“Individuals who work nonstandard schedules, such as rotating or night shifts, are more susceptible to workplace injuries, performance decrements, and reduced productivity. This population is also almost twice as likely to use illicit drugs as individuals working a standard day shift. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of smoked marijuana on performance, mood, and sleep during simulated shift work. Ten experienced marijuana smokers completed this 23-day, within-participant residential study. They smoked a single marijuana cigarette (0, 1.9, 3.56% Δ9-THC) one hour after waking for three consecutive days under two shift conditions: day shift and night shift. Shifts alternated three times during the study, and shift conditions were separated by an ‘off’ day. When participants smoked placebo cigarettes, psychomotor performance and subjective-effect ratings were altered during the night shift compared to the day shift: performance (e.g., vigilance) and a few subjective ratings were decreased (e.g., “Self-Confident”), whereas other ratings were increased (e.g., “Tired”). Objective and subjective measures of sleep were also disrupted, but to a lesser extent. Marijuana attenuated some performance, mood, and sleep disruptions: participants performed better on vigilance tasks, reported being less miserable and tired and sleep a greater number of minutes. Limited negative effects of marijuana were noted. These data demonstrate that abrupt shift changes produce performance, mood, and sleep decrements during night shift work and that smoked marijuana containing low to moderate Δ9-THC concentrations can offset some of these effects in frequent marijuana smokers.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28728115 http://www.drugandalcoholdependence.com/article/S0376-8716(17)30309-5/fulltext]]>
Tag Archives: medical marijuana
Cannabinoids in Pediatrics.
“Despite its controversial nature, the use of medical marijuana and cannabis-derived medicinal products grows more popular with each passing year. As of November 2016, over 40 states have passed legislation regarding the use of either medical marijuana or cannabidiol products. Many providers have started encountering patients experimenting with cannabis products for a wide range of conditions. While the debate continues regarding these agents for both medicinal and recreational use in the general population, special consideration needs to be made for pediatric use. This review will deliver the history of marijuana use and legislation in the United States in addition to the currently available medical literature to equip pediatric health care providers with resources to provide patients and their parents the best recommendation for safe and appropriate use of cannabis-containing compounds.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28638299 http://www.jppt.org/doi/10.5863/1551-6776-22.3.176?code=ppag-site
“Report of a parent survey of cannabidiol-enriched cannabis use in pediatric treatment-resistant epilepsy.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24237632
“The legal status of cannabis (marijuana) and cannabidiol (CBD) under U.S. law.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28169144
Problematic Use of Prescription Opioids and Medicinal Cannabis Among Patients Suffering from Chronic Pain
“To assess prevalence rates and correlates of problematic use of prescription opioids and medicinal cannabis (MC) among patients receiving treatment for chronic pain.
Problematic use of opioids is common among chronic pain patients treated with prescription opioids and is more prevalent than problematic use of cannabis among those receiving MC.”
https://academic.oup.com/painmedicine/article-abstract/18/2/294/2924709/Problematic-Use-of-Prescription-Opioids-and?redirectedFrom=fulltext]]>
Pharmacogenetics of Cannabinoids.
“Although the application of medical marijuana and cannabinoid drugs is controversial, it is a part of modern-day medicine.
The list of diseases in which cannabinoids are promoted as a treatment is constantly expanding. Cases of significant improvement in patients with a very poor prognosis of glioma or epilepsy have already been described. However, the occurrence of side effects is still difficult to estimate, and the current knowledge of the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids is still insufficient.
In our opinion, the answers to many questions and concerns regarding the medical use of cannabis can be provided by pharmacogenetics. Knowledge based on proteins and molecules involved in the transport, action, and metabolism of cannabinoids in the human organism leads us to predict candidate genes which variations are responsible for the presence of the therapeutic and side effects of medical marijuana and cannabinoid-based drugs.
We can divide them into: receptor genes-CNR1, CNR2, TRPV1, and GPR55, transporters-ABCB1, ABCG2, SLC6A, biotransformation, biosynthesis, and bioactivation proteins encoded by CYP3A4, CYP2C19, CYP2C9, CYP2A6, CYP1A1, COMT, FAAH, COX2, ABHD6, ABHD12 genes, and also MAPK14. This review organizes the current knowledge in the context of cannabinoids pharmacogenetics according to individualized medicine and cannabinoid drugs therapy.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28534260
“There is a feeling that the next milestone, after legal acceptance of medical marijuana, will be intensive pharmacogenetic-oriented study of individual populations, which hopefully explain the previous contradictory results and identify in the future genetic markers to personalize cannabinoids treatment.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13318-017-0416-z
“A prior epidemiological study identified a reduction in opioid overdose deaths in US states that legalized medical