Posts

Medical Cannabis in Parkinson Disease: Real-Life Patients’ Experience.

Authors: Yacov Balash, Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider, Amos Korczyn, Herzel Shabtai, Judith Knaani, et al
Clinical Neuropharmacology, November/December 2017

BACKGROUND: The use of medical cannabis (MC) is controversial. Support for its benefits is based on small clinical series. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to report the results of a standardized interview study that retrospectively assessed the effects of MC on symptoms o…

Physicians-in-training are not prepared to prescribe medical marijuana.

Authors: Anastasia B. Evanoff, Tiffany Quan, Carolyn Dufault, Michael Awad, Laura Jean Bierut
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 1 November 2017

BACKGROUND: While medical marijuana use is legal in more than half of U.S. states, evidence is limited about the preparation of physicians-in-training to prescribe medical marijuana. We asked whether current medical school and graduate medical educational training prepare phys…

Cannabinoids in treatment-resistant epilepsy: A review.

Authors: Brooke K. O’Connell, David Gloss, Orrin Devinsky
Epilepsy & Behavior, May 2017

Treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) affects 30% of epilepsy patients and is associated with severe morbidity and increased mortality. Cannabis-based therapies have been used to treat epilepsy for millennia, but only in the last few years have we begun to collect data from adequ…

Using Medical Cannabis in an Oncology Practice

Authors: Donald I. Abrams
Oncology, May 2016

As oncologists, we treat patients who have devastating diagnoses with potent therapies. Hence, we demand solid evidence before recommending any intervention. Unfortunately, when it comes to supporting the use of cannabis in clinical situations, we are frustrated by a dearth of…

Marijuana Use in Epilepsy: The Myth and the Reality.

Authors: Kamil Detyniecki, Lawrence Hirsch
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, October 2015

Marijuana has been utilized as a medicinal plant to treat a variety of conditions for nearly five millennia. Over the past few years, there has been an unprecedented interest in using cannabis extracts to treat epilepsy, spurred on by a few refractory pediatric cases featured…

Medical marijuana laws and adolescent marijuana use in the USA from 1991 to 2014: results from annual, repeated cross-sectional surveys.

Authors: Deborah S. Hasin, Melanie Wall, Katherine M. Keyes, Magdalena Cerdá, John Schulenberg, et al
The Lancet Psychiatry, July 2015

BACKGROUND: Adolescent use of marijuana is associated with adverse later effects, so the identification of factors underlying adolescent use is of substantial public health importance. The relationship between US state laws that permit marijuana for medical purposes and adoles…

Cannabinoid Dose and Label Accuracy in Edible Medical Cannabis Products.

Authors: Ryan Vandrey, Jeffrey C. Raber, Mark E. Raber, Brad Douglass, Cameron Miller, Marcel O. Bonn-Miller
JAMA, 23 June 2015

As the use of cannabis (marijuana) for medical purposes has expanded, a variety of edible products for oral consumption has been developed. An estimated 16% to 26% of patients using medical cannabis consume edible products.1,2 Even though oral consumption lacks the harmful by-…

Medical Marijuana for Treatment of Chronic Pain and Other Medical and Psychiatric Problems: A Clinical Review.

Authors: Kevin P. Hill
JAMA, 23 June 2015

IMPORTANCE: As of March 2015, 23 states and the District of Columbia had medical marijuana laws in place. Physicians should know both the scientific rationale and the practical implications for medical marijuana laws. OBJECTIVE: To review the pharmacology, indications, and law…

Cannabinoids for Medical Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Authors: Penny F. Whiting, Robert F. Wolff, Sohan Deshpande, Marcello Di Nisio, Steven Duffy, et al
JAMA, 23 June 2015

IMPORTANCE: Cannabis and cannabinoid drugs are widely used to treat disease or alleviate symptoms, but their efficacy for specific indications is not clear. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review of the benefits and adverse events (AEs) of cannabinoids. DATA SOURCES: Twenty…

Medical Marijuana: Is the Cart Before the Horse?

Authors: Deepak Cyril D’Souza, Mohini Ranganathan
JAMA, 23 June 2015

There is a pressing need to develop new medications for many debilitating conditions. Novel approaches based on marijuana or its constituent cannabinoids, if proven, could be added to the armamentarium of available treatments. In this issue of JAMA, reviews by Whiting et al1 a…

Controlled Cannabis Vaporizer Administration: Blood and Plasma Cannabinoids with and without Alcohol.

Authors: Rebecca L. Hartman, Timothy L. Brown, Gary Milavetz, Andrew Spurgin, et al
Clinical Chemistry, June 2015

BACKGROUND: Increased medical and legal cannabis intake is accompanied by greater use of cannabis vaporization and more cases of driving under the influence of cannabis. Although simultaneous Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and alcohol use is frequent, potential pharmacokineti…

Use of Prescription Pain Medications Among Medical Cannabis Patients

Authors: Brian E. Perron, Kipling Bohnert, Angela K. Perone, Marcel O. Bonn-Miller, Mark Ilgen
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2015

OBJECTIVE: Management of chronic pain is one of the most common reasons given by individuals seeking medical cannabis. However, very little information exists about the concurrent use of cannabis and prescription pain medication (PPM). This study fills this gap in knowledge by…