Answer Addiction

Tag: marijuana use disorder

  • Could Cannabis-Based Meds Help Treat Cannabis Dependency?

    Could Cannabis-Based Meds Help Treat Cannabis Dependency?

    Researchers believe cannabis-based medicine could have a similar effect in cannabis-dependent patients as nicotine replacement therapy.

    The results of a new study suggest that cannabis-based medication could prove useful in treating patients who are seeking help with dependency on cannabis.

    Researchers from the Universities of Sydney, Tasmania and New South Wales, as well as health districts throughout Australia, claimed in the study that nabiximols, a cannabis concentrate containing equal amounts of cannabidiol (CBD) and THC could have a similar effect in cannabis-dependent patients as nicotine replacement therapy, which provides nicotine to individuals seeking to quit tobacco use, but without any of its harmful chemical content. 

    According to the researchers’ findings, a course of nabiximols given to study participants over a period of 12 weeks resulted in “significantly fewer days of illicit cannabis use,” as well as fewer health-related side effects.

    Nabiximols, sold by GW Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Sativex, has been used primarily in Australia to treat symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis, including neuropathic pain and spasticity. It is currently approved for use in over 25 countries worldwide, but not the United States.

    Epidiolex

    However, one of GW’s cannabis-based medications, Epidiolex, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat two types of rare epileptic syndromes in 2018.

    The study, published on July 15 in JAMA Internal Medicine, detailed the randomized clinical trial used by the researchers to determine their findings, which utilized 128 participants (30 women and 98 men) at four outpatient alcohol and drug treatment services in New South Wales, Australia. 

    The participants, all between 18 and 64 years of age, were seeking treatment for cannabis dependency—defined in the DSM-V as a “problematic pattern of cannabis use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress”—who had been nonresponsive to prior treatment attempts and had no other substance use disorder or medical or psychiatric conditions.

    Over the course of 12 weeks, the patients either received a nabiximols spray up to 32 times per day each week, or a placebo spray. Both applications were combined with cognitive behavioral therapy and other therapeutic support.

    The Results

    According to the study’s findings, the patients that received the nabiximols spray reported fewer days of cannabis use than the placebo group, and suppression of withdrawal and cravings. Both groups showed “comparable” improvements in health status, and tolerated the medication with few negative side effects. 

    The researchers reported their findings as a successful attempt to demonstrate the viability of nabiximols as a treatment for cannabis dependency.

    “We’ve never had the evidence before that medication can be effective in treating [it],” said lead author Nick Lintzeris. “This is the first big study to show this is a safe and effective approach.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Are Women At Higher Risk For Pot Addiction?

    Are Women At Higher Risk For Pot Addiction?

    A new study explored the gender-based differences in the way cannabis affects the body.

    Women’s hormones put them more at risk than men of becoming addicted to cannabis, a study found.

    Specifically, the sex hormone oestrogen makes them enjoy the particular high of smoking pot, according to the research.

    Men are also at risk from a hormone—in their case, testosterone—which makes them more likely to try cannabis and then use higher doses more frequently.

    The research, which focused on studies of animal behavior, revealed that while women are less likely to try pot in the first place, they are at higher risk of developing a dependence on the drug.

    Hormones are powerful levers in most of human behavior, and this includes drug use. Due to how the sex hormone oestrogen responds to marijuana, the body’s pleasure center is more powerfully affected in women than men.

    Research published in the South Burnett Times found that the differences in the impact on the endocannabinoid system in men and women were centered around testosterone, oestradiol (oestrogen) and progesterone. 

    The endocannabinoid system, or ECS, is a complex network of cannabinoid receptors expressed in cells of both the central and peripheral nervous systems. ECS helps to bring about homeostasis in all the major body systems to ensure that the body as a whole works in harmony and health.

    Study co-author Dr. Liana Fattore, of the National Research Council of Italy, told South Burnett Times, “Male sex steroids increase risk-taking behavior and suppress the brain’s reward system, which could explain why males are more likely to try drugs, including cannabis.”

    She continued to say, “Females seem to be more vulnerable, at a neurochemical level, in developing addiction to cannabis.”

    As the push to legalize marijuana continues having success all over the world, with two-thirds of Americans supporting the legalization of cannabis, it is increasingly important to conduct science-based research on the effects of marijuana.

    Understanding gender-based differences in how cannabis affects the body and the potential for addiction is going to become increasingly important as more Americans use the drug for both recreational and medicinal purposes.

    Gender-based drug addiction information and treatment could be a next step, as well as a crucial piece of the puzzle for those struggling with addiction who use marijuana as a tool to wean off harder drugs.

    Professor Fattore told the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, “Identifying factors is critical for optimizing evidence-based prevention and treatment protocols.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Marijuana Anonymous Sparking More Interest In Canada

    Marijuana Anonymous Sparking More Interest In Canada

    Marijuana Anonymous uses an adaptation of the 12 steps from Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous.

    For some marijuana users, Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous don’t quite feel like a good fit. 

    That’s why in some areas, Marijuana Anonymous is being introduced as an alternative. According to Vice, the group follows similar routines and readings as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. But it was created especially for marijuana users, as some felt that they did not identify with those individuals at AA meetings, while others who’d attended NA felt their marijuana use was dismissed as not being serious enough.

    In Simcoe, Ontario, Marijuana Anonymous meetings began in March 2018. Typically attendance hovers around five members. The Simcoe meeting is one of about 12 in the country, while there are hundreds of AA and NA meetings in comparison.

    One member, David, tells Vice he discovered the meeting online. Prior to attending, he had tried other recovery groups, as he also struggles with alcohol use. But for David, those groups weren’t effective when it came to addressing marijuana.

    “I knew I had a problem,” David told the group at the meeting. “My life had become totally unmanageable. I had become totally isolated… smoked a lot of joints.” 

    Marijuana Anonymous roughly follows the same 12 steps as NA and AA. However, the group celebrates milestones with a token of their own—small rocks painted with an M and A to represent the group’s name.

    “They’re called Stones for Stoners,” David said during the meeting. “I should probably collect because I’m 21 days away from nine months without weed.”

    According to Vice, Marijuana Anonymous members are to try and stay removed from providing thoughts about topics such as legalization of recreational marijuana. But outside these groups, the conversations are happening.

    David Juurlink, an addictions expert and head of clinical pharmacology and toxicology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, tells Vice that marijuana use disorder is legitimate, but that the withdrawal symptoms of marijuana are much less severe so people tend to view it as safer.

    “Alcohol withdrawal kills people,” he said. “Once people drinking 40 ounces of alcohol a day stop, they can go into withdrawal and they can die. Opioid withdrawal is a big deal. Someone who is a heavy user of cannabis who stops is not going to die. They are going to have trouble sleeping, they’re going to be irritable, they might have weird dreams, they might have anxiety. And all of these things might get better when they resume their cannabis again.”

    According to the MA public information trustee, Josh, interest in the group is growing. He tells Vice that there has been a 51% increase in calls to the organization’s phone line over the past year.

    Soon, Canada may become an important destination for Marijuana Anonymous members, as the country is hosting the 2019 world convention and conference in Toronto and Vancouver, Vice notes. The conference just happens to fall around seven months after Canada will implement the legalization of recreational marijuana, which members say is a coincidence. 

    “As legalization happens and becomes more ingrained in our culture, we probably will see a rise in attendance but at the same time, we’re an anonymous corporation,” MA member Lori told Vice.

    “I was miserable and I was lonely, so eventually I ran out of excuses as to why my life was a mess,” she added. “There’s all these conjectures and this thinking that pot’s not addictive, so as an addict I latched onto that. Then I get to MA and I hear the stories and I see the recovery and I say OK, I will give this a shot. And things went much better.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Marijuana Addiction On The Rise

    Marijuana Addiction On The Rise

    Around 9% of marijuana users become addicted and the government is having a tough time convincing people that marijuana addiction is real. 

    In Northern California, addiction treatment practitioners are reporting a higher demand for help with marijuana addiction, especially among adolescents.

    Many believe that marijuana is not addictive, though there are plenty of people that have struggled and are currently struggling with marijuana use disorder.

    Marijuana addiction is very real, even if it less common or life-threatening than addictions to alcohol (15% of users become addicted) and heroin (24%), according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science. 

    Around 9% of marijuana users become addicted and about 17% of those who begin using in adolescence become addicted, according to the Denver Post.

    In San Rafael, California experts are seeing higher rates of marijuana addiction. According to the Post, “some say the normalization of America’s marijuana culture got its start” there, while treatment practitioners for addiction are struggling to identify why more pot smokers are struggling.

    “There should be no controversy about the existence of marijuana addiction,” said David Smith, a physician who has been treating addiction since the 1960s. “We see it every day. The controversy should be why it appears to be affecting more people.”

    Dr. Smith, a visiting physician at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, a treatment center for boys, wonders in The Denver Post if the potency of the marijuana is causing higher levels of addiction.

    “Back in the day when kids were sitting around smoking a joint, the THC levels found in marijuana averaged from 2 to 4%,” Smith said. “That’s what most parents think is going on today. And that’s why society thinks marijuana is harmless.”

    Currently, marijuana is more potent than ever before. The Denver Post notes that selective marijuana breeding has created an average potency of 20% THC, while other strains are 30% or higher. In addition, marijuana concentrates and extracts have risen in popularity and have THC levels anywhere from 40% to over 80%, according to marijuana industry promotional information and DEA reports.

    People with marijuana use disorder are not immune to withdrawal symptoms when they quit using. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) lists marijuana withdrawal symptoms as irritability, lethargy, anxiety, restlessness and low appetite, as well as stomach pain, shakiness, fever, chills, and headache.

    The National Cannabis Industry Association’s chief spokesman, Morgan Fox, told The Denver Post he’s not surprised the federal government cannot convince people that addiction to marijuana is real.

    “It’s their own fault,” he said of the government. “When people find out they’ve been lied to by the federal government about the relative harms of marijuana for decades, they are much less likely to believe anything they have to say going forward, even if that information is accurate.”

    Fox told The Denver Post that the National Cannabis Industry Association has no disagreement with the finding that 9% of people who use marijuana become addicted.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Marijuana's Unknown Health Impact Leaves Experts Concerned

    Marijuana's Unknown Health Impact Leaves Experts Concerned

    The drug’s Schedule I designation has limited research on the effects of cannabis and one expert says this is cause for major concern.

    Sixty-one percent of Americans now believe that marijuana should be legalized, but one expert says that among growing acceptance of the drug, people need to remain aware that cannabis can cause real health concerns. 

    “It’s a giant experiment,” Christian Hopfer, a professor of psychiatry at University of Colorado School of Medicine, told The New York Post. 

    Hopfer, who voted against recreational cannabis legalization in Colorado, is co-leading a $5.5 million study of 5,000 sets of twins funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The study will examine the impact that legalization of cannabis has on mental health and substance use, as well as giving information on how using marijuana affects health. 

    Despite the fact that research on the effects of cannabis has been limited by the drug’s Schedule I designation, Hopfer says that some health consequences have been well-established.

    “Smoke a couple times a day and marijuana will knock off your memory. That is pretty certain,” he said. 

    He rebuked the claim that people will use marijuana whether it is legal or not. 

    “There is no question that legalization has a normalizing effect on something that used to be against the law,” he said. “By age 21, 98% of the population has had a drink. But only 10% of the population has tried cocaine, and 50% [have] tried marijuana.” 

    Hopfer is particularly concerned about the fact that teens could become exposed to marijuana more frequently, despite the fact that other research has shown no increase in teen marijuana use when the drug is legalized. Though a recent study found that while teens are abstaining from drug use, when they do decide to use, they are choosing marijuana as their first drug.

    However, teens who do use the drug face severe consequences, said Hopfer.  

    “If you start smoking pot as a teenager, you have a four times higher likelihood of getting addicted,” he said. “The brain of a teenager is more sensitive to the effects than the brain of an adult would be. [Marijuana] is likely to have a more detrimental effect on kids.”

    Despite claims that marijuana is not addictive, an estimated three million Americans have marijuana use disorder, he added.

    “You can’t stop and you give up other things to keep using,” Hopfer says. “People go to work stoned and are stoned with their loved ones. Performance in life and on the job both get negatively impacted.”

    Another public health risk associated with marijuana occurs on the road. In Colorado, marijuana-involved traffic fatalities have doubled since the drug was legalized, according to the Denver Post. In general, states with legal marijuana have about 3% more traffic accidents reported to insurance companies than states where cannabis is prohibited. 

    View the original article at thefix.com