Answer Addiction

Tag: alternative medicine

  • Norman Reedus Fundraises For Children’s Medical Cannabis Treatments

    Norman Reedus Fundraises For Children’s Medical Cannabis Treatments

    The Walking Dead star is taking aim at cancer by raffling off signed memorabilia.

    Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, known for wielding a crossbow against hordes of the undead on television, is setting his sights on childhood cancer. In support of Saving Sophie, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting children and adults who need medical cannabis treatments, Reedus is raffling off Walking Dead merchandise that he’s autographed.

    The move is something of a rerun as Reedus raised funds for CannaKids last year. For this fundraiser, participants can pay a minimum of $5 for a raffle ticket. The money will go to Saving Sophie, which will use the proceeds to expand the organization’s medical cannabis research program to a yet-to-be-determined university in southern California.

    Currently, Saving Sophie has four children and four adults participating in their research who are using medical cannabis treatments alongside conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiation.

    Saving Sophie was created by the parents of Sophie Ryan, whose story is featured in the documentary Weed the People. The documentary explored the lives of families who have turned to medical cannabis to treat their child’s cancer.

    While the stigma surrounding providing children with marijuana-based treatments has not dissipated, some research has shown that such treatments have been effective in combating glioblastoma, a brain cancer. Sophie Ryan’s own glioma tumor shrunk by 90% with a combo treatment of chemotherapy and cannabis oils.

    Despite these early indicators of effectiveness, critics and detractors stand in the way simply on the virtue of the medicine being marijuana-based. Some debates have arisen over whether pediatric patients should be allowed to bring their medical cannabis to school and use it there. The stigma also forces some parents to turn to shady pathways to get their hands on the potentially life-saving medicine for their children.

    Improving the public perception of medical cannabis may be one of the most important contributions Reedus is making with his new campaign. Advocates believe such a celebrity endorsement aimed at saving the lives of children is likely to get the attention and support of the general public.

    Reedus isn’t the only cast member of the Walking Dead franchise who has done their part to fight negative stigma in health treatment. Kevin Zegers spoke openly about his sobriety on Entertainment Tonight Canada.

    “The reason I go to an AA meeting on my birthday—the reason we’re urged to do that—is not for you, but you do it for others, to indicate it’s possible, which in the depths of addiction doesn’t feel possible,” he explained in the interview. “I think it’s our duty, even with, you know, a very small amount of fame, which I sometimes have, to go, ‘Oh s***, that guy suffers, too.’”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Big Claims About Pot's Health Benefits Made Possible By Limited Research

    Big Claims About Pot's Health Benefits Made Possible By Limited Research

    “It’s hard to study marijuana, and there’s money to be made in the business. That’s an unfortunate combination that makes it exceedingly hard to separate the truth from the hype.”

    Cannabidiol (CBD) can alleviate your PTSD and anxiety symptoms, while THC can reduce your nausea and inflammation—or, at least, that is what the medical marijuana industry wants you to believe.

    As using cannabis has become more socially acceptable, industry insiders are making big claims about their products’ health benefits, despite the fact that there is limited scientific research on cannabis due to the federal government’s tight control on the Schedule I substance. 

    “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but if something is being marketed as having health benefits, it needs to be proven to have health benefits,” Salomeh Keyhani, a professor of internal medicine at UC San Francisco told The Verge. “I think it’s very dangerous to be asserting that things are very beneficial without thinking about risks.”

    Keyhani authored a study published in September in the Annals of Internal Medicine examining how Americans perceive cannabis. He found that 81% of Americans believe that marijuana has at least some health benefit, and 66% believe it can help relieve pain. Nearly 30% of people surveyed believe that using marijuana can prevent health issues. 

    The research on the medical benefits of cannabis shows that Americans may be vastly overestimating its effectiveness. “Americans’ view of marijuana use is more favorable than existing evidence supports,” authors concluded. 

    “Limited evidence suggests that cannabis may alleviate neuropathic pain in some patients, but insufficient evidence exists for other types of chronic pain,” authors of another study in the Annals of Internal Medicine wrote, noting that research also shows that cannabis can increase the risk for mental health consequences. 

    Despite the Drug Enforcement Administration’s promise to grant more licenses to study cannabis, this has not happened, meaning that research has lagged behind the growing social acceptance of marijuana. This has allowed an industry to be created around cannabis as a health product, without research on the benefits or dangers. 

    “The irony is that by trying to keep us ‘safe’ and refusing to reschedule, the DEA is making us less safe by letting us be drowned by hype without quality evidence either way,” writes Angela Chen of The Verge. 

    Last Tuesday, voters in Michigan approved legalizing recreational marijuana, meaning that a quarter of Americans can now use the drug for non-medical use, and many more can opt into a medical marijuana program. 

    “All the while, the research lags behind,” Chen writes. “It’s hard to study marijuana, and there’s money to be made in the business. That’s an unfortunate combination that makes it exceedingly hard to separate the truth from the hype.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "Weed The People" Doc Follows Kids Treating Cancer With Marijuana

    "Weed The People" Doc Follows Kids Treating Cancer With Marijuana

    More than half of Americans now support legalizing marijuana. But for some kids, it’s a life-changing treatment.

    While the federal government sits on the fence regarding marijuana, more than half of Americans support legalizing it. But for the families featured in Weed the People, marijuana is medicine for their children.

    The documentary follows five kids whose parents have chosen to treat their child’s cancer with cannabis oil, either as a supplement alongside other treatments or as an entirely new avenue of treatment after others have failed.

    Despite their non-recreational use of marijuana, the families have to overcome legal and regulatory obstacles to get the medicine they believe their children need.

    Weed the People is produced by former talk show host Ricki Lake, who was introduced to cannabidiol (CBD) when her late ex-husband was seeking relief for his chronic pain and ADHD. CBD does not induce the high associated with THC, but does deliver the therapeutic and medicinal effects of cannabis.

    “I want to get people seeing it as medicine, seeing what it was able to do for these children, and fight for this medicine to be available to everyone who needs it,” Lake said. “It’s a human rights issue.”

    Some of the families in the documentary saw their children’s tumors shrink, or even disappear, when using CBD—even if they were using CBD in place of other treatments, such as chemotherapy, entirely.

    “You can’t say the ‘cure’ word, but how else do you explain it?” questioned Lake.

    However, some professionals warn against treating cancers with CBD alone and expecting miraculous results. “Relying on marijuana alone as treatment while avoiding or delaying conventional medical care for cancer may have serious health consequences,” cautioned the American Cancer Society (ACS).

    So far, the ACS says, CBD and other such compounds in marijuana have been found to slow the growth of or destroy tumor cells in test animals or tissue samples in dishes, but not humans.

    However, some pediatric cancer treatment providers do advocate for allowing the use of marijuana compounds in treatment, especially in the case of pain relief or end-of-life care.

    Despite growing support for legalization coming from both health experts and everyday Americans, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which is defined as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

    However, one CBD-based drug, Epidolex, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—which is a substantial, if narrow, first step towards legalization.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • CBD Oil Quickly Becoming Popular Opioid Alternative

    CBD Oil Quickly Becoming Popular Opioid Alternative

    One expert says CBD oil sales are growing nationally, particularly in states that allow medical marijuana but not recreational.

    When it comes to pain management, there may be a safer alternative to prescription pain medication: CBD oil, also known as cannabidiol.

    In Georgia, according to WSB-TV Atlanta, the hemp-derived CBD product is legal because it only contains trace amounts of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

    CBD oil is sold at Little Five Points Pharmacy in northeast Atlanta, and pharmacist Ira Katz tells WSB-TV that it has been effective for some of his patients. 

    “We know that this can reduce pain,” he said. “I have several patients that we’ve been putting this on, recommending this to them, and it’s great. It helps. It makes a big difference.”

    The oil does not give users a high. “People are turning to cannabidiol as an alternative when they can’t get low THC oil,” Anthony LaBorde, store operator for Discount Nutrition in Midtown Atlanta and Acworth, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We get people coming in here who say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is marijuana, I can’t believe you sell this.’ There’s complete confusion.”

    Studies have found that CBD oil is effective for treating neuropathic pain, arthritis pain, anxiety, sleep disorders and depression.

    “I’ve had some patients that have been able to get off some of those pain medications, which they hated taking,” Katz told WSB-TV. “It has no addictive properties and far less side effects than do a lot of the prescription pain medications.”

    According to Bethany Gomez, research director for the Chicago-based Brightfield Group, sales of CBD are growing across the nation, particularly in states like Georgia that have some form of a medical marijuana program, but do not allow cannabis for adult use. In 2016, the market for the product was $174 million, compared to $590 million this year. 

    “CBD is very widely used by people who would not come anywhere near cannabis, who don’t want anything to do with the mind-altering effects of marijuana but want treatment for chronic pain, anxiety and women’s health conditions,” Gomez told the Journal-Constitution.

    Despite the apparent benefits, CBD oil still concerns some local law enforcement officials. Wesley Nunn, president of the Georgia Narcotics Officers Association and commander of the Ocmulgee Drug Task Force, fears shops may be disguising THC oil as CBD oil, the difference lying in the potency of the product. 

    “You don’t know what’s in it. That’s the problem,” Nunn told the Journal-Constitution. “If it’s helping with seizures, appetite disorders and PTSD, let’s get it regulated… There’s so much money being pushed behind the marijuana trade, and people are trying to get on board.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Marijuana's Pain-Relieving Properties To Be Studied By UCLA Researchers

    Marijuana's Pain-Relieving Properties To Be Studied By UCLA Researchers

    “The public consumption of cannabis has already far outpaced our scientific understanding. We really desperately need to catch up.”

    Thirty states and Washington D.C. have medical marijuana programs, but there has been little scientific research into the pain relieving properties of pot.

    Now, however, researchers at the University of California Los Angeles are trying to change that, by conducting research into marijuana as a pain reliever. 

    “We’re not trying to do pro-cannabis research or anti-cannabis research,” Dr. Jeffrey Chen, director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative told NBC News. “We’re just trying to do good science.”

    The initiative’s first goal will be to conduct a high-quality clinical research trial into pain relief. It will look at which types of cannabis products provide the most pain relief and whether cannabis may be able to replace opioid pain relievers for some patients.

    Edythe London, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the UCLA school of medicine, designed the study to test different combinations of THC, the principal psychoactive component of marijuana, and cannabidiol, an anti-inflammatory component that does not give a high. She wants to measure which “produces the most good,” she said, in terms of reducing pain and opioid use.

    Studies have shown that states with medical marijuana programs have fewer opioid overdose deaths. However, there haven’t been studies that show whether pain patients are switching from opioids to medical marijuana, or studies to see how effective medical marijuana is at treating pain in individuals.

    Because of this, the proposed UCLA study is “much-needed research,” according to Yuyan Shi, a health policy analyst at the University of California, San Diego, who studies the health consequences of marijuana and opioid use. 

    The study still needs to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and more funding is needed.

    However, Chen said that more organizations and individuals are realizing the importance of studying cannabis. Because of this, the research already has funds from the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, federal and state sources, and private donors, he said. 

    “The public consumption of cannabis has already far outpaced our scientific understanding,” Chen said. “We really desperately need to catch up.”

    Chen hopes that the pain relief study will just be the first step for the research initiative. 

    “While our priority is to study the therapeutic potential and health risks of cannabis on the body, brain, and mind, our mission is the interdisciplinary study of the wide-ranging health, legal, economic, and social impacts of cannabis,” he wrote in a message on the organization’s website. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Racism Brought About Acupuncture For Addiction Treatment In The US

    How Racism Brought About Acupuncture For Addiction Treatment In The US

    Community leaders in the Bronx in the ’70s were wary of using methadone to treat addiction so they opted to take a holistic approach.

    A distrust in the profit-driven pharmaceutical establishment formed the roots of acupuncture for addiction treatment in the United States, according to a report in The Atlantic.

    According to writer Olga Khazan, it all began with community activists in the Bronx. During the 1970s, the northernmost New York City borough faced a daunting drug problem with few resources to fight it.

    Community activists the Young Lords and the Black Panthers, and their supporters, rallied for the creation of an in-patient drug treatment program at Lincoln Hospital, and won.

    About 200 people were in line at the opening of Lincoln Detox, but according to Khazan, the community, including detox staffers, were not convinced that methadone was the answer to the Bronx’s drug problem.

    As Samuel Roberts, professor of history and sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, explained, this sentiment was rooted in a distrust for the establishment disseminating the pharmaceutical drug. “Methadone was highly regulated—it’s run by white doctors, in white coats, in white hospitals,” Roberts told Khazan.

    This fueled a growing interest in acupuncture—a staple of Traditional Chinese Medicine that involves inserting thin needles at strategic points to balance the body’s flow of energy—because it did not require medication and facilitated the idea of community members treating one another.

    Some traveled to Montreal to receive training in practicing acupuncture, which they would bring back to Lincoln Detox. (Tupac’s stepfather Mutulu Shakur was among these people. He’d later found his own organization, the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of North America.)

    Lincoln Detox would later drop methadone altogether, opting instead to offer acupuncture treatment and other holistic treatment instead.

    Bob Duggan, who founded Penn North, a recovery center in Baltimore, learned about acupuncture for addiction recovery from Lincoln Detox, and brought it to Baltimore. Daily acupuncture is a mandatory part of the center’s recovery program.

    There are currently more than 600 recovery programs in the United States that use acupuncture, according to the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA).

    While there’s no clear consensus among the research community in the efficacy of acupuncture for addiction recovery, Sara Bursac, executive director of NADA, says the practice is effective as part of a multi-faceted program that includes counseling and 12-step meetings.

    View the original article at thefix.com