflammatory markers with interpretable clinical values…
Extending pre-clinical research on cannabis-attributable immunomodulation, this study’s CRP evidence points toward possible anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis smoking…”
“High-grade glioma is one of the most aggressive cancers in adult humans and long-term survival rates are very low as standard treatments for glioma remain largely unsuccessful.
Cannabinoids have been shown to specifically inhibit glioma growth as well as neutralize oncogenic processes such as angiogenesis.
In an attempt to improve treatment outcome, we have investigated the effect of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) both alone and in combination with radiotherapy in a number of glioma cell lines (T98G, U87MG, and GL261).
Cannabinoids were used in two forms, pure (P) and as a botanical drug substance (BDS).
Results demonstrated a duration- and dose-dependent reduction in cell viability with each cannabinoid and suggested that THC-BDS was more efficacious than THC-P, whereas, conversely, CBD-P was more efficacious than CBD-BDS.
…increase in radiosensitivity was associated with an increase in markers of autophagy and apoptosis.
These in vitro results were recapitulated in an orthotopic murine model for glioma, which showed dramatic reductions in tumor volumes when both cannabinoids were used with irradiation.
Taken together, our data highlight the possibility that these cannabinoids can prime glioma cells to respond better to ionizing radiation, and suggest a potential clinical benefit for glioma patients by using these two treatment modalities.”
“Cannabis use is common among people who are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
While there is growing pre-clinical evidence of the immunomodulatory and anti-viral effects of cannabinoids, their possible effects on HIV disease parameters in humans are largely unknown. Thus, we sought to investigate the possible effects of cannabis use on plasma HIV-1 RNA viral loads (pVLs) among recently seroconverted illicit drug users…
Consistent with the findings from recent in vitro and in vivo studies, including one conducted among lentiviral-infected primates, we observed a strong association between cannabis use and lower pVL following seroconversion among illicit drug-using participants.
Our findings support the further investigation of the immunomodulatory or antiviral effects of cannabinoids among individuals living with HIV/AIDS.”
“Excessive alcohol consumption, characteristic of alcohol use disorders, results in neurodegeneration… the current study aimed to advance the preclinical development of transdermal delivery of cannabidiol (CBD) for the treatment of alcohol-induced neurodegeneration…
CBD is a main constituent of cannabis sativa… CBD is very well tolerated in humans. CBD has a plethora of actions, including anticonvulsive, anxiolytic, anti-relapse and neuroprotective properties, which make it an ideal candidate for treating multiple pathologies associated with alcohol use disorders…
These results demonstrate the feasibility of using CBD transdermal delivery systems for the treatment of alcohol-induced neurodegeneration.”
“Cannabis contains over 60 different terpeno-phenol compounds…
cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabidivarin (CBDV) are known as non-psychoactive components of cannabis.
These compounds have shown anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, analgesic, anxiolytic and anti-cancer effects…
Cannabinoids may play a role in neuroprotection in disorders such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury and epilepsy…
It is well-known that delta9-THC and other cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonists are neuroprotective during global and focal ischemic injury…
Accumulating data now suggest that cannabinoid CB1 receptors contribute to neuroprotection… Emerging data now support the evidence of the anti-inflammatory action of CBD…
These results suggest that CBD may prevent post-ischemic injury progressively induced by ischemic stroke….
…anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and neuroprotective effects of CBD. In particular, CBD exerts positive pharmacological effects in ischemic stroke and other chronic diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
The cerebroprotective action of CBD is CB1 receptor-independent, long-lasting, and has potent anti-oxidant activity. Importantly, CBD use does not lead to tolerance.
In the last 10 years, it has been possible to demonstrate that CBD has the following unique therapeutic profile: 1) a cannabinoid receptor-independent mechanism, 2) long-lasting cerebro- protective effect after ischemic stroke, and lack of development of tolerance.
Moreover, CBD has almost no side effects, including psychotropic activity.
Preliminary studies highlight the fact that the multifunctional actions of CBD may lead to benefits in more complex systems within the brain after ischemic stroke.
CBD offers new therapeutic possibilities for treating ischemic stroke…”
“Alcohol is the world’s most widely used psychoactive drug, but chronic, excessive alcohol consumption leads to permanent organ damage or death..
In the current study, we use a rat model of binge alcohol consumption to determine the potential of cannabidiol (CBD) as a neuroprotectant against ethanol-induced neurotoxicity…
…we evaluated CBD as a neuroprotectant in a rat binge ethanol model.
When administered concurrently with binge ethanol exposure, CBD protected against hippocampal and entorhinal cortical neurodegeneration in a dose-dependent manner.
This study provides the first demonstration of CBD as an in vivo neuroprotectant…
CBD protects against binge alcohol-induced damage.”