Tag Archives: medical marijuana

Research: Marijuana can treat chronic pain – ABC

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“SACRAMENTO, CA (KGO) — A program commissioned more than a decade ago by the state Legislature to look into the therapeutic value of medicinal marijuana is expected to release a report on its findings today, a spokeswoman for state Sen. Mark Leno said.

A UC medical marijuana research panel today released the results of a ten year clinical study and according to its report, pot can effectively treat chronic pain.

Volunteers with multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries were randomly treated with marijuana or a placebo. Patients given cannabis reported fewer multiple sclerosis muscle spasms, and less spinal injury pain.

In another study, the panel found that pot effectively also treats migraines.

But researchers used marijuana grown by the federal government, not the kinds available to California medical marijuana users.

Medical marijuana has been legal under California law since voters approved Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act, in 1996.

The state Legislature clarified in 2004 that the Compassionate Use Act allows qualified patients and their primary caregivers to cultivate marijuana for medicinal use.

Medical marijuana remains illegal under federal law, though, leaving patients and providers open to prosecution in federal court.”

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=7283032

Medical Marijuana Inc. Marijuana Extract Cannabidiol (CBD) Anti-inflammatory Properties

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 “SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Medical Marijuana Inc (OTC: MJNA) is pleased to announce that studies have shown Cannabidiol (CBD) has anti-inflammatory properties. Medical Marijuana Inc. through CannaBANK has a patent pending on an extraction method from Cannabis (Marijuana) and its industrialized non psychoactive counterpart Hemp, allowing Cannabidiol (CBD) to be isolated in its pure form. Once isolated the Cannabidiol can be added as a direct counter agent or as an additive to other current anti-inflammatory products.

Medical Marijuana Inc. is planning on expanding its Cannabidiol sales through licensing agreements with companies already involved in the heavily marketed nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets.

Resources and Abstracts on Anti-inflammatory properties of Cannabidiol:
United States National Library of Medicine (PubMed)”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19199042
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3034694/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19070683
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18641283
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18469842
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14963641

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110923005989/en/Medical-Marijuana-Marijuana-Extract-Cannabidiol-CBD-Anti-inflammatory?fb_action_ids=459561104080536&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=news_view&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Prospects for cannabinoids as anti-inflammatory agents.

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Abstract

“The marijuana plant (Cannabis sativa) and preparations derived from it have been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. It is likely that the therapeutic benefits of smoked marijuana are due to some combination of its more than 60 cannabinoids and 200-250 non-cannabinoid constituents. Several marijuana constituents, the carboxylic acid metabolites of tetrahydrocannabinol, and synthetic analogs are free of cannabimimetic central nervous system activity, do not produce behavioral changes in humans, and are effective antiinflammatory and analgesic agents. One cannabinoid acid in particular, ajulemic acid, has been studied extensively in in vitro systems and animal models of inflammation and immune responses. This commentary reviews a portion of the work done by investigators interested in separating the medicinal properties of marijuana from its psychoactive effects. Understanding the mechanisms of the therapeutic effects of nonpsychoactive cannabinoids should lead to development of safe effective treatment for several diseases, and may render moot the debate about “medical marijuana”.”

Medical Marijuana as Treatment for Alcoholism & Addiction

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“Medical marijuana is frequently in the news, and hopefully the growing awareness of the benefits of medical marijuana will lead to more sensible regulations and deeper research into why cannabis is so helpful in treating so many different conditions. Among the conditions that medical marijuana can treatis addiction, whether to drugs or alcohol.”

“Medical Marijuana as a Recovery Treatment”

“Marijuana as a recovery treatment is controversial, not least because there is conflicting research about whether medical marijuana is or is not addictive. However, many studies have found that medical marijuana is not addictive, or as harmful, as other drugs such as alcohol and opiates. Additionally, several studies have shown that marijuana can be an effective treatment for recovery from other substances.”

Read more: http://www.unitedpatientsgroup.com/blog/2012/07/26/medical-marijuana-as-treatment-for-alcoholism-addiction/

Major Health Benefits of Medical Cannabis

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“The benefits of medical marijuana plant are extensive, pervasive, and long-standing. Because of the way the cannabis impacts the Autonomic Nervous System which develops the breath and relaxes the body, prospective for health and curative characteristics are huge. Some of the major health benefits of medical cannabis are explained below:

Treats Migraines

Cannabis healing has been very effective in the treatment of migraine headaches. Migraine headaches are vascular in source and are often preceded by an air characterized by nausea, flashes of light, faintness or photosensitivity.

Slows Down Tumor Growth

Studies have shown that cannabis help in slow down the facsimile and slow down the production of cancer cells in body. It is also a natural antiemetic, which makes it effectual in plummeting the nausea and vomiting related with chemo and radiation therapies. So taking marijuana slows down the tumor growth too.

Relieves Symptoms of Chronic Diseases

Marijuana is one of the best natural pain relievers that can help sufferers of chronic pain live more relaxed lives. The side effects are often much less severe than the other common pain medications.

Prevents Alzheimer’s

Cannabis reduces the occurrence of depression in Alzheimer’s patients, which can help patients to keep up a higher level of brain function. That is a powerful way to keep patients performance for a longer time after the first onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Treats Glaucoma

Some strains of this medicinal plant have been shown that, they are potentially decreasing the force that glaucoma can place on the optic nerve; thereby the patients can easily cut the critical condition by smoking or taking the marijuana edibles or medicines.

Prevents Seizures

Seizure is a kind of epilepsy which almost affects more than 2 millions of Americans and 30 millions of people worldwide. Epilepsy is a condition when some of the brain cells become abnormally excitable. People using marijuana to control epilepsy should be alert when there is any removal of any tablets which controls seizures may leave you more susceptible to the patient. Marijuana is no exception. Patients with epilepsy are advised to exercise caution when using oral THC because there is no enough sufficient knowledge about the convulsive or anti-convulsive properties of the single compound.

For ADD and ADHD

Many people who endure with ADD and/or ADHD find that medical cannabis recovers their knack to hub and their level of recital with definite tasks. There are no clinical studies on humans but there are some beginner studies have done on animals that point to less hyperactivity and impulsivity with the use of cannabinoids (the active medicines in cannabis).

Relieve PMS

Millions of women have an illness on Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). PMS includes the symptoms of headaches, abdominal cramps, bloating and fluid retention. Many women report that they have tried several different medications but none as give any significant relief like Medical Marijuana. Cannabis medicine has shown to give symptomatic relief from all the unpleasant symptoms of PMS.

Calm Those With Tourette’s and OCD

Several psychological disorders have been known to be related with the medical benefits of marijuana as well. Taking weed of prescribed amount on regular basis can slow down the tics for those who are suffering from Tourette’s syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Yes some of the qualities in marijuana plant help the patient to calm themselves when any creation of intrusive thoughts which produces fear, uneasiness and abnormal behaviors.”

http://www.herbalmission.org/major-health-benefits-of-medical-cannabis.php

Endometriosis: Marijuana Treatment

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“Dr. Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician, Toxicologist and Pharmacologist.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) – I don’t think I have to explain what this is to anybody. If you have it, you know it. Endometriosis is graded in stages I,II, III & IV, with stage I being “minimized” inconvenience while stage IV is severe and usually requires surgery.

As a physician, I had known about endometriosis for years and that some women become narcotic addicts because of it. Pre Menstrual Tension (PMS) may be concurrent though different and I had many PMS patients as well. Some of them became addicts also. I was not surprised when lady patients came to our clinics offering chart notes that they had been prescribed every conceivable analgesic and other medications but they also told me marijuana works better than any regular prescription.

I have a severe pain problem myself caused by too high of a concentration of spinal anesthesia. I got disgusted by the anesthesiologist telling me he didn’t cause it but I got a new understanding for patients in pain.

If the patient says marijuana works for pain, I believe them. Actually in Oregon about sixty percent of patients have some chronic pain syndrome of nerve, muscle, joint, bone, intestinal or genitourinary. It doesn’t seem to matter whatever the source of pain, the bottom line is that MJ gives relief.

I presume stage I endometriosis and minor PMS are effectively treated with aspirin-like drugs, but when the pain etc. is in the moderate/severe level, the ladies have found out by themselves that marijuana/cannabis is effective without the hazard of narcotic addiction or alcoholism.

The U.S. government publicizes that as many as 77 million Americans have used marijuana and perhaps ten million use it frequently.

Marijuana as folk medicine has been used in the U.S. since the middle 1800’s and probably in Mexico and Latin America since the Spanish introduced it in the late 1500’s.

It is no longer amazing to me when a patient tells me of some new disease for which they have discovered marijuana treatment is beneficial.

It is time the DEA and its hoodlums backed off and allow the therapeutic use of medical marijuana, as more and more people are reverting to this tried and true “folk medicine” everyday.”

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january032008/endo_med_1308.php

Can Cannabidiol (CBD) Fight Metastatic Cancer? According to the latest research the answer is yes. Important news for Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s new line of high concentrate CBD health and wellness products.

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“(OTC: MJNA), a leading hemp industry innovator, is pleased to report on a September 18 San Francisco Chronicle Article, “Pot compound seen as tool against cancer.” The article states that scientists at California Pacific Medical Center who have been researching marijuana’s compounds for the 20 years have found that Cannabidiol, or CBD, has the ability to “turn off” the DNA that causes “breast and other types of cancers” to metastasize. CBD is the second-most abundant cannabinoid within marijuana, but does not cause the psychotropic high of THC.

As stated in the article: “We started by researching breast cancer,” said scientist Pierre Desprez. “But now we’ve found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers–brain, prostate–any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present.” Desprez said he is hopeful clinical trials will begin immediately. He currently has grant funding through the National Institutes of Health, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the U.S. Department of Defense and the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

As previously announced in the MJNA press release dated September 5, MJNA portfolio company, Red Dice Holdings, recently launched its Hemp-based high concentrate CBD health and wellness products, Dixie X, for over-the-counter sales. These Cannabidiol products represent the highest strength of CBD products on the market today, and this same concentrate will soon be used to launch the CanChew Biotechnologies line of CBD-enriched chewing gum. Click here for recent production news from PhytoSphere. Dixie X can currently be purchased in over 100 retail locations in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico as well as on-line by anyone living in the U.S.

In short, MJNA and its portfolio company, PhytoSphere Systems, currently produces non-THC, high quality CBD enriched Hemp oil that according to this story, may fight the most aggressive forms of cancers we know of today.

Studies, such as those in this article and at Project CBD, have continually shown that these non-psychoactive CBD wellness products provide powerful relief for pain and anxiety sufferers, but without the euphoric effects provided by THC. The CBD health and wellness industry is estimated by MJNA to be a $5 billion market.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49117540/Can_Cannabidiol_CBD_Fight_Metastatic_Cancer_According_to_the_latest_research_the_answer_is_yes_Important_news_for_Medical_Marijuana_Inc_s_new_line_of_high_concentrate_CBD_health_and_wellness_products

Brain’s own cannabis compound protects against inflammation

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“Some clinical studies have indicated that marijuana or its active cannabinoid ingredient alleviates symptoms of the inflammatory disease multiple sclerosis (MS). Also, researchers have found that the brain’s natural “endocannabinoids” are released after brain injury and are believed to alleviate neuronal damage. However, scientists have not understood how such substances act within the brain’s own immune system.

 Now, experiments by Oliver Ullrich and colleagues have pinpointed how one of the brain’s endocannabinoids protects neurons from inflammation after such damage. They say their studies could lead to new drugs to treat the inflammation and brain degeneration from MS or other such disorders.

In an article in the January 5, 2006, issue of Neuron, the researchers reported experiments showing how the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) protects brain cells from inflammation. Such a role in the brain’s immune system is distinct from cannabinoids’ effects on neuronal signaling that produce the behavioral effects of marijuana.”

http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Brains-own-cannabis-compound-protects-against-inflammation-2810-1/

Pot Chemical May Curb Inflammation – WebMD

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“Marijuana’s active ingredient may curb inflammation and help treat skin allergies.

That news comes from researchers including Meliha Karsak, PhD, and Thomas Tuting, MD, of Germany’s University of Bonn.

Marijuana’s key compound, THC, is a type of chemical called a cannabinoid. The brain contains two types of cannabinoid receptors.

Karsak and colleagues studied mice born with or without cannabinoid receptors. The mice wore ear tags to identify them; those ear tags contained nickel.

The mice without cannabinoid receptors were particularly likely to have allergic skin reactions to the nickel in the ear tags.

The scientists reasoned that the mice’s allergies may have been linked to their lack of cannabinoid receptors.

Karsak’s team tested that theory in several experiments.

First, they turned off cannabinoid receptors in healthy mice. Those mice then became more likely to develop skin inflammation near their nickel ear tags.

Next, the researchers exposed other mice with cannabinoid receptors to a skin irritant. Some of the mice got THC shots after being exposed to the irritant. Others got a THC skin lotion before and after exposure to the irritant.

The THC shot and lotion both helped soothe the mice’s inflamed skin.

“If we dabbed THC solution onto the animals’ skin shortly before and after applying the allergen, a lot less swelling occurred than normal,” Tuting says in a University of Bonn news release.

In the journal Science, the researchers write that their study “strongly suggests” that the body’s cannabinoid system can help tame inflammation and that THC skin lotions have “promising potential” for treating skin allergies caused by contact with irritating chemicals.

However, the researchers didn’t test the THC lotion on skin allergies in people.”

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20070607/pot-chemical-may-curb-inflammation

“Attenuation of allergic contact dermatitis through the endocannabinoid system…These results demonstrate a protective role of the endocannabinoid system in contact allergy in the skin and suggest a target for therapeutic intervention.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556587

The cannabinoid system and immune modulation

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Figure 1.

“Studies on the effects of marijuana smoking have evolved into the discovery and description of the endocannabinoid system. To date, this system is composed of two receptors, CB1 and CB2, and endogenous ligands including anandamide, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol, and others. CB1 receptors and ligands are found in the brain as well as immune and other peripheral tissues. Conversely, CB2 receptors and ligands are found primarily in the periphery, especially in immune cells. Cannabinoid receptors are G protein-coupled receptors, and they have been linked to signaling pathways and gene activities in common with this receptor family. In addition, cannabinoids have been shown to modulate a variety of immune cell functions in humans and animals and more recently, have been shown to modulate T helper cell development, chemotaxis, and tumor development. Many of these drug effects occur through cannabinoid receptor signaling mechanisms and the modulation of cytokines and other gene products.

It appears the immunocannabinoid system is involved in regulating the brain-immune axis and might be exploited in future therapies for chronic diseases and immune deficiency.”

“The medicinal uses of marijuana were described centuries ago for diseases such as asthma, migraine, pain, convulsions, and anxiety (reviewed in ref.). More recently, emphasis has been placed on marijuana’s putative, beneficial effects on appetite, glaucoma, spasticity in multiple sclerosis, pain, and inflammation.

Recent experimental evidence supports marijuana’s therapeutic potential in some of these maladies.

The active plant ingredients in marijuana belong to the C21-cannabinoid compounds including the primary psychoactive compound, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This cannabinoid along with others such as Δ8-THC, cannabidiol, and cannabinol, as well as chemical analogs, have been extensively studied over the years for their biological and therapeutic properties. Some of the properties of these agents have included effects on immunity ranging from suppression of resistance to infection to enhancement of IL-1 production by macrophages. These early studies about the immunomodulating effects of these drugs have been the subject of previous overviews and will not be reviewed here. Instead, we will briefly summarize the general features of the cannabinoid system and review recent findings on the structure and function of the cannabinoid system components in the immune system. For convenience, we will refer to this as the “immunocannabinoid” system.

CANNABINOID SYSTEM

Marijuana cannabinoids, analogs, and endocannabinoids”

https://jlb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1189/jlb.0303101?sid=nlm%3Apubmed