“Meanwhile, a millennia-old remedy for epilepsy, cannabis, is staging a comeback with recent legal and social permissiveness accelerating research into this use.”
Epilepsy: Five new things.
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Phytochemical Aspects and Therapeutic Perspective of Cannabinoids in Cancer Treatment
“Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae) is one of the first plants cultivated by man and one of the oldest plant sources of fibre, food and remedies.
Cannabinoids comprise the plant‐derived compounds and their synthetic derivatives as well as endogenously produced lipophilic mediators. Phytocannabinoids are terpenophenolic secondary metabolites predominantly produced in CannabissativaL.
The principal active constituent is delta‐9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which binds to endocannabinoid receptors to exert its pharmacological activity, including psychoactive effect. The other important molecule of current interest is non‐psychotropic cannabidiol (CBD).
Since 1970s, phytocannabinoids have been known for their palliative effects on some cancer‐associated symptoms such as nausea and vomiting reduction, appetite stimulation and pain relief. More recently, these molecules have gained special attention for their role in cancer cell proliferation and death.
A large body of evidence suggests that cannabinoids affect multiple signalling pathways involved in the development of cancer, displaying an anti‐proliferative, proapoptotic, anti‐angiogenic and anti‐metastatic activity on a wide range of cell lines and animal models of cancer.”
Parent use of cannabis for intractable pediatric epilepsy: Everyday empiricism and the boundaries of scientific medicine.
“Cannabis is an increasingly sought-after remedy for US children with intractable (biomedically uncontrollable) epilepsy. However, like other complementary-alternative medicine (CAM) modalities, and particularly as a federally illegal, stigmatized substance, it is unsanctioned by mainstream medicine. Parents are largely on their own when it comes to learning about, procuring, dispensing, and monitoring treatments. Exploring how they manage is crucial to better assist them. Moreover, it can illuminate how ‘research’ done on the ground by laypeople variously disrupts and reinforces lay-expert and science-non-science divides. To those ends, in 2016, 25 Southern California parents who used, had used, or sought to use cannabis pediatrically for epilepsy/seizures were interviewed regarding their evidentiary standards, research methods, and aims when trying the drug. Parents generally described their work as experimentation; they saw their efforts as adhering to authorized scientific practices and standards, and as contributing to the authorized medical cannabis knowledge base. Findings subverted assumptions, based on an outdated stereotype of CAM, that cannabis-using parents do not believe in biomedicine. Indeed, parents’ desire for their children’s biomedical demarginalization, combined with biomedical dependency and a high caregiver burden, fueled a collaborative stance. Implications for understanding the boundaries of science are explored, as are norms for parent agency as ill children’s care managers, radicalization among people affected by contested illnesses, and the future of ‘medical marijuana.'”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28865255
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617304756?via%3Dihub
Accelerated Burn Wound Closure in Mice with a New Formula Based on Traditional Medicine.
“A combination of the oils of sesame, hemp, wild pistachio, and walnut has been used for treatment of skin disorders, including wound burns, in some parts of Kerman, Iran. Evaluation of this remedy in the form of a pharmaceutical formulation in animal models can pave the way for its future application in wound burn healing in humans.
This experimental study investigated the healing potential of a new formula (NF) based on folk medicine from Iran for the treatment of third degree burns in mice. The formula was a combination of the oils of four plants: sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica Desf.), hemp (Cannabis sativa L.), and walnut (Juglans regia L.).
When compared to the controls, NF significantly improved wound contraction after day 10. Histopathological and immunohistochemical findings confirmed the efficacy of the NF.
CONCLUSIONS:
A new therapeutic remedy was introduced for the treatment of burn wounds.
Further clinical and molecular studies are suggested to determine the exact mechanism(s) involved in the burn wound healing effect of NF.”
[MEDICAL CANNABIS].
“The cannabis plant has been known to humanity for centuries as a remedy for pain, diarrhea and inflammation.
Current research is inspecting the use of cannabis for many diseases, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, dystonia, and chronic pain.
In inflammatory conditions cannabinoids improve pain in rheumatoid arthritis and: pain and diarrhea in Crohn’s disease.
Despite their therapeutic potential, cannabinoids are not free of side effects including psychosis, anxiety, paranoia, dependence and abuse.
Controlled clinical studies investigating the therapeutic potential of cannabis are few and small, whereas pressure for expanding cannabis use is increasing.
Currently, as long as cannabis is classified as an illicit drug and until further controlled studies are performed, the use of medical cannabis should be limited to patients who failed conventional better established treatment.”
Marihuana as Medicine
“BETWEEN 1840 and 1900, European and American medical journals published more than 100 articles on the therapeutic use of the drug known then as Cannabis indica (or Indian hemp) and now as marihuana.
It was recommended as an appetite stimulant, muscle relaxant, analgesic, hypnotic, and anticonvulsant. As late as 1913 Sir William Osler recommended it as the most satisfactory remedy for migraine.
Today the 5000-year medical history of cannabis has been almost forgotten.
Its use declined in the early 20th century because the potency of preparations was variable, responses to oral ingestion were erratic, and alternatives became available—injectable opiates and, later, synthetic drugs such as aspirin and barbiturates.
In the United States, the final blow was struck by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Designed to prevent nonmedical use, this law made cannabis so difficult to obtain for medical purposes that it was removed from the pharmacopeia.”
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=388943#Abstract
Issues and promise in clinical studies of botanicals with anticonvulsant potential.
“Botanicals are increasingly used by people with epilepsy worldwide. However, despite abundant preclinical data on the anticonvulsant properties of many herbal remedies, there are very few human studies assessing safety and efficacy of these products in epilepsy.Additionally, the methodology of most of these studies only marginally meets the requirements of evidence-based medicine.
Although the currently available evidence for the use of cannabinoids in epilepsy is similarly lacking, several carefully designed and well controlled industry-sponsored clinical trials of cannabis derivatives are planned to be completed in the next couple of years, providing the needed reliable data for the use of these products.
The choice of the best botanical candidates with anticonvulsant properties and their assessment in well-designed clinical trials may significantly improve our ability to effectively and safely treat patients with epilepsy. ”
The Health Benefits of Medical Cannabis
“Few people may know this but cannabis, or marijuana, had been popular as a remedy since ancient times.
It was in 2727 B.C. when there was the first record of its use in China. It was also familiar to ancient Greeks, Romans and people from the Middle East.
It was only during 1600 when cannabis use began to be regulated and restricted…
It was only recently that the public knew that cannabis has many benefits which were previously unknown to many people. Cannabis has been legalized in some states because it is non-toxic, can be moderately used by adults and has some beneficial effects on health.
Medical Cannabis
Medical cannabis is the term used to refer to the use of marijuana, cultivated with medical seeds, and other cannabinoid substances for treating health problems. Marijuana is a mixture of green, brown, crumpled and dried leaves from the marijuana plant. This mixture of leaves are rolled up and smoked like a cigar or cigarette or smoked through a pipe. It can also be mixed with food and eaten. Its mode of administration to the user includes vaporizing or smoking dried buds, consuming extracts and the ingestion of capsules. Synthetic cannabinoids are even available in some countries such as dronabinol and nabilone. While in some countries the recreational use of marijuana is illegal, in some countries its medical use is legal.”
http://www.doctortipster.com/19879-the-health-benefits-of-medical-cannabis.html
Marijuana and its receptor protein in brain control epilepsy
“VCU study is first to test anticonvulsant potential of marijuana and brain recurrent seizures.
Ingredients in marijuana and the cannabinoid receptor protein produced naturally in the body to regulate the central nervous system and other bodily functions play a critical role in controlling spontaneous seizures in epilepsy, according to a new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The study, the first to look at marijuana and the brain’s cannabinoid system in live animals with spontaneous, recurrent seizures, suggests new avenues that researchers can explore in their search for more-effective drugs to treat epileptic patients who don’t respond to today’s anticonvulsant medications or surgery.
The results appear in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
“Although marijuana is illegal in the United States, individuals both here and abroad report that marijuana has been therapeutic for them in the treatment of a variety of ailments, including epilepsy,” says Dr. Robert J. DeLorenzo, professor of neurology in the VCU School of Medicine.
“If we can understand how marijuana works to end seizures, we may be able to develop novel drugs that might do a better job of treating epileptic seizures.”
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions, characterized by spontaneously recurrent seizures. Approximately 1 percent of Americans have epilepsy, and 30 percent of those patients are resistant to conventional anticonvulsant drug treatments.
Cannabinoids have been used as a natural remedy for seizures for thousands of years, and studies since at least 1974 have found that the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana displays anticonvulsant properties.”
More:http://www.news.vcu.edu/news/Marijuana_and_its_receptor_protein_in_brain_control_epilepsy
Three out of four doctors recommend marijuana in New England Journal of Medicine poll
“More than three out of four doctors support medical cannabis for a hypothetical breast cancer patient, New England Journal of Medicine reportsIn a poll by the well-respected New England Journal of Medicine released today, more than three out of four doctors recommended medical cannabis for a hypothetical late-stage breast cancer patient.
“We were surprised by the outcome of polling and comments, with 76% of all votes in favor of the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes — even though marijuana use is illegal in most countries,” Jonathan N. Adler, M.D., and James A. Colbert, M.D. wrote for the NEJOM May 30th.
Marijuana is a federally illegal – schedule one drug – that the U.S. government claims has no medical value and is more dangerous than heroin or LSD. Yet 19 states have legalized cannabis for medical use, given its 10,000 year history as a safe herbal remedy for nausea, pain and insomnia among other conditions.”