ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2012) — Cannabis-based medications have been demonstrated to relieve pain. Cannabis medications can be used in patients whose symptoms are not adequately alleviated by conventional treatment. The indications are muscle spasms, nausea and vomiting as a result of chemotherapy, loss of appetite in HIV/Aids, and neuropathic pain.
This is the conclusion drawn by Franjo Grotenhermen and Kirsten Müller-Vahl in issue 29-30 ofDeutsches Ärzteblatt International.
The clinical effect of the various cannabis-based medications rests primarily on activation of endogenous cannabinoid receptors. Consumption of therapeutic amounts by adults does not lead to irreversible cognitive impairment. The risk is much greater, however, in children and adolescents (particularly before puberty), even at therapeutic doses.
Over 100 controlled trials of the effects of cannabinoids in various indications have been carried out since 1975. The positive results have led to official licensing of cannabis-based medications in many countries. In Germany, a cannabis extract was approved in 2011 for treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis. In June 2012 the Federal Joint Committee (the highest decision-making body for the joint self-government of physicians, dentists, hospitals and health insurance funds in Germany) pronounced that the cannabis extract showed a slight additional benefit for this indication and granted a temporary license until 2015.
About 10 percent of fibromyalgia patients use marijuana to relieve symptoms such as pain, fatigue and insomnia, a new study has found.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes widespread pain, fatigue, headaches, sleep disturbances and other symptoms. It affects up to 3 percent of people and is more common among women.
Standard drug treatments for fibromyalgia-related pain provide only modest relief, and some patients self-medicate with marijuana and other traditional therapies, said Dr. Mary-Ann Fitzcharles, a professor of medicine at McGill University and consulting rheumatologist at the Montreal General Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal.
She and her colleagues looked at the use of marijuana or prescription cannabinoids such as nabilone and dronabinol among 302 patients with fibromyalgia and 155 patients with another chronic pain condition.
About 13 percent of all 457 patients used cannabinoids, with 80 percent using marijuana. Smaller numbers used prescription cannabinoids, according to the study findings published online June 21 in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.
Of the patients who smoked marijuana, 72 percent reported using one gram or less per day, though a few smoked significantly more.
Patients who used marijuana were more likely to have unstable mental illness, to seek opioid painkiller drugs and to be unemployed, the investigators found.
“While self-medicating with cannabinoids may provide some pain relief to fibromyalgia patients, we caution against general use of illicit drugs until health and psychosocial issues risks are confirmed,” Fitzcharles concluded in a journal news release.
“Physicians should be alert to potential negative mental health issues in fibromyalgia patients using illicit drugs for medical purposes. Some herbal cannabis users may be dishonestly using a fibromyalgia diagnosis to justify self-medicating with illegal drugs,” she added.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about fibromyalgia.
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
By GUSTIN L. REICHBACH
Published: May 16, 2012
THREE and a half years ago, on my 62nd birthday, doctors discovered a mass on my pancreas. It turned out to be Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. I was told I would be dead in four to six months. Today I am in that rare coterie of people who have survived this long with the disease. But I did not foresee that after having dedicated myself for 40 years to a life of the law, including more than two decades as a New York State judge, my quest for ameliorative and palliative care would lead me to marijuana.
My survival has demanded an enormous price, including months of chemotherapy, radiation hell and brutal surgery. For about a year, mycancer disappeared, only to return. About a month ago, I started a new and even more debilitating course of treatment. Every other week, after receiving an IV booster of chemotherapy drugs that takes three hours, I wear a pump that slowly injects more of the drugs over the next 48 hours.
Nausea and pain are constant companions. One struggles to eat enough to stave off the dramatic weight loss that is part of this disease. Eating, one of the great pleasures of life, has now become a daily battle, with each forkful a small victory. Every drug prescribed to treat one problem leads to one or two more drugs to offset its side effects. Pain medication leads to loss of appetite and constipation. Anti-nausea medication raises glucose levels, a serious problem for me with my pancreas so compromised. Sleep, which might bring respite from the miseries of the day, becomes increasingly elusive.
Inhaled marijuana is the only medicine that gives me some relief from nausea, stimulates my appetite, and makes it easier to fall asleep. The oral synthetic substitute, Marinol, prescribed by my doctors, was useless. Rather than watch the agony of my suffering, friends have chosen, at some personal risk, to provide the substance. I find a few puffs of marijuana before dinner gives me ammunition in the battle to eat. A few more puffs at bedtime permits desperately needed sleep.
This is not a law-and-order issue; it is a medical and a human rights issue. Being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, I am receiving the absolute gold standard of medical care. But doctors cannot be expected to do what the law prohibits, even when they know it is in the best interests of their patients. When palliative care is understood as a fundamental human and medical right, marijuana for medical use should be beyond controversy.
Sixteen states already permit the legitimate clinical use of marijuana, including our neighbor New Jersey, and Connecticut is on the cusp of becoming No. 17. The New York State Legislature is now debating a bill to recognize marijuana as an effective and legitimate medicinal substance and establish a lawful framework for its use. The Assembly has passed such bills before, but they went nowhere in the State Senate. This year I hope that the outcome will be different. Cancer is a nonpartisan disease, so ubiquitous that it’s impossible to imagine that there are legislators whose families have not also been touched by this scourge. It is to help all who have been affected by cancer, and those who will come after, that I now speak.
Given my position as a sitting judge still hearing cases, well-meaning friends question the wisdom of my coming out on this issue. But I recognize that fellow cancer sufferers may be unable, for a host of reasons, to give voice to our plight. It is another heartbreaking aporia in the world of cancer that the one drug that gives relief without deleterious side effects remains classified as a narcotic with no medicinal value.
Because criminalizing an effective medical technique affects the fair administration of justice, I feel obliged to speak out as both a judge and a cancer patient suffering with a fatal disease. I implore the governor and the Legislature of New York, always considered a leader among states, to join the forward and humane thinking of 16 other states and pass the medical marijuana bill this year. Medical science has not yet found a cure, but it is barbaric to deny us access to one substance that has proved to ameliorate our suffering.
Gustin L. Reichbach is a justice of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
Discovery Could Lead to More Effective Treatments
LA JOLLA, CA, August 9, 2006 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, inhibits the formation of amyloid plaque, the primary pathological marker for Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, the study said, THC is “a considerably superior inhibitor of [amyloid plaque] aggregation” to several currently approved drugs for treating the disease.
The study was published online August 9 in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, a publication of the American Chemical Society.
According to the new Scripps Research study, which used both computer modeling and biochemical assays, THC inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which acts as a “molecular chaperone” to accelerate the formation of amyloid plaque in the brains of Alzheimer victims. Although experts disagree on whether the presence of beta-amyloid plaques in those areas critical to memory and cognition is a symptom or cause, it remains a significant hallmark of the disease. With its strong inhibitory abilities, the study said, THC “may provide an improved therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease” that would treat “both the symptoms and progression” of the disease.
“While we are certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs, these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities, especially when compared to AChE inhibitors currently available to patients,” said Kim Janda, Ph.D., who is Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, a member of The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and director of the Worm Institute of Research and Medicine. “In a test against propidium, one of the most effective inhibitors reported to date, THC blocked AChE-induced aggregation completely, while the propidium did not. Although our study is far from final, it does show that there is a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which THC may directly affect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”
As the new study points out, any new treatment that could halt or even slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease would have a major impact on the quality of life for patients, as well as reducing the staggering health care costs associated with the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly, and the numbers are growing. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates 4.5 million Americans have the disease, a figure that could reach as high as 16 million by 2050. A survey by the National Center for Health Statistics noted that half of all nursing home residents have Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder. The costs of caring for Alzheimer’s patients are at least $100 billion annually, according to the National Institute on Aging.
Over the last two decades, the causes of Alzheimer’s disease have been clarified through extensive biochemical and neurobiological studies, leading to an assortment of possible therapeutic strategies including interference with beta amyloid metabolism, the focus of the Scripps Research study.
The cholinergic system – the nerve cell system in the brain that uses acetylcholine (Ach) as a neurotransmitter – is the most dramatic of the neurotransmitter systems affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Levels of acetylcholine, which was first identified in 1914, are abnormally low in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Currently, there are four FDA-approved drugs that treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease by inhibiting the active site of acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme responsible for the degradation of acetylcholine.
“When we investigated the power of THC to inhibit the aggregation of beta-amyloid,” Janda said, “we found that THC was a very effective inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase. In addition to propidium, we also found that THC was considerably more effective than two of the approved drugs for Alzheimer’s disease treatment, donepezil (Aricept ®) and tacrine (Cognex ®), which reduced amyloid aggregation by only 22 percent and 7 percent, respectively, at twice the concentration used in our studies. Our results are conclusive enough to warrant further investigation.”
Other authors of the study, titled “A Molecular Link Between the Active Component of Marijuana and Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology,” include Lisa M. Eubanks, Claude J. Rogers, and Tobin J. Dickerson of The Scripps Research Institute, the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and the Worm Institute for Research and Medicine; and Albert E. Beuscher IV, George F. Koob, and Arthur J. Olson of The Scripps Research Institute.
The study was supported by the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at Scripps Research and the National Institutes of Health.
About The Scripps Research Institute
The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world’s largest independent, non-profit biomedical research organizations, at the forefront of basic biomedical science that seeks to comprehend the most fundamental processes of life. Scripps Research is internationally recognized for its discoveries in immunology, molecular and cellular biology, chemistry, neurosciences, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and synthetic vaccine development. Established in its current configuration in 1961, it employs approximately 3,000 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, scientific and other technicians, doctoral degree graduate students, and administrative and technical support personnel. Scripps Research is headquartered in La Jolla, California. It also includes Scripps Florida, whose researchers focus on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development. Currently operating from temporary facilities in Jupiter, Scripps Florida will move to its permanent campus in 2009.
For more information contact:
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10550 North Torrey Pines Road
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By Xeni Jardin
Photo: Xeni Jardin
I went to a “cannabis dinner” in a loft in downtown Los Angeles on a day of great significance for potheads: 4/20. I first heard about these speakeasy gatherings from an LA Times article by Jonathan Gold. They’re hosted by a zany, playful computer science major turnedHollywood film sales rep turned restauranteur, Nguyen Tran. He runs a restaurant called Starry Kitchen with his wife and foodie partner, chef Thi Tran. Together with LA-based French chef Laurent Quenioux, they put on this now-not-so-secret cannabis dinner. There were about 100 people in attendance, plus a few news crews who shot video.
The food was beautiful. And yes: I got a little high.
Photo: Karen Marcelo
Photo: Chad Scira
The menu was adventurous. Chinese herbs, with the other herb, were put to imaginative use. Mostly, cannabis appeared in the form of a raw garnish, or infused into accompaniments like a sweet, melt-in-your-mouth coconut oil based “soil” snuggled up next to a creamy panna cotta for dessert. A cannabis-epazote pesto was memorable with monkfish. Pot has a strong flavor and aroma. But it didn’t overpower here, either because of the modest quantities used, or because of how the chefs worked with it.
Photo: Chad Scira
Mr. Tran (above) was in character as alter-ego “Commodore Booty McHooters.” He walked around the kitchen before dinner was served, singing songs as “Chef” from South Park. He has been known to dress up as a tauntaun from The Empire Strikes Back, or walk around wearing sandwich boards urging people to eat his balls (crispy fried green tofu balls, and well worth eating).
Photo: Xeni Jardin
“If you get high, it’s just the tarragon talking,” he said.
The organizers weren’t too keen on answering questions about the legalities of serving cannabis dinners. Marijuana laws are a tangled, fuzzy mess in Los Angeles anyway; as confused and contradictory as a Cheech and Chong monologue. But the fact that your ticket for the evening bought you a “Lionel Richie Walking Tour (* followed by a totally optional dinner afterwards)” was telling. And funny.
Photo: Xeni Jardin
As I’ve been reading in Elise McDonough‘s The High Times Cookbook, you really can do a lot with cannabis in cooking. You can prepare dishes using cannabis flowers, leaves, or hash; some like to extract juice from the raw plant.
Stems and leaves slow-cooked in ghee for hours yield that magical and coveted golden oil with which one prepares the more psychoactive and medically potent edibles: brownies, cookies, caramels. You can even brew cocktails with pot. They served hemp beer with dinner. People seemed to enjoy it a lot. I don’t drink, but it smelled lovely.
Photo: Xeni Jardin
It’s such a pretty little plant. I love how certain strains smell like alpine forests, and others smell like exotic spices. Why is it illegal? So dumb. Tran told me they obtained the fresh leaves from a nearby grower.
Photo: Xeni Jardin
My feelings about marijuana have changed a lot since I was diagnosed with cancer. And specifically, since I started chemotherapy in January. For me, medical cannabis has been an important part of getting through chemo. My oncologist wrote a recommendation letter for me, and I have a card that makes it legal for me to purchase pot.
It helps me more than many of the pharmaceuticals my cancer docs prescribe for chemo side effects. It eases nausea and stops vomiting, it helps me sleep when the steroids accompanying chemo keep me up, it acts as a gentle analgesic against the excruciating bone pain that certain chemo drugs bring, and it stimulates appetite in those awful days after infusions when food is repulsive.
These things are important. If you can’t eat or sleep, your body can’t heal in time to be strong enough for the next infusion.
Photo: Karen Marcelo
Earlier on the same day of the cannabis dinner, I’d gone in for an MRI to see how the chemo had progressed in shrinking my tumor. Medical imaging is a stressful thing when you have cancer, because of the ever-present fear that a scan may reveal very bad news. MRIs in particular are loud and claustrophobia-triggering for many people, including me.
I prepared an by taking a nice big bite of a chocolate-chip pot cookie hour before the scan. So I wouldn’t panic inside, and so the technician could capture a good image of my insides.
That’s me, in the photo: I’m high in an MRI.
Photo: Xeni Jardin
Pot really is a cancer patient’s best friend. Edibles are often best for us, because of how the liver metabolizes the active compounds, and how long they tend to last with this ingestion method. The idea of cannabis being connected to the enjoyment of food meant something to me that it probably did not for anyone else at the dinner table that night. I was happy to be there. But one week after my 8th chemo infusion, I was overjoyed just to be able to taste food again, and to be able to keep it down.
Photo: Karen Marcelo
Chemo wrecks your sense of taste. Some flavors become invisible, others taste weird or disgusting. Everything became metallic and dulled for me at various points in the treatment cycles. But this was a night of celebration. At last! My taste buds were working, and the buds were working on my taste, if you know what I mean.
Photo: Xeni Jardin
My San Francisco-based friend Karen Marcelo from SRL was my date that day for both the medical imaging and the dinner.
“They should have these in San Francisco,” she said of the evening, and thought it “uniquely subversive.”
This, from a woman who knows an awful lot about being subversive. Nguyen’s exuberant high weirdness reminded her of Chicken John. Karen’s snapshots of the evening are here.
Tran hinted that this may be the last cannabis dinner for a while. He and his co-conspirators do not want to be typecast as “the pot chefs.” Whatever their next pop-up gathering ends up being, even if it’s not weed-themed, I’m sure it will be yummy and fun. And I hope what they’ve done inspires others to explore.
Photo: Karen Marcelo
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[Special thanks to Alex Williams, and to Karen, AJ, and Theresa.]
Sabrina Rodriguez FOX40 News
6:49 p.m. PDT, March 22, 2012
SACRAMENTO—
We know the saying about apples and your health, but one former heart surgeon is claiming marijuana is a miracle medicine.
For years, the hands of Dr. Dave Allen operated on the hearts of patients. He’s done with that business and now does evaluations and prescriptions for medical marijuana.
As a heart surgeon, Allen knows quite a bit about heart attack and strokes like they’re difficult to come back from and even surviving means social and financial problems.
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While some people are on a daily dose of aspirin to lower the severity of problems after a heart attack or stroke, Allen said marijuana is a better alternative.
“Eat a bud a day will keep the stroke away,” Allen said. “No other medicine made by man can help in this manner.”
The proof of its helpful benefits is in a patent assigned to the US Department of Health and Human Services, according to Allen, however the study was done on rats not humans. Allen added the patent shows the rats that ate marijuana decreased the size of their stroke by 50 percent and their brain injury was lessened by as much as 50 percent.
Even though the results are promising the problem lies in that it’s never been tested on people, so Allen doesn’t know what a proper dosage would be.
“We think the more you take the more protection you have,” said Allen.
While that recommendation seems like it would lead to a person becoming incredibly “high”, Allen said it won’t happen because the pot would be eaten raw and not smoked or heated.
“If you just eat raw cannabis it will have great medicinal affect and won’t get you high at all,” he explained. “When you dry it out and heat it becomes psycho-active.”
That also means no edibles like brownies or cookies.
Cannabis Cancer Laboratory/Animal/Preclinical Studies
From the National Cancer Institute
Antitumor Effects
Appetite Stimulation
Analgesia
Cannabinoids are a group of 21-carbon–containing terpenophenolic compounds produced uniquely by Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica species.[1,2] These plant-derived compounds may be referred to as phytocannabinoids. Although delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary psychoactive ingredient, other known compounds with biologic activity are cannabinol, cannabidiol (CBD), cannabichromene, cannabigerol, tetrahydrocannabivarin, and delta-8-THC. CBD, in particular, is thought to have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity without the psychoactive effect (high) of delta-9-THC.
One study in mice and rats suggested that cannabinoids may have a protective effect against the development of certain types of tumors.[3] During this 2-year study, groups of mice and rats were given various doses of THC by gavage. A dose-related decrease in the incidence of hepatic adenoma tumors and hepatocellular carcinoma was observed in the mice. Decreased incidences of benign tumors (polyps and adenomas) in other organs (mammary gland, uterus, pituitary, testis, and pancreas) were also noted in the rats. In another study, delta-9-THC, delta-8-THC, and cannabinol were found to inhibit the growth of Lewis lung adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo .[4] In addition, other tumors have been shown to be sensitive to cannabinoid-induced growth inhibition.[5-8]
Cannabinoids may cause antitumor effects by various mechanisms, including induction of cell death, inhibition of cell growth, and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis and metastasis.[9-11] Cannabinoids appear to kill tumor cells but do not affect their nontransformed counterparts and may even protect them from cell death. These compounds have been shown to induce apoptosis in glioma cells in culture and induce regression of glioma tumors in mice and rats. Cannabinoids protect normal glial cells of astroglial and oligodendroglial lineages from apoptosis mediated by the CB1 receptor.[12]
The effects of delta-9-THC and a synthetic agonist of the CB2 receptor were investigated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).[13] Both agents reduced the viability of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and demonstrated antitumor effects in hepatocellular carcinoma subcutaneous xenografts in nude mice. The investigations documented that the anti-HCC effects are mediated by way of the CB2 receptor. Similar to findings in glioma cells, the cannabinoids were shown to trigger cell death through stimulation of an endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway that activates autophagy and promotes apoptosis. Other investigations have confirmed that CB1 and CB2 receptors may be potential targets in non-small cell lung carcinoma[14] and breast cancer.[15]
In an in vivo model using severe combined immunodeficient mice, subcutaneous tumors were generated by inoculating the animals with cells from human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell lines.[16] Tumor growth was inhibited by 60% in THC-treated mice compared with vehicle-treated control mice. Tumor specimens revealed that THC had antiangiogenic and antiproliferative effects. However, research with immunocompetent murine tumor models has demonstrated immunosuppression and enhanced tumor growth in mice treated with THC.[17,18]
In addition, both plant-derived and endogenous cannabinoids have been studied for anti-inflammatory effects. A mouse study demonstrated that endogenous cannabinoid system signaling is likely to provide intrinsic protection against colonic inflammation.[19] As a result, a hypothesis that phytocannabinoids and endocannabinoids may be useful in the risk reduction and treatment of colorectal cancer has been developed.[20-23]
Many animal studies have previously demonstrated that delta-9-THC and other cannabinoids have a stimulatory effect on appetite and increase food intake. It is believed that the endogenous cannabinoid system may serve as a regulator of feeding behavior. The endogenous cannabinoid anandamide potently enhances appetite in mice.[24] Moreover, CB1 receptors in the hypothalamus may be involved in the motivational or reward aspects of eating.[25]
Understanding the mechanism of cannabinoid-induced analgesia has been increased through the study of cannabinoid receptors, endocannabinoids, and synthetic agonists and antagonists. The CB1 receptor is found in both the central nervous system (CNS) and in peripheral nerve terminals. Similar to opioid receptors, increased levels of the CB1 receptor are found in regions of the brain that regulate nociceptive processing.[26] CB2 receptors, located predominantly in peripheral tissue, exist at very low levels in the CNS. With the development of receptor-specific antagonists, additional information about the roles of the receptors and endogenous cannabinoids in the modulation of pain has been obtained.[27,28]
Cannabinoids may also contribute to pain modulation through an anti-inflammatory mechanism; a CB2 effect with cannabinoids acting on mast cell receptors to attenuate the release of inflammatory agents, such as histamine and serotonin, and on keratinocytes to enhance the release of analgesic opioids has been described.[29-31]
References
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- Grotenhermen F, Russo E, eds.: Cannabis and Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutic Potential. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, 2002.
- National Toxicology Program .: NTP toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of 1-trans-delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (CAS No. 1972-08-3) in F344 rats and B6C3F1 mice (gavage studies). Natl Toxicol Program Tech Rep Ser 446 (): 1-317, 1996. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Bifulco M, Laezza C, Pisanti S, et al.: Cannabinoids and cancer: pros and cons of an antitumour strategy. Br J Pharmacol 148 (2): 123-35, 2006. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Sánchez C, de Ceballos ML, Gomez del Pulgar T, et al.: Inhibition of glioma growth in vivo by selective activation of the CB(2) cannabinoid receptor. Cancer Res 61 (15): 5784-9, 2001. [PUBMED Abstract]
- McKallip RJ, Lombard C, Fisher M, et al.: Targeting CB2 cannabinoid receptors as a novel therapy to treat malignant lymphoblastic disease. Blood 100 (2): 627-34, 2002. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Casanova ML, Blázquez C, Martínez-Palacio J, et al.: Inhibition of skin tumor growth and angiogenesis in vivo by activation of cannabinoid receptors. J Clin Invest 111 (1): 43-50, 2003. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Blázquez C, González-Feria L, Alvarez L, et al.: Cannabinoids inhibit the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway in gliomas. Cancer Res 64 (16): 5617-23, 2004. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Guzmán M: Cannabinoids: potential anticancer agents. Nat Rev Cancer 3 (10): 745-55, 2003. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Blázquez C, Casanova ML, Planas A, et al.: Inhibition of tumor angiogenesis by cannabinoids. FASEB J 17 (3): 529-31, 2003. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Vaccani A, Massi P, Colombo A, et al.: Cannabidiol inhibits human glioma cell migration through a cannabinoid receptor-independent mechanism. Br J Pharmacol 144 (8): 1032-6, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Torres S, Lorente M, Rodríguez-Fornés F, et al.: A combined preclinical therapy of cannabinoids and temozolomide against glioma. Mol Cancer Ther 10 (1): 90-103, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Vara D, Salazar M, Olea-Herrero N, et al.: Anti-tumoral action of cannabinoids on hepatocellular carcinoma: role of AMPK-dependent activation of autophagy. Cell Death Differ 18 (7): 1099-111, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Preet A, Qamri Z, Nasser MW, et al.: Cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, as novel targets for inhibition of non-small cell lung cancer growth and metastasis. Cancer Prev Res (Phila) 4 (1): 65-75, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Nasser MW, Qamri Z, Deol YS, et al.: Crosstalk between chemokine receptor CXCR4 and cannabinoid receptor CB2 in modulating breast cancer growth and invasion. PLoS One 6 (9): e23901, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Preet A, Ganju RK, Groopman JE: Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits epithelial growth factor-induced lung cancer cell migration in vitro as well as its growth and metastasis in vivo. Oncogene 27 (3): 339-46, 2008. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Zhu LX, Sharma S, Stolina M, et al.: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits antitumor immunity by a CB2 receptor-mediated, cytokine-dependent pathway. J Immunol 165 (1): 373-80, 2000. [PUBMED Abstract]
- McKallip RJ, Nagarkatti M, Nagarkatti PS: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol enhances breast cancer growth and metastasis by suppression of the antitumor immune response. J Immunol 174 (6): 3281-9, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Massa F, Marsicano G, Hermann H, et al.: The endogenous cannabinoid system protects against colonic inflammation. J Clin Invest 113 (8): 1202-9, 2004. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Patsos HA, Hicks DJ, Greenhough A, et al.: Cannabinoids and cancer: potential for colorectal cancer therapy. Biochem Soc Trans 33 (Pt 4): 712-4, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Liu WM, Fowler DW, Dalgleish AG: Cannabis-derived substances in cancer therapy–an emerging anti-inflammatory role for the cannabinoids. Curr Clin Pharmacol 5 (4): 281-7, 2010. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Malfitano AM, Ciaglia E, Gangemi G, et al.: Update on the endocannabinoid system as an anticancer target. Expert Opin Ther Targets 15 (3): 297-308, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Sarfaraz S, Adhami VM, Syed DN, et al.: Cannabinoids for cancer treatment: progress and promise. Cancer Res 68 (2): 339-42, 2008. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Mechoulam R, Berry EM, Avraham Y, et al.: Endocannabinoids, feeding and suckling–from our perspective. Int J Obes (Lond) 30 (Suppl 1): S24-8, 2006. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Fride E, Bregman T, Kirkham TC: Endocannabinoids and food intake: newborn suckling and appetite regulation in adulthood. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 230 (4): 225-34, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Walker JM, Hohmann AG, Martin WJ, et al.: The neurobiology of cannabinoid analgesia. Life Sci 65 (6-7): 665-73, 1999. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Meng ID, Manning BH, Martin WJ, et al.: An analgesia circuit activated by cannabinoids. Nature 395 (6700): 381-3, 1998. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Walker JM, Huang SM, Strangman NM, et al.: Pain modulation by release of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 96 (21): 12198-203, 1999. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Facci L, Dal Toso R, Romanello S, et al.: Mast cells express a peripheral cannabinoid receptor with differential sensitivity to anandamide and palmitoylethanolamide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92 (8): 3376-80, 1995. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Ibrahim MM, Porreca F, Lai J, et al.: CB2 cannabinoid receptor activation produces antinociception by stimulating peripheral release of endogenous opioids. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102 (8): 3093-8, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Richardson JD, Kilo S, Hargreaves KM: Cannabinoids reduce hyperalgesia and inflammation via interaction with peripheral CB1 receptors. Pain 75 (1): 111-9, 1998. [PUBMED Abstract]
Exactly two weeks to the day I was born in 1979, Keith Stroup, the head of the National Organization of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told the Emory University school newspaper, The Emory Wheel, that “We are trying to get marijuana reclassified medically. If we do that, (we’ll do it in at least 20 states this year for chemotherapy patients) we’ll be using the issue as a red herring to give marijuana a good name.”
So it is no surprise that last week, NORML — the nation’s oldest marijuana legalization organization — published in their weekly newsletter the sweeping assertion that “medical marijuana has no discernible impact on marijuana use.” NORML cited a new article in the Annals of Epidemiology (a respected publication to be sure; a similar epidemiology journal will soon release a study showing that marijuana is significantly linked with car crashes) which critiques an earlier article by Wall and colleagues showing an increase in marijuana use among states with medical marijuana. Essentially, the authors replicated the Wall study using different methods and got different results.
Certainly medical marijuana is a complex issue — one where politics, compassion, ethics and science collide. Sixteen states and D.C. technically have laws allowing marijuana as medicine on the books, but these laws, like other drug laws, vary widely in implementation, so it is tough to even perform studies linking medical marijuana with use changes. NORML doesn’t seem too bothered by that. They went on to cite a Brown University study looking at Rhode Island – a state with a barely discernible medical marijuana program in the first place – as further “proof” that medical marijuana doesn’t impact use. And the usual folks, like Reason Online (I’m just waiting for Maia Szalavitz to get to this as well), essentially republished the NORML line without any critical analysis.
A closer look at these studies shows something a little different, and much more nuanced. First, they completely ignore the more thorough studies that in fact do show increases in use. A major study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence by researchers at Columbia University looked at two separate datasets and found that residents of states with medical marijuana had marijuana abuse/dependence rates almost twice as high than states without such laws.
Most importantly, the studies discussed by NORML miss the mark, by failing to take into account the actual implementation of medical marijuana laws. For example, California did not have “dispensaries” until 2003, seven years after the law was enacted. And Rhode Island, the state used in the Brown study, had about 1,500 people in the entire program, so it’s not a revelation that the state would not see any significant effect on teens. Time will tell, with further study and analysis, how medical marijuana is affecting attitudes and use rates in the long term.
What of course is never talked about is how medical marijuana programs in states that have gone full steam ahead actually work. Rarely mentioned is the fact that, for example, according to a 2011study in the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis that examined 1,655 applicants in California who sought a physician’s recommendation for medical marijuana, very few of those who sought a recommendation had cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis. A study published in theHarm Reduction Journal (not exactly an anti-drug mouthpiece), analyzing over 3,000 “medical marijuana users in California, found that an overwhelming majority (87.9%) of those queried about the details of their marijuana initiation had tried it before the age of 19, and the average user was a 32-year-old white male. 74% of the Caucasians in the sample had used cocaine, and over 50% had used methamphetamine in their lifetime. Hardly any had life-threatening illnesses.
Finally, we know from other surveys like the University of Michigan Monitoring the Future study that the perceived harm for smoking marijuana occasionally or regularly has been decreasing among the 8th grade since 2007. Social disapproval for smoking marijuana once or twice, occasionally, and regularly has been decreasing among 8th graders since 2007. That has translated into a major increase in use, which is no surprise to researchers who know that attitudes effect youth use rates.
And how can we say that today’s medical marijuana programs aren’t having an effect on youth attitudes toward the drug? “Marijuana is medicine” has become a common slogan in America today, as people like Dr. Christian Thurstone, a Colorado doctor working with kids, recently talked about on National Public Radio.
It’s time to get the legalization lobby out of the business of medical marijuana and instead focus our attention on scientists developing non-smoked marijuana-based medications for the truly ill. That would make this issue no longer the sick joke that it is today.
Follow Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kevinsabet
The legalization of medicinal cannabis in a growing number of states and countries has opened up new areas of study and research, which is very exciting to the industry in general, and thrilling toGreenway doctors, who pride themselves in keeping up with the latest developments and passing essential information on to their patients.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 09, 2012
The professional staff at Greenway Medical Marijuana Physician Evaluations in San Francisco is witnessing a significant increase in the amount of research and studies around the medical benefits of cannabis as medicinal use of the drug spreads through many parts of the world. From its pain killing anti-inflammatory properties to its strong antibiotic properties, studies continue to prove marijuana’s effectiveness for treating a wide range of serious medical conditions. Greenway applauds the efforts of the scientists who are proving cannabis is good medicine for many patients with serious illnesses.
“There are several areas of cannabis research—especially concerning cancer, pain management, and antibiotic applications—that are moving swiftly forward,” said Penny DeVries of Medical Marijuana Physician Evaluations in San Francisco. “These studies, which are being conducted primarily in Europe and Israel, keep us optimistic about our work treating serious illnesses with cannabis-based medications.”
DeVries points to a recent Israeli study of 264 cancer patients that found two-thirds of participants reported improvement in quality of life from using medical marijuana to treat cancer. The patients used marijuana to alleviate cancer and chemotherapy symptoms such as nausea and pain. The study, presented by the Israeli Oncologists Union, concluded, “The treatment should be offered to the patients in earlier stages of cancer.”
Findings from another recent study indicate a claim of medical marijuana doctors have maintained for years, that patients can not only safely use cannabis while taking addictive and dangerous opioid painkillers, like morphine and oxycodone (Oxycontin), they are often able to experience the same level of pain relief by combining cannabis-based products with reduced amounts of opiate-based drugs.
Targeted studies from GW Pharmaceuticals, the UK company that has led the world in cannabis research for over a decade, indicate cannabis-based medications may provide relief from pain associated with diseases that cause inflammation, especially rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and neuroinflammation.
In addition to use as a pain reliever, cannabis-based medications are proving effective for use on other serious medical conditions. The most promising research results on the antibacterial properties of cannabis used in the treatment of a virulent form of staph infection comes from the England and Italy. MRSA, short for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterium that can cause difficult-to-treat infections because of its growing resistance to antibiotic therapy.
Researchers have found that certain cannabinoids have the same effectiveness as vancomycin, a powerful antibiotic used as a last resort to fight MRSA when other drugs fail. The research also indicates that the two most effective cannabinoids at treating MRSA are nonpsychoactive, meaning that they do not get people “high.”
DeVries points out that non-psychoactive cannabis-based sprays and balms are available at many dispensaries in California. In addition to its antibacterial properties, DeVries says that Greenway patients report many of these cannabis-based topical preparations are effective for treating localized pain and inflammation.
“Patients report the cannabis-based products are fast acting and usually have little to no smell,” said DeVries. “Cannabis has few side effects and does not interact negatively with most pharmaceuticals, so it makes an ideal complement to other pain management drugs.
Greenway provides a compassionate, non-judgmental and a detailed evaluation of each patient’s medical problem, then formulates an individualized treatment plan which incorporates the different strains of cannabis. Greenway doctors are available for follow-up consultations, and Greenway’s consulting attorney is available for legal guidance.
Greenway has become the premier San Francisco Bay Area medical marijuana clinic by providing a compassionate, non-judgmental and detailed evaluation of each patient’s medical problem, then formulating an individualized treatment plan.
Greenway’s doctors and front office staff are cannabis-knowledgeable, and the San Francisco medicalmarijuana clinic keeps an attorney on retainer to answer legal questions for patients that the staff cannot answer. The clinic guarantees 100% patient privacy, per HIPPA guidelines, and compliance with all California laws.
The Greenway San Francisco medical cannabis doctors are located in downtown San Francisco at 965 Mission Street, #212, between 5th and 6th Streets—one block from the Powell Street BART Station. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 11 am to 5 pm, and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm.
For more information, contact Greenway at (415) 777-0157. In order to make an appointment at Greenway, please email appointment(at)greenway420(dot)com.
About Greenway Medical Marijuana Physicians Evaluations
Greenway Medical Marijuana Physicians Evaluations is a downtown San Francisco medical marijuana clinic. Greenway provides efficient, low-cost medical evaluations to the qualifying public for medicinal marijuana access. Greenway’s San Francisco medical marijuana doctors formulate individualized treatment plans during compassionate, non-judgmental and detailed evaluations of each patient’s medical problems.
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Penelope Devries
Greenway Medical Marijuana Physicians Evaluations
(415) 263-9488
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