Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines: A Comprehensive Update of Evidence and Recommendations

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Cannabis use is common in North America, especially among young people, and is associated with a risk of various acute and chronic adverse health outcomes. Cannabis control regimes are evolving, for example toward a national legalisation policy in Canada, with the aim to improve public health, and thus require evidence-based interventions. As cannabis-related health outcomes may be influenced by behaviors that are modifiable by the user, evidence-based Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines (LRCUG)-akin to similar guidelines in other health fields-offer a valuable, targeted prevention tool to improve public health outcomes.

Drug-Herb Interactions in the Elderly Patient with IBD: a Growing Concern

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes conditions such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is becoming more prevalent with the elderly being the fastest growing group. Parallel to this, there is an increasing interest in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Nearly half of patients with IBD have used CAM at one time. The elderly patients, however, are burdened by comorbid conditions, polypharmacy, and altered functional status. With increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine in our elderly patients with IBD, it is vital for the provider to provide counsel on drug-herb potential interactions. The herbs discussed include cannabis sativa (marijuana, THC).

Training and Practices of Cannabis Dispensary Staff

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The proliferation of cannabis dispensaries within the United States has emerged from patient demand for the legalisation of cannabis as an alternative treatment for a number of conditions and symptoms. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the practices of dispensary staff with respect to recommendation of cannabis strains/concentrations for specific patient ailments. To address this limitation, the present study assessed the training and practices of cannabis dispensary staff. Findings underscore the importance of consistent, evidence-based, training of dispensary staff who provide specific recommendations for patient medical conditions.

The Endogenous Cannabinoid System: A Budding Source of Targets for Treating Inflammatory and Neuropathic Pain

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A great need exists for the development of new medications to treat pain resulting from various disease states and types of injury. Given that the endogenous cannabinoid (ie, endocannabinoid) system modulates neuronal and immune cell function, both of which play key roles in pain, therapeutics targeting this system hold promise as novel analgesics. Emerging clinical studies show that ‘medicinal’ cannabis or cannabinoid-based medications relieve pain in human diseases, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, and fibromyalgia.

The Clinical Significance of Endocannabinoids in Endometriosis Pain Management

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Patients with endometriosis often suffer from diffuse and poorly localised severe pain. The current pain management strategies include medical and hormonal therapy, as well as surgery. Medical management of pain is often insufficient and is associated with high rate of recurrence. Better pain management is therefore of urgent need. Among the various candidates, the endocannabinoid system (ECS) has recently emerged as a relevant pharmacological target for the management of endometriosis-related pain.

Cannabis as a Substitute for Opioid-Based Pain Medication: Patient Self-Report

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Prescription drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Alternatives to opioids for the treatment of pain are necessary to address this issue. Cannabis can be an effective treatment for pain, greatly reduces the chance of dependence, and eliminates the risk of fatal overdose compared to opioid-based medications. Future research should track clinical outcomes where cannabis is offered as a viable substitute for pain treatment and examine the outcomes of using cannabis as a medication assisted treatment for opioid dependence.

Cannabinoids, inflammation, and fibrosis

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Cannabinoids apparently act on inflammation through mechanisms different from those of agents such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). As a class, the cannabinoids are generally free from the adverse effects associated with NSAIDs. Their clinical development thus provides a new approach to treatment of diseases characterised by acute and chronic inflammation and fibrosis. Thus, several cannabinoids may be considered candidates for development as anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic agents.

Role of cannabis in digestive disorders

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Cannabis sativa, a subspecies of the Cannabis plant, contains aromatic hydrocarbon compounds called cannabinoids. [INCREMENT]-Tetrahydrocannabinol is the most abundant cannabinoid and is the main psychotropic constituent. Cannabinoids activate two types of G-protein-coupled cannabinoid receptors: cannabinoid type 1 receptor and cannabinoid type 2 receptor. There has been ongoing interest and development in research to explore the therapeutic potential of cannabis. [INCREMENT]-Tetrahydrocannabinol exerts biological functions on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Cannabis has been used for the treatment of GI disorders such as abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Cannabis use in people with Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis: A web-based investigation

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Cannabis has been used for medicinal purpose for thousands of years; however the positive and negative effects of cannabis use in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are mostly unknown.Our aim was to assess cannabis use in PD and MS and compare results of self-reported assessments of neurological disability between current cannabis users and non-users. Further studies using clinically and longitudinally assessed measurements of these domains are needed to establish if these associations are causal and determine the long-term benefits and consequences of cannabis use in people with PD and MS.