“There is increasing debate about cannabis use for medical purposes, including for symptomatic treatment of chronic pain. We investigated patterns and correlates of cannabis use in a large community sample of people who had been prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain.
Cannabis use for pain relief purposes appears common among people living with chronic non-cancer pain, and users report greater pain relief in combination with opioids than when opioids are used alone.”
“Disturbances in the regulation of reward and aversion in the brain may underlie disorders such as obesity and eating disorders.
We previously showed that the cannabis receptor (CB1) inverse agonist rimonabant, an anti-obesity drug withdrawn due to depressogenic side effects, diminished neural reward responses yet increased aversive responses. Unlike rimonabant, tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCv) is a neutral CB1 receptor antagonist and may therefore produce different modulations of the neural reward system…
Conclusions: Our findings are the first to show that treatment with the CB1 neutral antagonist THCv increases neural responding to rewarding and aversive stimuli.
This effect profile suggests therapeutic activity in obesity, perhaps with a lowered risk of depressive side effects.”
“The field of pain medicine is at a crossroads given the epidemic of addiction and overdose deaths from prescription opioids. Cannabis and its active ingredients, cannabinoids, are a much safer therapeutic option.
Despite being slowed by legal restrictions and stigma, research continues to show that when used appropriately, cannabis is safe and effective for many forms of chronic pain and other conditions, and has no overdose levels.
Current literature indicates many chronic pain patients could be treated with cannabis alone or with lower doses of opioids.
To make progress, cannabis needs to be re-branded as a legitimate medicine and rescheduled to a more pharmacologically justifiable class of compounds.
This paper discusses the data supporting re-branding and rescheduling of cannabis.”
“Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the major immune-mediated, demyelinating, neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system.
Compounds within cannabis, notably Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) can limit the inappropriate neurotransmissions that cause MS-related problems and medicinal cannabis is now licenced for the treatment of MS symptoms.
However, the biology indicates that the endocannabinoid system may offer the potential to control other aspects of disease.
… we and others can experimentally demonstrate that they may limit neurodegeneration that drives progressive disability.
Here we show that synthetic cannabidiol can slow down the accumulation of disability from the inflammatory penumbra during relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in ABH mice, possibly via blockade of voltage-gated sodium channels.
In addition, whilst non-sedating doses of Δ9-THC do not inhibit relapsing autoimmunity, they dose-dependently inhibit the accumulation of disability during EAE. They also appear to slow down clinical progression during MS in humans…
… demonstrated a significant slowing of progression by oral Δ9-THC compared to placebo.
Whilst this may support the experimental and biological evidence for a neuroprotective effect by the endocannabinoid system in MS, it remains to be established whether this will be formally demonstrated in further trials of Δ9-THC/cannabis in progressive MS.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25537576
http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/experimental-autoimmune-encephalomyelitis/
http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/multiple-sclerosis-ms/
“Cannabinoids, psychoactive substances present in cannabis, have been known to mankind for hundreds of years.
Apart from 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) substances found in the cannabis herb with the highest toxicological value are cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN).
The discovery of CB1 and CB2 receptors, located in various tissues (ranging from the brain to peripheral tissues), has defined the potential objective of these new chemical substances’ effects.
Many studies on the application of cannabinoids in the treatment of various diseases such as diabetes, neoplasms, inflammatory diseases, neurological conditions, pain and vomitting were conducted.
Drugs containing e.g. THC appear on the pharmaceutical market.
Substances affecting cannabinoid receptors may show beneficial effects…”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25518584
“In this epidemiological study, we aim to present estimates on suspected cannabis-attributable immunomodulation as manifest in serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as non-specific inflammatory markers with interpretable clinical values…
Extending pre-clinical research on cannabis-attributable immunomodulation, this study’s CRP evidence points toward possible anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis smoking…”
“The endocannabinoid (eCB) system plays an important role in the control of mood, and its dysregulation has been implicated in several psychiatric disorders.
Targeting the eCB system appears to represent an attractive and novel approach to the treatment of depression and other mood disorders.
…the review provides discussion on compounds and drugs that target this system and might prove to be successful for the treatment of mood-related psychiatric disorders.
The discovery of increasingly selective modulators of CB receptors should enable the identification of optimal therapeutic strategies.
It should also maximize the likelihood of developing safe and effective treatments for debilitating psychiatric disorders.”
“Cannabinoids (CBs) show promise as neuroprotectants with some agents already licensed in humans for other conditions. We systematically reviewed CBs in preclinical stroke to guide further experimental protocols…
Cannabinoids reduced infarct volume in transient and permanent ischemia and in all subclasses: endocannabinoids, CB1/CB2 ligands, CB2 ligands, cannabidiol, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and HU-211. Early and late neuroscores significantly improved with CB use…
Overall, CBs significantly reduced infarct volume and improve functional outcome in experimental stroke.”
“Antiepileptic drugs often produce serious adverse effects, and many patients do not respond to them properly.
Phytocannabinoids produce anticonvulsant effects in preclinical and preliminary human studies, and appear to produce fewer adverse effects than available antiepileptic drugs.
The present review summarizes studies on the anticonvulsant properties of phytocannabinoids.
Phytocannabinoids produce anticonvulsant effects through the endocannabinoid system, with few adverse effects.”
“Cannabinoids are a class of chemical compounds with a wide spectrum of pharmacological effects, mediated by two specific plasma membrane receptors (CB1 and CB2).
Recently, CB1 and CB2 expression levels have been detected in human tumors, including those of brain.
Cannabinoids-endocannabinoids exert anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anti-invasive, anti-metastatic and pro-apoptotic effects in different cancer types, both in vitro and in vivo in animal models, after local or systemic administration.
We present the available experimental and clinical data, to date, regarding the antitumor action of cannabinoids on the tumorigenesis of gliomas.”