• Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Harm Reduction - Hot Off The 'Net

    Legalizing Marijuana May End the Opioid Crisis, Say Scientists

    As we reported previously, scientists from the University of New Mexico have been studying how access to marijuana may help alleviate the opioid crisis, declared a national emergency by President Trump. Their study has now been published in the journal PLOS One, with the researchers concluding that there is “clinically and statistically significant evidence” that increased cannabis use led to patients cutting down on opioids and improved their quality of life.

    The study analyzed the health data of 66 patients who were using opioids habitually to manage their severe chronic pain. 37 of the patients were enrolled in a medical marijuana program between 2010 and 2015 while 29 patients in the control group were not.

    The scientists found that patients using cannabis were 17 times more likely to stop their prescribed opioids and five times more likely to lower their daily dosage of opioids. On average, they cut their doses in half. Comparatively, the patients not enrolled in the medical marijuana program actually increased their opioid usage by more than 10%.

    http://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/how-legalizing-marijuana-may-end-the-opioid-crisis

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Associations between medical cannabis and prescription opioid use in chronic pain patients

    The clinically and statistically significant evidence of an association between MCP enrollment and opioid prescription cessation and reductions and improved quality of life warrants further investigations on cannabis as a potential alternative to prescription opioids for treating chronic pain.

    Study: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0187795

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Hot Off The 'Net

    Federal marijuana legislation clears House of Commons, headed for the Senate

    MPs passed the Liberal government’s bill to legalize cannabis Monday evening, sending the legislation down the hall to the Senate for further study and debate.

    The legislation was largely supported along partisan lines, although it secured the support of the NDP and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The final vote was 200 MPs in favour, with 82 against. Conservative MP Scott Reid voted for the bill after he polled constituents in his eastern Ontario riding, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, and found a plurality supported the Liberal plan.

    A last-ditch Conservative effort to delay the bill — and send it to the Commons health committee for further study — failed by a vote of 83 to 199 with some Bloc Québecois MPs voting with Tory legislators. Conservative opposition will now fall to their national caucus colleagues in the Red Chamber, where some senators have already signalled they are prepared to give the bill a rough ride. Some Tories have said the government’s timeline for legalization, July 1, 2018, is far too ambitious.

    Continues: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cannabis-legalization-legislation-1.4421910

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Cannabis: the Exit Drug

    Philippe Lucus
    By Philippe Lucas, CARBC

    Cannabis is neither completely harmless, nor is it a cure-all, but with polls showing that Canadians overwhelmingly support cannabis policy reform, it’s fair to assume that most people no longer believe that legalization would lead to the end of the world. Yet, some who support reform nonetheless have concerns that adding yet another legal drug (alongside alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals) for society to struggle with might result in an increase in use.

    But what if the legalization of adult access to cannabis also resulted in a reduction in the use of alcohol and other drugs? What if rather than being a gateway drug, cannabis actually proved to be an exit drug from problematic substance use? A growing body of research on a theory called cannabis substitution effect suggests just that.

    Read More

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Question of the Week

    Endocannabinoid System

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 6-13-12

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 6-13-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3908

    Question of the Week: What is the endocannabinoid system?

    According to the Drug Enforcement Administration in its July 2011 entry into the Federal Register,

    “Some 483 natural constituents have been identified in marijuana, including approximately 66 compounds that are classified as cannabinoids.  Cannabinoids are not known to exist in plants other than marijuana … “

    A Brazillian overview states that,

    “In the tip of secreting hairs located mainly on female-plant flowers and, in a smaller amount, in the leaves of cannabis plant, there are resin glands that have a considerable amount of chemically related active compounds, called cannabinoids.”

    A 2003 article in Nature Reviews calls cannanbinoids,

    “the active components of Cannabis sativa and their derivatives [that] act in the organism by mimicking endogenous substances, the endocannabinoids, that activate specific cannabinoid receptors.”

    Trends in Pharmacological Sciences in 2009 stated that,

    “most attention has been paid to [delta]9-tetrahydrocannabinol ([THC]), which is the most psychotropic component and binds specific Gprotein-coupled receptors named cannabinoid (CB1 and CB2) receptors. The discovery of a specific cell membrane receptor for [delta]9-THC was followed by isolation and identification of endogenous (animal) ligands termed endocannabinoids.”

    According to Wikipedia, ligand is, “an ion or molecule that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex”

    The Trends article goes on to read,

    “Cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands that activate them, and the mechanisms for endocannabinoid biosynthesis and inactivation constitute the ‘endocannabinoid system.’ With its ability to modulate several physiological and pathophysiological processes (e.g. neurotransmitter release in the central and peripheral nervous system, pain perception, and cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and liver functions), the endocannabinoid system represents a potential target for pharmacotherapy”

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Medical Marijuana Laws Send ‘the Wrong Message’: Don’t Smoke Pot, Kids!

    By Jacob Sullum

    A new study reported in Annals of Epidemiology finds that, contrary to drug czar Gil Kerlikowske’s warnings, passage of medical marijuana laws is not associated with increases in adolescent pot smoking. Analyzing data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, researchers at McGill University found that teenagers in states that enact such laws are more apt to smoke pot, but that is because of pre-existing differences. It seems “states with higher use are more likely to enact laws.” The researchers found little evidence that allowing patients to use marijuana as a medicine makes teenagers more likely to use it recreationally. “If anything,” they write, “our estimates suggest that reported adolescent marijuana use may actually decrease after passing MMLs [medical marijuana laws].” They say such an effect “could be plausibly explained by social desirability bias or greater concern about enforcement of recreational marijuana use among adolescents after the passage of laws.” Evidently Kerlikowske is wrong to worry that linking a drug to cancer and AIDS patients makes it seem cooler to the kids.

    These results are consistent with the conclusions of reports from the Marijuana Policy Project and the Institute for the Study of Labor, both of which found no increase in adolescent use attributable to medical marijuana laws. The latter study did, however, find an increase in adult consumption, which was associated with a decline in traffic fatalities.