Tag Archives: marijuana

The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Body Weight.

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“This study is the first to examine the effects of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on body weight, physical wellness, and exercise.

Using data from the 1990 to 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a difference-in-difference approach, we find that the enforcement of MMLs is associated with a 2% to 6% decline in the probability of obesity.

We find some evidence of age-specific heterogeneity in mechanisms. For older individuals, MML-induced increases in physical mobility may be a relatively important channel, while for younger individuals, a reduction in consumption of alcohol, a substitute for marijuana, appears more important.

These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that MMLs may be more likely to induce marijuana use for health-related reasons among older individuals, and cause substitution toward lower-calorie recreational ‘highs’ among younger individuals.

Our estimates suggest that MMLs induce a $58 to $115 per-person annual reduction in obesity-related medical costs.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26602324

Daily Marijuana Use Is Not Associated with Brain Morphometric Measures in Adolescents or Adults

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“No statistically significant differences were found between daily users and nonusers on volume or shape in the regions of interest.

Effect sizes suggest that the failure to find differences was not due to a lack of statistical power, but rather was due to the lack of even a modest effect.

In sum, the results indicate that, when carefully controlling for alcohol use, gender, age, and other variables, there is no association between marijuana use and standard volumetric or shape measurements of subcortical structures.

The press may not cite studies that do not find sensational effects, but these studies are still extremely important. While the literature clearly supports a deleterious short-term effect of marijuana on learning and memory, it seems unlikely that marijuana use has the same level of long-term deleterious effects on brain morphology as other drugs like alcohol.”

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/4/1505.full

Seeing over the horizon – targeting the endocannabinoid system for the treatment of ocular disease.

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“The observation that marijuana reduces intraocular pressure was made by Hepler and Frank in the 1970s. Since then, there has been a significant body of work investigating cannabinoids for their potential use as therapeutics.

To date, no endocannabinoid system (ECS)-modulating drug has been approved for clinical use in the eye; however, recent advances in our understanding of the ECS, as well as new pharmacological tools, has renewed interest in the development of ocular ECS-based therapeutics.

This review summarizes the current state-of-affairs for the use of ECS-modulating drugs for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular inflammatory and ischemic disease.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26565550

Metabolic Syndrome among Marijuana Users in the United States: An Analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data.

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“Research on the health effects of marijuana use in light of its increased medical use and the current obesity epidemic is needed. Our objective was to explore the relationship between marijuana use and metabolic syndrome across stages of adulthood…

Current marijuana users had lower odds of presenting with metabolic syndrome than never users. Among emerging adults, current marijuana users were 54% less likely than never users to present with metabolic syndrome. Current and past middle-aged adult marijuana users were less likely to have metabolic syndrome than never users.

CONCLUSIONS:

Current marijuana use is associated with lower odds of metabolic syndrome across emerging and middle-aged US adults.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26548604

Endocannabinoid signaling mediates oxytocin-driven social reward.

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Image result for Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.

“Marijuana exerts profound effects on human social behavior, but the neural substrates underlying such effects are unknown. Here we report that social contact increases, whereas isolation decreases, the mobilization of the endogenous marijuana-like neurotransmitter, anandamide, in the mouse nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain structure that regulates motivated behavior. The results indicate that anandamide-mediated signaling at CB1 receptors, driven by oxytocin, controls social reward. Deficits in this signaling mechanism may contribute to social impairment in autism spectrum disorders and might offer an avenue to treat these conditions.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26504214

“In conclusion, our results illuminate a mechanism underlying the prosocial actions of oxytocin, and provide unexpected insights on possible neural substrates involved in the social facilitation caused by marijuana. Pharmacological modulation of oxytocin-driven anandamide signaling (by using, for example, FAAH inhibitors) might open new avenues to treat social impairment in autism spectrum disorders.”  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4653148/

Controlled downregulation of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor provides a promising approach for the treatment of obesity and obesity-derived type 2 diabetes.

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“Increased activity of the endocannabinoid system has emerged as a pathogenic factor in visceral obesity, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

The endocannabinoid system is composed of at least two G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), and the cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2).

Downregulation of CB1 activity in rodents and humans has proven efficacious to reduce food intake, abdominal adiposity, fasting glucose levels, and cardiometabolic risk factors.

Unfortunately, downregulation of CB1 activity by universally active CB1 inverse agonists has been found to elicit psychiatric side effects, which led to the termination of using globally active CB1 inverse agonists to treat diet-induced obesity.

Interestingly, preclinical studies have shown that downregulation of CB1 activity by CB1 neutral antagonists or peripherally restricted CB1 inverse agonists provided similar anorectic effects and metabolic benefits without psychiatric side effects seen in globally active CB1 inverse agonists.

Furthermore, downregulation of CB1 activity may ease endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial stress which are contributors to obesity-induced insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

This suggests new approaches for cannabinoid-based therapy in the management of obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26498013

Peripherally Restricted Cannabinoids for the Treatment of Pain.

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“The use of cannabinoids for the treatment of chronic diseases has increased in the United States, with 23 states having legalized the use of marijuana.

Although currently available cannabinoid compounds have shown effectiveness in relieving symptoms associated with numerous diseases, the use of cannabis or cannabinoids is still controversial mostly due to their psychotropic effects (e.g., euphoria, laughter) or central nervous system (CNS)-related undesired effects (e.g., tolerance, dependence).

A potential strategy to use cannabinoids for medical conditions without inducing psychotropic or CNS-related undesired effects is to avoid their actions in the CNS.

This approach could be beneficial for conditions with prominent peripheral pathophysiologic mechanisms (e.g., painful diabetic neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy).

In this article, we discuss the scientific evidence to target the peripheral cannabinoid system as an alternative to cannabis use for medical purposes, and we review the available literature to determine the pros and cons of potential strategies that can be used to this end.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26497478

Head and neck cancer among marijuana users: A meta-analysis of matched case-control studies.

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“The scientific literature presents conflicting data on a possible causal relationship between marijuana users and the development of head and neck cancer.

This study performed a systematic review with meta-analysis.

The meta-analysis found no association between exposure and disease.

No association between lifetime marijuana use and the development of head and neck cancer was found.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26433192

http://www.aobjournal.com/article/S0003-9969(15)30041-8/abstract

Past 15-year trends in adolescent marijuana use: Differences by race/ethnicity and sex.

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“The potential for increases in adolescent marijuana use is an important concern given recent changes in marijuana policy.

The purpose of this study was to estimate trends in marijuana use from 1999 to 2013 among a national sample of US high school students…

Despite considerable changes in state marijuana policies over the past 15 years, marijuana use among high school students has largely declined. ”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26361714