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Tag: marijuana research

  • 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

  • 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

  • Jeff Sessions Blocks MMJ Research, Despite Congress’ Approval

    Jeff Sessions Blocks MMJ Research, Despite Congress’ Approval

    The DEA has been accepting applications for new growers of research cannabis for two years, but the program has not moved forward at all thanks to Sessions.

    It’s been two years since the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) opened up applications for new growers of research cannabis, but two dozen applicants haven’t heard a peep from the federal government for one simple reason: Jeff Sessions doesn’t want it to happen.

    The DEA decided to end the federal monopoly on growing cannabis for research purposes in 2016, opening up the opportunity to applicants from all over the United States. However, the licensing process has come to a standstill because Sessions has taken the unprecedented step of intervening in the DEA’s decisions.

    Historically, the attorney general of the United States has not been involved in the regulation of scheduled drugs. Instead, the DEA has been in charge of such affairs, including “investigat[ing] the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals and listed chemicals from legitimate sources while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs.”

    Objections to Sessions’ actions have come from both sides of the aisle, with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Kamala Harris (D-California) sending a bipartisan complaint letter asking Sessions to provide a timeline for processing and potentially licensing these applicants.

    “Expanded research has been called for by President Trump’s Surgeon General, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the FDA, the CDC, the National Highway Safety Administration, the National Institute of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the National Academies of Sciences, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse,” wrote the senators in their letter. “In order to facilitate such research, scientists and lawmakers must have timely guidance on whether, when, and how these manufacturers’ applications will be resolved.”

    Sessions’ Department of Justice (DOJ) missed the March 15, 2018 deadline to provide this timeline and doesn’t seem to want to cooperate.

    Four applicants contacted by Reason say they haven’t heard back from the DOJ or the DEA for months. Responses included:

    “‘No formal communication,” “Hoping to hear more soon,” and “Just silence.”

    Sessions has suggested that the DEA isn’t prepared to supervise these proposed cannabis manufacturers despite the DEA regularly supervising dozens of new non-marijuana drug manufacturers this year.

    Senators Hatch and Harris have set a new deadline for Sessions to act on these applicants: August 11, 2018.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Massachusetts Could Become Marijuana Research Hub

    Massachusetts Could Become Marijuana Research Hub

    “My vision is Massachusetts could be the number one leading cannabis research state in the world,” said one public health official.

    After Massachusetts voterslegalized marijuana for adult use in 2016, sales of the drug are slated to start this July, leaving many Bay State businesses scrambling to position the state as a leader for marijuana research.

    “My vision is Massachusetts could be the number one leading cannabis research state in the world,” Marion McNabb, a doctor of public health and former global health worker who co-founded the Cannabis Community Care and Research Network in January 2017, told MassLive.

    The law that legalized cannabis in Massachusetts contains a research clause, which allows institutions like colleges, nonprofits and even corporations to buy or grow marijuana for research.

    This isn’t wholly unique—other states including Colorado and Pennsylvania have similar provisions—but with many biomedical and academic establishments in Massachusetts, people in the industry are hopeful that this will open the door to more research.

    “Given the investment in technology, the staggering array of biotech and scientific expertise, it virtually ensures Massachusetts will be an important player,” said Staci Gruber, director of MIND (Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery) at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.

    However, while marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I drug under federal law, researching it will remain difficult even in states that have legalized the drug. Funding is one of the biggest challenges for marijuana research.

    It is very rare to get federal funding for marijuana research. And institutions like universities and medical schools are hesitant to fund research because they could risk losing their federal funding, especially under an administration that has been vocal in its opposition to marijuana.

    Currently, the only way to study marijuana with federal approval is to obtain samples that are specifically grown for research. However, Gruber said that these samples are different from what is being used by the vast majority of people who consume marijuana.

    “The products the government grows and oversees for research may not have any bearing on products patients are using in the real world,” said Gruber, who has been researching marijuana for 25 years.

    Even without a change in federal policy, the Massachusetts legalization of recreational pot will open new research opportunities, she said. For example, she can ask questions of people who buy cannabis at dispensaries and consume it, without providing the drug herself.

    She hopes that this will help advance marijuana policy, and take the nation out of a gridlock where quality research is prevented by the policy toward marijuana research. 

    “It’s difficult to change laws without empirically sound data, but you can’t do clinical trials that represent what most people are taking,” Gruber said.

    View the original article at thefix.com