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Chronic Pain Patients Report Improvements In New UK Study

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Science.

A fairly sizable study was recently concluded in the United Kingdom involving cannabis, chronic pain, quality of life, and opioid use. The study revolved around multiple cannabis products, which is not always the case with cannabis studies. Below is more information about the scope of the study, and the findings, via a news release from NORML:

London, United Kingdom: Chronic pain patients who use cannabis products for six months report improvements in their health-related quality of life and decreases in their daily opioid consumption, according to observational data published in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.

British investigators assessed the safety and efficacy of plant-derived cannabis products (either oils, flower, or a combination of both) in over 700 chronic pain patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. All of the participants possessed a doctor’s authorization to access cannabis products. (Since 2018, specialists have been permitted to prescribe cannabis-based medicinal products to patients unresponsive to conventional medications.) Authors assessed the efficacy of cannabis at one, three, and six months.

Consistent with prior studies, investigators reported: “Treatment with oil-based [products], dried flowers, or a combination of both CBMPs [cannabis-based medicinal products] are associated with statistically significant improvements in pain relief and sleep quality after six months in chronic pain patients. Additionally, patients prescribed oils or both types of CBMPs experienced reduced anxiety and an improvement in their ability to perform daily activities. Patients prescribed a combination of both CBMPs recorded improvements in their self-care and mobility abilities. Collectively, this evidence signals that [the] initiation of CBMP treatment is associated with improved HRQoL [health-related quality of life].”

Researchers also acknowledged that patients significantly reduced their daily intake of prescription opioids – a finding that is consistent with dozens of other studies.

“In summary, these results suggest that both [cannabis] oils and dried flowers are associated with long-term improved HRQoL in chronic pain patients,” they concluded.

Prior studies assessing the use of cannabis products in patients enrolled in the UK registry have similarly reported them to be safe and effective for patients suffering from anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, migraine, inflammatory bowel disease, and other afflictions.

Data published earlier this year in the journal JAMA Network Open reported that nearly one in four pain patients who reside in states where medical cannabis access is legal self-identify as marijuana consumers.

Full text of the study, “Clinical outcome data of chronic pain patients treated with cannabis-based oils and dried flower from the UK medical cannabis registry,” appears in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics. Additional information on cannabis and pain management is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids.

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UK Study Finds That Cannabis Is Associated With Improvements In Depressive Symptoms

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Science.

Depression is a common mental health condition affecting people all over the globe. Major depressive disorder, or depression as it is more often referred to, negatively affects how people feel, think, and act.

The condition can be caused by any number of things, or combination of things, including deficient mood regulation by the patient’s brain, genetic susceptibility, grief, and/or stressful events that have occurred in the person’s life.

Common symptoms include sadness, loss of interest in things the patient previously enjoyed, changes in appetite, insomnia, loss of energy, difficulty focusing, and/or thoughts of death or suicide.

Fortunately, depression can be treated, with the cannabis plant being increasingly used by patients to help battle depression. A team of researchers in the United Kingdom recently examined cannabis use by patients suffering from depression and the results are encouraging. Below is more information about it via a NORML news release:

London, United Kingdom: The daily consumption of cannabis products is associated with sustained improvements in depressive symptoms, according to observational trial data published in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.

British investigators assessed the safety and efficacy of cannabis products in 129 subjects with a primary diagnosis of depression. Study subjects were participants in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry and all possessed a doctor’s authorization to consume cannabis. Study participants consumed either cannabis extracts, THC-dominant flowers, or both for a period of six-months.

Researchers reported: “The results showed that medicinal cannabis was associated with improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as health-related quality of life, and sleep quality after 1, 3, and 6 months of treatment.” While some subjects reported adverse events from cannabis products, almost all side effects were classified as either “mild or moderate.”

Authors concluded, “Future studies could focus on conducting controlled observational studies or pilot trials to determine the potential of CBMPs [cannabis-based medicinal products] as a treatment for depression.”

Post-traumatic stress patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry have similarly shown sustained symptomatic improvements following cannabis therapy.

Full text of the study, “Assessment of clinical outcomes of medicinal cannabis therapy for depression: Analysis from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry,” appears in the Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.

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UK Study Finds PTSD Symptoms Improved After Cannabis Use

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Science, Uncategorized.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a major public health issue all over the world. The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is estimated to be 3.9% in the general population, and a much higher rate for those that have lived in countries where war and conflict has occurred.

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it.”

As with most health conditions, there are varying degrees of severity when it comes to PTSD, ranging from mild anxiety all the way to full blown panic attacks occurring regularly to the point that the patient can’t function. Flashbacks and regular nightmares are also symptoms of PTSD.

Fortunately, the cannabis plant has been found by a growing list of studies to help people that suffer from PTSD. A recent study in the United Kingdom found that cannabis use is associated with improved symptoms among patients suffering from PTSD. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

London, United Kingdom: Patients with post-traumatic stress experience symptom improvements following the use of cannabis products, according to data published in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.

British investigators assessed the safety and efficacy of cannabis products in 162 PTSD patients with a physician’s authorization. Study subjects were participants in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. Study participants consumed either cannabis extracts or THC-dominant flowers for a period of six-months.

Authors reported that patients showed “statistically significant improvements” in a variety of domains, including sleep, anxiety, and stress. Self-reported adverse events were typically mild in severity.

“This observational study suggests an association between CBMP [cannabis-based medicinal products] treatment and improvement in PTSD-specific, HRQoL [health-related quality of life], sleep, and anxiety outcomes at up to 6-month follow-up,” they concluded. “CBMPs were well-tolerated and adverse events manageable. … [T]his study can serve to inform future randomized placebo-controlled trials with the aim of confirming these promising effects, whilst informing current clinical practice.”

Observational studies assessing the role of cannabinoids in mitigating symptoms of PTSD have generally yielded mixed results. A 2021 clinical trial reported that the inhalation of marijuana flowers provided limited benefits compared to placebo in treating symptoms of PTSD.

Full text of the study, “Assessment of clinical outcomes in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder: Analysis from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry,” appears in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics. Additional information on cannabis and post-traumatic stress is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis & Cannabinoids.

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Cannabis Reform Moves Forward In UK’s Islands

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Politics.

Support for cannabis reform if not actual cultivation is moving ahead on the many islands ringing the mainland

From Guernsey, where cultivation is finally proceeding officially, to the Isle of Man’s upcoming election where candidates are talking openly if not enthusiastically for the need for cannabis reform, the entire discussion is proceeding in the UK, even if slowly, and even if, for the moment, mostly off its mainland.

There are of course, several reasons for this, starting with the dire need for economic development if not effectively treating residents with medicines that can be made easily and economically, locally.

On Guernsey, seven applications for cultivation have been filed by companies intending to cultivate and or process high THC cannabis for medical use.

On the Isle Man, only one of the five candidates in the running for the House of Keys election has categorized reform as a “slippery slope.” The other four are all in favour of at least decriminalization.

Regardless, both the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are moving the conversation forward and, in a way, likely to rebound on the larger debate in the UK.

The Status of Cannabis Reform in the UK

Despite being the largest exporter of cannabis products in the world for the last twenty years (albeit with one company holding an exclusive monopoly on the same), reformers have struggled to move the entire cannabis legalization discussion forward in a manner similar to Germany. 

Currently there are several new cultivation projects afoot in the UK proper, but these are focussed on low THC. These days, much of the medical cannabis legally consumed in the UK comes from abroad (including Canada, Holland, and Germany). 

Beyond this, medical authorities have refused to consider including chronic pain as one of the medical reasons for obtaining a cannabis prescription via the NHS (in other words at a discounted cost which most patients can easily afford).

Beyond the actual supply chain discussion however, there is one area in which the UK promises to be a major boon to the conversation across the continent – namely the more liberal financial markets in the UK – which are lining up to be one of the best sources of public equity across Europe.

In the meantime, however, green shoots and leaves are certainly appearing now on the islands dotting the British coastline. And this may, in turn, make all the difference in finally moving the conversation forward faster on the mainland.

The International Cannabis Business Conference has returned to Europe. Follow us for news and other developments.

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Cannabis And Privacy On Collision Course In The UK?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

As Brexit confuses matters, and the NHS considers a patient registry, what is on the agenda for the protection of cannabis patient rights?

The NHS has now announced a new cannabis patient database, even as the island sets sail for a general regulatory free environment in the aftermath of whatever Brexit will be. Beyond tens of miles of lorries on either side of the Channel, however, what does this mean for patient privacy generally in the UK? Will it merely follow the path of North American users, who are also caught up in the conversation about big tech and privacy rights?

Privacy and cannabis use has been a big issue just about everywhere, particularly since 2014 when Canada and the United States both began to move towards recreational reform. So far, at least in North America, the problems remain contentious, widely undressed, and as a result, in limbo, for now.

Europe is another matter. The medical market here has matured along with a renewed interest in both privacy rights and online shopping. In Europe proper, as a result, GDPR, or general data protection legislation is a big deterrent to getting it wrong.

Such trends are also unlikely to go away as Europe in particular, finally begins to challenge American big Tech and as of next year.

Even the newly brexited island off the west coast of the Channel has some kind of GDPR protection also known as the United Kingdom will be affected.

So far, beyond the proposed NHS database, a non-profit research organization is also gathering data under the rubric of ProjectTwenty21, which presumably will also then share such data with the companies that sponsor it.

It might be a “dodge,” but in a country with many issues about reconstituting itself as an independent actor, and further one after Covid, everyone is looking for a new way of doing things.

The question remains, however, whether the new solutions will be any less problematic as the old ones?

Hemp Advertising Does Not Obviate The Issues

As much as the recent European Commission decision on the regulation and advertising of hemp creates many opportunities for both brands and canna media, in particular, many jungles remain. This includes understanding how a recreational cannabis market is different from a medical one. In an environment where most patients are still caught in the black market and are unable to afford any legitimate channel for their drug, this entire debate means nothing.

Who Should Have Access To Cannabis Patient Databases?

The discussion about access to new drug and patient databases has been in the room since the establishment of the pharmaceutical industry in the last century. However, in a world where social media and marketing have redefined whole industries, starting with advertising itself, there are no easy answers. And while the cannabis industry in the UK may feel they have just been given a pass while Europe shoulders on with more challenges to big tech (far from cannabinoids), it will not be that easy, even next year.

Be sure to attend the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Europe in 2021.

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UK Regulators Publish Emergency Medical Cannabis Rules

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Medical.

Regulators in the United Kingdom recently published emergency rules allowing patients to access cannabis-based medicines from pharmacies without a prescription during the coronavirus pandemic.

As with just about everything right now, the pandemic is having a negative impact on the UK’s medical cannabis program. The UK’s program is very limited, however, UK regulators still felt that medical cannabis was essential enough to issue the emergency rules to help some, but not all, suffering patients. Per BBC:

On Wednesday, the government published emergency legislation which, if activated, would allow patients to continue accessing controlled drugs for the duration of the pandemic, from local pharmacies, without a prescription.

A Home Office official said the measures would “relieve pressure on our healthcare system and encourage people to stay at home”.

Unfortunately, the rules will only help a limited number of patients if they are enacted. As a pharmacist pointed out in the previously cited BBC article, the rules only apply to patients receiving ‘ongoing’ treatment, which will result in many suffering patients being excluded from benefitting from the new public policy.

The move by UK regulators is a small one, but it will hopefully help some amount of suffering patients. The UK is home to one of the most limited medical cannabis programs in developed countries, and hopefully that changes sooner rather than later because all suffering patients deserve safe access to proven medications such as medical cannabis.

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UK Food Standards Agency Issues Ultimatum To CBD Industry

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Business.

Brexit or not, it appears that the CBD industry has been one of the earliest to learn that all things regulatory are not in free-fall as the divorce papers are served from the continent. Indeed, the UK Food Standards Agency has laid down the law and set a deadline for CBD purveyors in the British Isles. 

On February 14, the FSA, the regulatory agency for all things foodstuffs, set a compliance deadline for CBD products currently in the market. Namely that they must file Novel Food applications by March 31, 2021. Failure to do so will result in penalties, including the removal of foodstuffs from shelves.

But what does this declaration really mean? And should the cannabis industry lean in?

Is CBD Really A “Novel Food?”

Part of the nefarious regulating on this issue is that CBD as a cannabinoid is certainly not “novel.” When produced from strains of hemp found in Europe, there is nothing new about the source of the plant. And when produced under food safety regulations, including extraction, the other part of the regulation falls away.

However much like in Germany and the rest of Europe, no matter how “original” the Brexited UK wants to be seen, the debate over legalization has stalled on issues and wording that is not only obscure, but also highly misleading.

Cannabis, no matter the amount of THC in the genus in question, is a plant. As such, it is also regulated under various regulatory schemes when bound for human consumption. “CBD” is not a plant, but rather a chemical compound, extracted from the plant via various different means that are also regulated both in the EU and in the UK.

Novel Food, in other words, is a regulatory schemata that is expensive and often unnecessary if other regulatory procedures are followed – ones that look awfully familiar to those with a background not only in pharma, but also now food and cosmetics.

What Is Coming For Europe?

So far, the debate on the continent is much the same – with Novel Food regulatory muster now being required in most cannabis legalizing countries. At the same time, however, many in the cannabis industry are also learning how to live with such regulations if not navigate them into the immediate future.

It is confusing, however, there are those who are absolutely braving the waves, if not beginning to chart successful paths through the industry by learning the ropes.

Be sure to attend the International Cannabis Business Conference’s regulatory panels as well as the keynote speech on April 2 by Peter Homberg, Partner Dentons Law Firm and head of their European Cannabis Practice.

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Patients Are Powering the European Cannabis Industry

Written by ICBC Staff on . Posted in Business, Medical, Vancouver.

It is a truism in the room that the cannabis industry, globally, and in each region of the world it springs forth in, is driven first by the medical side of the business. No matter how much excitement about CBD first strategies, it is the places where fully leaded, THC included, and regulated whole plant medication are authorized that are able to drive real change, if not nascent markets forward.

This has been true of the United States and Canada and it’s the truth in Europe as well.

In Germany, despite the fact that patients gained access just as they lost the right to cultivate small amounts themselves (at least until recreational reform hits), so far, patients have only gained wider spread access by submitting themselves to the complicated approval process required by insurers. There are now about 50,000 patients in Germany and these patients are helping move cannabis more and more mainstream in their homeland and across europe, as the EU powerhouse’s influence ripples beyond its borders.

in the UK, the entire discussion is taking another twist. Namely, desperate parents of sick children began importing medicine from Holland and Canada and dared the authorities to shut them down.

That strategy worked, but only to a limited degree, unfortunately. Despite the fact that it was announced last fall that cannabis would be covered as a Schedule II prescription, covered under the NHS, so far there are, by best estimates fewer than 100 patients in the UK, but patients have not given up. In some cases, they have even partnered with large industry players from Canada and other countries to put pressure on the government to open the market.

The situation is so obviously dire in the U.K. right now, that it will have an effect, and probably far beyond the UK – globally. There is not a patient in the room of any nationality who has not had to deal with intransigent anti cannabis rules, unbending medical infrastructure and paperwork of all kinds.

In the UK, much like the conversation in every other legalizing market, the corner, at least, has been turned. The issue, not to mention those who are suffering, are visible.

Public opinion is shifting. Parliament is apologizing. And the market, no matter its shape post October 31, is clearly opening. And that progress is mostly due to the unrelenting pursuit of greater access by patients and their advocates. A sincere thanks to all sick and disabled patients, and their supporters, for moving our cause of freedom and compassion forward.

The International Cannabis Business Conference is THE industry event to learn the latest and to network with top investors, entrepreneurs, and advocates. Next up: Vancouver, Canada, this September 15-16. Discounted early bird tickets are on sale until August 21st.