Author: Frank Schuler

Study Finds Cannabis Extract Effective For Refractory Chronic Pain Patients

Written by Frank Schuler on August 29, 2022. Posted in Science.

The most common health condition that people use cannabis to treat is pain. Patients can experience pain for any number of reasons, and to varying degrees of severity. For some patients the pain is only temporary, and medical cannabis helps during flare ups.

For others, pain can be so common in their lives that the pain becomes chronic, and in the worst cases, the pain can prove to be completely debilitating and not able to be treated by pharmaceutical medications (refractory chronic pain).

Pharmaceutical medications geared towards treating pain, even when they work, are often extremely addictive and the use of them can cause major health issues, including death. Cannabinoids alone, on the other hand, have never killed anyone in recorded human history, and in the cases of some patients with refractory chronic pain, the use of medical cannabis is very effective.

That was demonstrated in a recent study focusing on medical cannabis and refractory chronic pain out of Australia. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Sydney, Australia: The administration of cannabis extracts containing equal quantities of THC and CBD is associated with reduced pain intensity and improved sleep in patients with chronic refractory pain conditions, according to data published in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids.

Australian investigators assessed the safety and efficacy of whole-plant cannabis oil in a cohort of 151 chronic pain patients. Participants in the trial used the extract daily for at least three months. All of the subjects in the trial suffered from conditions that were unresponsive to conventional analgesics, such as opioids and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Trial subjects were most likely to be diagnosed with neuropathy, musculoskeletal pain, or arthritis.

Researchers reported, “Pain impact scores were significantly reduced across the cohort. Additionally, most subjects reported improvements in sleep disturbances and fatigue.” The majority of side-effects reported by patients were categorized as mild; these most frequently included sleepiness, dizziness, and dry-mouth.

They concluded: “This analysis presents real-world data collected as part of standard of care. … The results of this study demonstrated a significantly positive effect of [a proprietary formulation of] oral medicinal cannabis oil on the impact of pain. … Amelioration of the impact of pain confirms continued prescribing of this formulation and validates our observational methodology as a tool to determine the therapeutic potency of medicinal cannabinoids.”

Survey data estimate that nearly one-third of patients suffering from chronic pain conditions acknowledge using cannabis products. Among patients in US states where medical cannabis access is permitted, over 60 percent are qualified to use it to treat pain.

Full text of the study, “Medical cannabis for the treatment of chronic refractory pain: An investigation of the adverse event profile and health-related quality of life impact of an oral formulation,” appears in Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids. Additional information about marijuana for pain is available from NORML.

Malaysia To Decide On Medical Cannabis Reform By End Of Year

Written by Frank Schuler on August 29, 2022. Posted in Policy.

As we previously reported, government officials from Malaysia met with their counterparts from Thailand this week with the goal of determining what Malaysia can learn from Thailand’s current cannabis policies and the efforts to get Thailand’s policies to where they are at now.

Historically, the region that Thailand and Malaysia are located in is where some of the harshest cannabis laws on earth could be found, and in the case of Malaysia, can still be found. Malaysia is one of a handful of countries around the world, most of them located in the same region, that still issues the death penalty for cannabis-only offenses.

Malaysia is currently exploring ways that it can improve its cannabis laws for medical cannabis patients, and coming off of the heals of the recent meeting between Malaysia and Thailand dedicated to the topic of medical cannabis, Malaysia’s Health Minister has indicated that the country will decide on medical cannabis by the end of the year. Per The Star:

The government will take a stand on the use of cannabis for medical purposes before the end of the year, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Khairy who concluded a bilateral working visit to Bangkok, on Thursday (Aug 25) said Thailand had shared a lot of views and experiences during his visit on the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes and its cultivation.

“I am confident that we will be able to study Thailand’s experience to adapt it to the Malaysian context later when we will decide whether or not to allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

The effort in Malaysia is far from guaranteed to succeed, and even if something is eventually adopted, it will likely be a far cry compared to robust medical cannabis programs found in other countries in North America and Europe.

Still, it is very encouraging to see neighboring countries take notice of the shift in cannabis policy in Thailand, and for them to be seeking out advice from the regional cannabis leader. Hopefully more countries in the region follow suit.

Fair Trading Commission Recommends Government Funding For Jamaican Cannabis Pursuits

Written by Frank Schuler on August 29, 2022. Posted in Business, Policy.

Finding proper funding in the cannabis industry, including cannabis research, is not an easy task. Ask anyone involved in cannabis in any meaningful way, and they will likely be quick to tell you that they are either having a hard time finding proper funding, or in the cases in which fundraising already occurred, it proved to be a harder task than they initially expected.

That is certainly proving to be the case in Jamaica where members of the nation’s emerging cannabis industry are expressing frustration regarding finding proper cannabis funding for their projects, whether it be for their company or their research projects.

The cannabis industry’s cries for help in Jamaica seem to be moving the needle, at least to some degree, with the government’s administrative body responsible for overseeing the Fair Competition Act, the Fair Trading Commission, recently recommending that Jamaica create a funding mechanism to help the cannabis industry. Per Jamaica Observer:

The recommendation follows the completion of a market study of the cannabis industry which revealed that funding is one of the major impediments in the industry.

The FTC report, which was released in August, stated “policymakers should consider establishing [a] source of funding to encourage easier entry/expansion of the legitimate trade of cannabis”.

The agency said this is crucial as potential entrants may encounter difficulties accessing loans through local financial institutions given global efforts to limit the illegal trade of cannabis.

Much of what is going on in Jamaica is also going on elsewhere, due in large part to international banking regulations that make it very hard for traditional lending institutions to work with the emerging cannabis industry.

Banking legislation lagging in the United States is partially to blame for the problem, although, other countries also have many domestic hurdles that need to be overcome in order for the cannabis industry to gain full access to the international banking system and to ever reach its full potential.

Study Finds No Link Between In-Utero Cannabis Exposure And Elevated Risk Of ADHD In Children

Written by Frank Schuler on August 29, 2022. Posted in Science.

Few topics, if any, in the cannabis world are as sensitive as cannabis use during pregnancy, for obvious reasons. An expecting mother that consumes cannabis may be the most stigmatized type of cannabis consumer on earth.

If an expecting mother is suspected of consuming cannabis in any form in any manner, they run the risk of being put into a system that will likely have no mercy, and that is unfortunate for many reasons.

To be clear, I am not advocating for cannabis consumption during pregnancy. I am pointing out the obvious public health issues that arise from expecting mothers living in fear, and as a result, presumably being less-than-candid with their doctor(s) due to the fear of possible prosecution and/or eventually being separated from their child.

The fact of the matter is that some expecting moms consume cannabis for various reasons, often for medical reasons via smokeless consumption methods, and they should feel free to talk to their doctors about it in order to receive the best medical advice possible for themselves and their baby.

As with all things cannabis, science should lead the way and political hype and fearmongering should be avoided. Fortunately, cannabis use during pregnancy is being researched more often as cannabis reform spreads, with a recent example of that coming out of Canada. Below is more information about it via a NORML news release:

Quebec, Canada: Prenatal cannabis exposure is not associated with an increased risk of attention deficit disorders among children, according to data published in the journal BMJ Open.

Canadian investigators evaluated the relationship between in-utero marijuana exposure and attention deficit with or without hyperactivity disorder in a cohort of 2,408 children.

Researchers reported “no significant association” between either occasional or regular prenatal cannabis exposure and ADHD after adjusting for potential confounders.

“In our study, we did not find any association between in-utero occasional or regular exposure to cannabis and the risk of ADHD in children, as well as overall exposure to cannabis and the risk of ADHD in children,” authors concluded. “Further research focusing on the timing of exposure during pregnancy (e.g., first, second, third trimester), as well as using different methods for quantifying prenatal cannabis exposure (e.g., biological samples), is needed to better understand the impact of cannabis use during pregnancy and developmental outcomes in children.”

Full text of the study, “Is in-utero exposure to cannabis associated with the risk of attention deficit with or without hyperactivity disorder? A cohort study within the Quebec Pregnancy Cohort,” appears in BMJ Open. Additional information is available from NORML’s fact sheet, “Maternal Marijuana Use and Childhood Outcomes.”

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Prior Cannabis Use Inversely Associated With Urological Cancers

Written by Frank Schuler on August 21, 2022. Posted in Science.

Urological cancers can occur in both men and women and are caused by abnormal cell growths in the organs of the urinary tract and the male reproductive tract.

The specific types of urological cancers can affect the kidneys, ureter, bladder, urethra, prostate, and/or testicles. The most common type of urologic cancer is bladder cancer.

Various things can contribute to the development of urological cancers, including genetics and environmental factors, with tobacco use being a notable contributing factor.

Common treatments include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and in some cases immunotherapy. Past cannabis use is associated with a lower risk of urological cancers according to a new study. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

London, United Kingdom: Women with a past history of cannabis use are at lower risk of suffering from certain types of urological cancers, according to population-based data published in the journal Cancer Medicine.

An international team of researchers from China, France, and the United Kingdom assessed the relationship between cannabis use and cancer risk in a cohort of more than 151,000 subjects.

Investigators reported, “Previous use of cannabis was a significant protective factor” in women against renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and bladder cancer (BCa). They further reported that “previous cannabis use was a significant protective factor for PCa (prostate cancer) in men with a history of tobacco smoking.” A history of cannabis use had a null effect on rates of testicular cancer.

Authors concluded: “In the current study, we investigated the association between the use of cannabis and the risk of urological cancers. We observed that: (1) previous use of cannabis was a significant inverse association with both RCC and PCa; (2) cannabis use was associated with the lower risk of BCa in the point estimates; (3) the protective effect of cannabis on RCC and BCa was significant for females but not for males; (4) cannabis use had a causal effect on lower incidence of RCC.”

Prior studies have similarly identified an inverse association between a past history of cannabis use and the development of certain types of cancers, including bladder cancer, liver cancer, and head and neck cancers.

Full text of the study, “Association between cannabis use with urological cancers: A population-based cohort study and mendelian randomization study in the UK biobank,” appears in Cancer Medicine.

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Judge Grants Home Cultivation Protection To Cannabis Patient In Brazil

Written by Frank Schuler on August 21, 2022. Posted in Policy.

Back in June 2022, Brazil’s top Court ruled in favor of three patients that sought to cultivate their own cannabis. The Court at the time seemed to indicate that it felt Brazil’s government was purposefully trying to hinder safe access.

Another court case in Brazil was recently decided, this time involving one medical cannabis patient, and the ruling is in line with the previous top Court ruling that favored home cultivation. Per Extra:

A woman obtained in court a preventive habeas corpus that allows her to grow cannabis sativa for oil extraction for personal and medicinal use, in addition to authorization to import seeds. The request was made by lawyers Thais Menezes and Marianna Mendonça to the 7th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro and granted by Judge Caroline Vieira Figueired.

According to the ruling, the patient in this latest case can cultivate up to 21 plants every 4 months, or a total of 63 plants per year. The patient reportedly will use the harvests to make cannabis oil.

A big part of the court’s decision seemed to hinge on the patient’s inability to pay the costs of imported cannabis oil products, which can be very expensive. I suspect this patient’s situation is more common than many people think.

Every patient should be able to cultivate their own medical cannabis within reason. Not every patient has the ability to cultivate cannabis due to physical and logistical hurdles, however, every patient should have the right to home cultivation regardless.

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More Britons Support Decriminalizing Cannabis Than Oppose It

Written by Frank Schuler on August 21, 2022. Posted in Policy.

While many parts of the world are now trending towards adult-use legalization and/or comprehensive medical cannabis reform, if they haven’t already implemented such reforms, Britain continues to lag behind.

Technically, Britain does allow limited use of cannabis for medical purposes, with a heavy emphasis on the word ‘limited.’ It’s estimated that well over a million people in Britain could benefit from medical cannabis, however, the number of people actually afforded safe access is minimal.

Non-medical cannabis reform seems even further out of reach than comprehensive medical cannabis reform, although that’s not due to a lack of support from British citizens.

YouGov recently conducted a survey in which it asked the question, “To what extent would you support or oppose the de-criminalisation of the following currently banned substances?”

Out of the fourteen substances listed, cannabis was the only substance that received a greater level of support compared to the level for opposing reform.

Forty-five percent of respondents expressed support for decriminalizing cannabis while forty-three percent were opposed. Thirteen percent of respondents indicated that they ‘don’t know’ which way they feel about the question.

The next closest substance on the results chart was mushrooms, which received 28% support, 55% opposed, and 17% undecided.

The thirteen percent of undecided citizens when it came to decriminalizing cannabis is obviously significant, in that it’s a large enough percentage of people that if they decided to join the ‘opposed’ camp, that would obviously result in a majority.

However, those people could just as easily fall on the ‘support’ side of the equation, and studies have consistently found that the level of support for cannabis reform in polls is lower than the actual level of support in society. Hopefully lawmakers in Britain take notice.

Hong Kong Taking First Steps To Crack Down On CBD

Written by Frank Schuler on August 15, 2022. Posted in Business, Policy.

Earlier this summer government officials in Hong Kong announced that they are pursuing a plan to prohibit CBD entirely. The announcement came after it was determined that as many as one-third of CBD products in Hong Kong contain trace amounts of THC.

Hong Kong is home to a number of CBD companies and not just ones that infuse CBD into such products as drinks and foods. The City’s first CBD cafe opened in 2020 and since that time a number of other similar businesses have popped up in Hong Kong.

With a CBD ban winding up, businesses in Hong Kong that have built their models on the popular cannabinoid will likely have to close. Per Bangkok Post:

An unregulated market in goods containing the cannabis-derived compound has flourished since the city’s first CBD cafe, Found, opened in July 2020. The Asian financial hub now has dozens of cafes and shops selling CBD, but a government proposal to ban the substance before the end of the year puts those enterprises in jeopardy.

“With a full ban for CBD in Hong Kong, we would be forced to probably shelve the Found brand as it exists today,” said Fiachra Mullen, chief marketing officer at Altum International Ltd, which owns Found brand as it exists today,” said Fiachra Mullen, chief marketing officer at Altum International Ltd, which owns Found and supplies CBD products to other businesses in the city.

Several peer-reviewed studies have found that CBD is effective at treating a number of conditions and is safe for human consumption. For that matter, studies have also determined the same to be true for THC.

Hong Kong should be embracing the CBD industry, not seeking to destroy it. CBD is legal in a growing list of other countries, and the CBD market is worth billions of dollars at the international level. It’s a shame that reefer madness is ruining it in Hong Kong.

CBD Is Safe And Effective For People With Treatment-Resistant Anxiety Disorders Per Clinical Trial

Written by Frank Schuler on August 15, 2022. Posted in Science.

It is estimated that roughly 4% of the world’s population suffers from some level of anxiety, although, no one really knows the actual number. The condition often goes undiagnosed for various reasons, so it’s quite possible that the rate is much higher.

Anxiety involves intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Physical symptoms can include a fast heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, and fatigue.

Many of the pharmaceutical medications that are commonly prescribed for anxiety involve a laundry list of terrible side effects. Some cases of anxiety are so bad that pharmaceutical treatments don’t even work.

Fortunately, CBD may be able to help in those cases. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Melbourne, Australia: The adjunctive use of CBD safely and effectively reduces severe anxiety in young people, according to clinical data published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Australian researchers assessed the daily administration of CBD in a cohort of 31 young people (ages 12 to 25) with refractory anxiety. Participants self-titrated their daily doses of CBD (between 400 mgs and 800 mgs) over a 12-week period.

CBD dosing was associated with a “statistically significant reduction in anxiety severity,” as measured on the Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS). CBD dosing also “demonstrated an acceptable safety profile, with no serious adverse events reported and no clinically significant deviations to blood cell counts.”

Investigators reported, “Approximately 40 percent of all participants experienced a 50 percent reduction in OASIS score, and two-thirds experienced a 33 percent reduction.” They added, “By the end of treatment, the number of participants rated as markedly or severely ill had decreased from 17 (56.7 percent) to 5 (16.7 percent).”

Authors acknowledged that CBD’s greatest efficacy was observed during the final four weeks of treatment, indicating that a longer treatment regimen may potentially lead “to even greater improvements.”

They concluded: “Given that the patients included in our trial were some of the most severe and treatment resistant and had significant functional impairment and multiple failed treatment attempts, the reduction in anxiety severity observed here suggests that CBD has clinically meaningful anxiolytic effects. … The findings of this trial suggest that further investigation of CBD for anxiety in conjunction with usual care is warranted.”

Other human trials evaluating the use of CBD for anxiety have yielded inconsistent results. A 2019 placebo-controlled trial reported that daily CBD intake reduces symptoms of social anxiety disorder in teens, whereas a 2022 study determined oral doses of CBD to be ineffective at reducing symptoms of moderate-to-severe testing anxiety in college students. A 2018 Brazilian study reported that the consumption of 300mg of CBD significantly reduced anxiety due to public speaking, but that higher (600mg) and lower (150mg) had no effect.

Full text of the study, “Cannabidiol for treatment-resistant anxiety disorders in young people: An open-label trial,” appears in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.