Tag Archives: medical

The medical necessity for medicinal cannabis: prospective, observational study evaluating the treatment in cancer patients on supportive or palliative care.

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“Cancer patients using cannabis report better influence from the plant extract than from synthetic products… We followed patients with a medicinal cannabis license to evaluate the advantages and side effects of using cannabis by cancer patients…

 All cancer or anticancer treatment-related symptoms showed significant improvement.

 No significant side effects except for memory lessening in patients with prolonged cannabis use were noted.

Conclusion. The positive effects of cannabis on various cancer-related symptoms are tempered by reliance on self-reporting for many of the variables. Although studies with a control group are missing, the improvement in symptoms should push the use of cannabis in palliative treatment of oncology patients.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23956774

Full Text: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/510392/

Medical Use For Cannabis And It’s Healing Properties

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Medical Marijuana
“Cannabis is the medical term for marijuana. In it’s botanical form, it’s plant is called genus. Three plant forms govern the name cannabis, and have been known for their healing/medical properties since ancient times. All three types are used medically, however, they all have different results and are taken for different reasons. Although there has been much controversy over legalizing cannabis in many states through out our nation, medical experts are standing up to the challenge as scientist continue to reveal new studies indicating the importance of legalizing it strictly for medical reasons.”

THC, found in cannabis, shown to be effective in the treatment of brain tumors

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“In 2000, scientists at the Complutense University of Madrid carried out an extensive experiment, testing the effects of THC on cancerous brain cells in laboratory rats. Their discoveries were nothing short of amazing, as THC had effectively managed to destroy all cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
 
 Research into the effects of THC on glioblastoma would have had the potential to revolutionize available cancer treatments, yet due to insufficient funding and poor public exposure, the science team was unable to further their research.Manuel Guzman explained that “cannabinoids are selective antitumor compounds, as they can kill tumor cells without affecting their non-transformed counterparts.” In contrast to this, chemotherapy, the prevalent anticancer treatment of today, consists of a combination of antineoplastic drugs that have devastating physical and psychological side-effects… 
 
THC works by triggering the build-up of a chemical messenger known as ceramide, which in turn induces apoptosis (or programmed cell death) in mutated tumor cells.
Subsequent research into the properties of THC has revealed that it is among the very few naturally occurring, harmless substances that are capable of inducing programmed cell death in cancerous cells. Other substances with this property include anandamide, other cannabinoids and tumor necrosis factors produced by the immune system in its attempt to fight cancer.
 
After months of effort to obtain funding for testing the medical effects of THC on human tissues, the Madrid science team was forced to abandon this project, although there is currently no effective treatment available for malignant brain tumors.” 
 
 

Police custody following driving under the influence of cannabis: A prospective study.

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“We hypothesized that drug intoxication while driving could correspond to specific medical conditions of the detainees. Our objective was to evaluate medical features and addictive behaviours of suspected drug drivers and to collect data regarding assaults or injuries in these individuals.

We conducted a prospective study of suspected drug driving arrestees, who were compared to drink drivers or persons aged over 18 detained for other reasons. Data collected concerned persons’ characteristics, reported assaults, and observed injuries…

  Cannabis-only users accounted for 201 of 205 drug drivers (98%).

Suspected drug driving arrestees had good overall health rating.

Drug drivers were younger than controls and requested more rarely medical examination.

 They were rarely involved in addiction treatment and reported assaults or presented traumatic injuries less often than drink drivers and controls.

 Drug drivers were less often alcohol abusers than controls.

 Their opinion on custody was better than that of controls and they were considered unconditionally fit for detention more frequently.

 We conclude that arrested drug drivers were young, healthy, and infrequently reported assaults or presented traumatic injuries, which does not put them in a high risk medical condition…”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23890621

Cannabinoids and hallucinogens for headache.

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“Hallucinogens and most cannabinoids are classified under schedule 1 of the Federal Controlled Substances Act 1970, along with heroin and ecstacy. Hence they cannot be prescribed by physicians, and by implication, have no accepted medical use with a high abuse potential. Despite their legal status, hallucinogens and cannabinoids are used by patients for relief of headache, helped by the growing number of American states that have legalized medical marijuana.

Cannabinoids in particular have a long history of use in the abortive and prophylactic treatment of migraine before prohibition and are still used by patients as a migraine abortive in particular.

 Most practitioners are unaware of the prominence cannabis or “marijuana” once held in medical practice.

Hallucinogens are being increasingly used by cluster headache patients outside of physician recommendation mainly to abort a cluster period and maintain quiescence for which there is considerable anecdotal success.

The legal status of cannabinoids and hallucinogens has for a long time severely inhibited medical research, and there are still no blinded studies on headache subjects, from which we could assess true efficacy.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23278122

Foot Pain Associated With HIV Reduced By Smoked Cannabis In Placebo Trial

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“In a randomized placebo-controlled trial, patients smoking cannabis experienced a 34 percent reduction in intense foot pain associated with HIV- twice the rate experienced by patients who smoked placebo.

“This placebo-controlled clinical trial showed that people with HIV who smoked cannabis had substantially greater pain reduction than those who did not smoke the cannabis,” said study lead author Donald I. Abrams, MD, UCSF professor of clinical medicine.

 “These results provide evidence that there is a measurable medical benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients.”

The results of this first study indicate that cannabis may indeed be useful in the amelioration of a very distressing, disabling, and difficult to treat complication of HIV…”

More: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/62917.php

Medicinal Marijuana Effective For Neuropathic Pain In HIV – MedicalNewsToday

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“In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to assess the impact of smoked medical cannabis, or marijuana, on the neuropathic pain associated with HIV, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found that reported pain relief was greater with cannabis than with a placebo. The study, sponsored by the University of California Center for Medical Cannabis Research (CMCR) based at UC San Diego, will be published on line, in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Led by Ronald J. Ellis, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurosciences at UCSD School of Medicine, the study looked at 28 HIV patients with neuropathic pain not adequately controlled by other pain-relievers, including opiates. They took part in the controlled study as outpatients at the UCSD Medical Center. The proportion of subjects achieving pain reduction of 30 percent or more was greater for those smoking cannabis than those smoking the placebo.

“Neuropathy is a chronic and significant problem in HIV patients as there are few existing treatments that offer adequate pain management to sufferers,” Ellis said. “We found that smoked cannabis was generally well-tolerated and effective when added to the patient’s existing pain medication, resulting in increased pain relief.””

More:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/117509.php

Medical Marijuana Might Reduce Nerve Pain Among People Living With HIV/AIDS, Study Says – MedicalNewsToday

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“Medical marijuana might reduce the pain of peripheral neuropathy, a type of nerve damage, among people living with HIV/AIDS, according to a study published in the Feb. 13 issue of the journal Neurology, the Washington Post reports (Weiss, Washington Post, 2/13). Donald Abrams of the University of California-San Francisco and colleagues examined the effects of smoking medicinal marijuana among people living with HIV/AIDS during a two-year period beginning in May 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The results are “evidence, using the gold standard for clinical research, that cannabis has some medical benefits for a condition that can be severely debilitating,” Abrams said.”

More:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/62955.php

Banning Psychedelic Drugs Hurts Research, Scientists Say

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“Restricting the use of psychoactive drugs in research represents the most serious case of scientific censorship since the Catholic Church banned the works of Copernicus and Galileo, some scientists say.” 

psychedelic smoke

 
  

“In a paper published online today (June 12) in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience, a group of researchers argues that drug laws enacted in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s have hindered vital research into the drugs’ functions and therapeutic uses.”

More: http://www.livescience.com/37365-drugs-bans-restrict-research.html

Drug laws ‘hit medical research’

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“International drug laws have set back key areas of scientific research including potential medical treatments, a controversial former government drugs adviser has warned.

In the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Professor David Nutt, of Imperial College London, said UN conventions on drugs act as some of the most scandalous examples of scientific censorship in modern times.

Along with another former government adviser, Leslie King, and Professor David Nichols, of the University of North Carolina, Prof Nutt argues that psychoactive drugs used in research should be exempted from severe restrictions.

Prof Nutt resigned as the chairman of the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in November 2009 over the decision to reclassify cannabis from a Class C to a Class B drug. The possession of cannabis, Ecstasy and psychedelics is regulated under national laws and international conventions dating back to the 1960s.

Prof Nutt said: “The decision to outlaw these drugs was based on their perceived dangers, but in many cases the harms have been overstated and are actually less than many legal drugs such as alcohol.”

More: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/drug-laws-hit-medical-research-040455765.html#NAVDFvc