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Compound in Marijuana Prevents Chemotherapy Side Effect

Aug 14

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Researchers at the Temple University School of Pharmacy reported that nerve pain that results as a side effect of the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel can be prevented by cannabidiol, a compound in the marijuana plant.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is the second most commonly occurring compound in the cannabinoid family (the group of medicinal compounds in the cannabis plant). Cannabidiol has many proven medical benefits, including anti-inflammatory, anti-anxiety, anti-convulsant, and anti-psychotic properties. It also has been shown to reduce muscle spasms, promotes sleep and helps to relieve pain. It is non-psychoactive, that is, it does not contribute to the “high” that one experiences with the use of cannabis that is due to the compound THC.

In a recent study published in the July issue of the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia, investigators studied the effect that CBD had on a particularly difficult side effect of the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel (brand name Taxol or Abraxane). Paclitaxel is used to treat patients with lung cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer and advanced forms of Kaposi’s sarcoma. A common side effect of paclitaxel (in up to two-thirds of patients receiving it) is peripheral neuropathy, damage to the nerves in the body that causes pain, numbness, tingling, sensitivity to touch and/or muscle weakness. Often when this side effect occurs, paclitaxel doses must be lowered or it must be stopped altogether, interfering with the cancer treatment.

In this study, it was shown that female mice (who appeared to be more sensitive to this side effect than male mice) who received treatment with cannabidiol did not develop paclitaxel-induced nerve pain. Let’s hope that this research continues and that CBD can be tested in humans. It is amazing that a well-known side effect can be PREVENTED (not just treated after it happens!) with a natural medicine in marijuana. All of those opposed to marijuana and marijuana research need to open their eyes to the SCIENCE of cannabis!

CBD is currently studied in labs all over the world, as it is recognized as a medicinal compound with tremendous potential. Unfortunately, much of the cannabis that is available for medical marijuana patients in legal states is low in its content of CBD. As more people become aware of the medicinal properties of CBD, plants with higher CBD content will hopefully be more available.

Study citation: Ward SJ, Ramirez MD, Neelakantan H, et al. Cannabidiol Prevents the Development of Cold and Mechanical Allodynia in Paclitaxel-Treated Female C57Bl6 Mice. Anesth Analg 2011 Jul 7.

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Medical Marijuana: Pros and Cons

Jun 27

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According to the National Institute of Health, when medical marijuana is consumed properly, patients could find relief from a number of medical conditions:

  1. Marijuana is an excellent analgesia for chronic pain due to a variety of conditions.
  2. It controls nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy.
  3. It helps with neuralgic and movement disorders, such as muscle spasticity and seizures.
  4. Bon appètit! Marijuana stimulates appetite and relieves Cachexia (the physical wasting away of AIDS and cancer sufferers).
  5. The drug decreases intraocular pressure inside the eyeball for relief of glaucoma.
  6. Marijuana has sedative effects to reduce anxiety and depression.

 

Adverse Effects

All medicines, regardless of how effective they may be, will have some side effects. Marijuana is no exception. It releases chemicals in the nervous system that causes patients to temporarily experience impairment of motor skills, slower reaction time and physical coordination which may last for hours after consumption. In addition, patients should not drive, operate heavy machinery or engage in any activity which requires alertness while using medical cannabis.

When marijuana is inhaled, patients might experience Tachycardia (faster heart beat) and heart palpitations.  The chemicals in marijuana, THC and other cannabinoids, may cause blood vessels to dilate and can cause problems for those with cardiovascular disease. Conversely, marijuana may also cause blood pressure to drop and create dizziness for some people.

Long Term Effects

Although some researchers have shown that there are minimal long-term effects with marijuana usage, continual use of the drug may cause some mood disturbances, depression, and apathy, even in apparently healthy individuals. For those reasons, it is highly recommended for patients to have an intermission with the drug for at least 3 weeks every 3-4 months. The purpose of the intermission is to assist patients to distinguish side effects of marijuana from possible symptoms of any underlying illness.

Patients may experience possible withdrawal syndrome associated with discontinuance of marijuana use after as little as a week. Withdrawal syndrome, nonetheless, is uncommon and is not found in the majority of users. Furthermore, the body does not become physically dependent on marijuana. Signs showing possible withdrawal syndrome are mood swings, insomnia, irritability, and mild depression. The apathy associated with marijuana use could contribute to other conditions such as social isolation, generalized anxiety disorder, and obesity.

To learn more about becoming a legal medical marijuana patient, please visit http://www.thecannabisdoctors.com or call us at 626-344-7596 to schedule a confidential evaluation.

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MARIJUANA REFORM ADVOCATES CALL FOR A SAFER ALTERNATIVE TO ALCOHOL FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY

Mar 17

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WHEN: St. Patrick’s Day, Thursday, March 17th, 2011 at high noon
WHERE: City Hall Park – Broadway between Park Place and Barclay (east side)
WHO: Empire State NORML and numerous speakers (see list below):
WHAT: Rally and Press Conference

On March 17th (St. Patrick’s Day) at high noon, Empire State NORML (the New York State chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)) will remind New Yorkers that marijuana is a safer alternative to alcohol for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

“While scores of New Yorkers are out getting hammered, we want to remind the Big Apple that there is a safer, greener and cleaner choice for adults: marijuana,” said Doug Greene, Legislative Director of Empire State NORML, who organized the event for the first time in 2010.

“In an era of budget cuts and worsening public health, why is the Bloomberg administration driving New Yorkers to drink while spending tens of millions of dollars per year arresting peaceful, healthy cannabis consumers? New York City made over 50,000 marijuana possession arrests last year alone, and over 500,000 since 1996,” said Greene.

Marijuana arrests are 15% of all arrests in New York City. The NYPD is now jailing people for marijuana possession at the rate of nearly 1,000 arrests a week. With 2.7% of the U.S. population, New York City represents 6% of nationwide marijuana arrests.

Greene was first inspired to organize “Marijuana is SAFER” events after reading the book of the same name (subtitled “So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?), co-authored by Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director of NORML, by Mason Tvert, Executive Director of SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation) and by Steve Fox, Director of State Campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Speakers include:

· Dr. Julie Holland, a nationally recognized authority on drugs and drug safety, who has appeared multiple times on Today. She is the author of “Weekends at Bellevue” (which may be coming to TV on Fox this fall ) and editor of “The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis” and “Ecstasy: The Complete Guide.”

· Dr. Harry Levine, Professor of Sociology at CUNY Queens College, the co–author of the NYCLU report “Marijuana Arrest Crusade: Racial Bias and Police Policy in New York City, 1997-2007.” He is also the co–author of a new report on the costs of New York City’s marijuana arrests, which will be released on March 15 by the Drug Policy Alliance.

· Tony Newman, Director of Media Relations for the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the nation’s leading organization calling for alternatives to the drug war and policies based on science, compassion, health, and human rights.

· Daniel Jabbour, New York State Coordinator for Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), an international grassroots network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is failing our generation and our society.

· Chris Goldstein, Board Member, NORML-NJ/Coalition for Medical Marijuana-NJ (CMM-NJ). Chris is a radio broadcaster and marijuana advocate. Chris is considered an expert on the topic of marijuana and can comment on New Jersey and national issues regarding cannabis.

CONTACTS: Rev. Jay Goldstein – Executive Director – Empire State NORML at (212) 473-2486 or jay@empirestatenorml.com; Doug Greene – Legislative Director – Empire State NORML at (516) 242-4666 or doug@empirestatenorml.com

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Marijuana cures cancer – US government has known since 1974 « Patients for Medical Cannabis

Feb 11

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Marijuana cures cancer – US government has known since 1974 « Patients for Medical Cannabis.

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Marijuana Compounds Hold Promise In Treatment Of Cardiovascular Diseases

Feb 11

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Article from Hadassah Southern California Blog

Jerusalem, Israel–(ENEWSPF)–February 4, 2011.  The active constituents in marijuana influence the cardiovascular system and hold promise in the management of certain cardiovascular diseases, including arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and ischemia, according to a scientific review appearing in the journal Cardiovascular Therapeutics.

Investigators at the Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Israel and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston assessed preclinical data on cannabinoids and their role in various cardiovascular pathologies.

They reported: “[T]he endocannabinoid system has a physiological role in the cardiovascular systems. This system is involved in modulating cardiac inflammatory processes, maintaining hemodynamic homeostasis and rhythm control. It is not surprising, therefore, that cannabinoids offers intervention opportunities to alter the course of cardiovascular diseases. Such is the case in ischemic reperfusion injuries, where there is evidence that activating the cannabinoid system may prevent ischemic injuries and arrhythmia. Such is the case in the rhythm control mechanisms, where a few studies indicate potential antiarrhythmic properties for cannabinoids, and such is the case in heart failure.”

Authors concluded, “The evidence of a potential role for cannabinoid in various cardiovascular pathologies, together with the safety data gleaned from various human intervention studies, indicate that now is the time to show efficacy across species and continue toward human trials.”

Article originally available at  http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/health-and-fitness/21584-marijuana-compounds-hold-promise-in-treatment-of-cardiovascular-diseases.html

Full text of the study, “The potential for clinical use of cannabinoids in treatment of cardiovascular diseases,” appears in the journal Cardiovascular Therapeutics <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-5922.2010.00233.x/abstract>

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Dr. Mitch Earleywine Ph.D. responds to latest “marijuana causes early psychoses” claim

Feb 11

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Every Wednesday on NORML SHOW LIVE, Dr. Mitch Earleywine joins us to discuss the latest research in cannabis and to take live calls and chat questions from listeners on marijuana culture, history, medicine, and science.  He is a member of the NORML Advisory Board and his research has been published in over fifty scientific journals on drugs and addiction.  He is the author of Understanding Marijuana, Pot Politics, and Parents’ Guide to Marijuana, and a professor of psychology at SUNY Albany.  We asked Dr. Mitch his opinions of the latest meta-analysis on cannabis and schizophrenia.

Download full interview at http://audio.norml.org/events/Dr. Mitch Earleywine – Latest Cannabis Psychoses Bunk.mp3

NORML SHOW LIVE: The headlines are out there – CNN, WebMD, NPR, every little bit of alphabet soup out there on the cable channels and the news – is trumpeting this headline, this study – Matthew Large, I believe, is the lead researcher on this – from Prince of Wales Hospital in New South Wales Australia says quote:

“It is increasingly clear that marijuana is a cause of schizophrenia and that schizophrenia caused by cannabis starts earlier than schizophrenia with other causes.”

DR. MITCH EARLEYWINE:  Alas, no.  There are no new data – I want to emphasize that – this is a meta-analysis, which means it takes the studies that were already out there and tries to combine them mathematically to make sense of it all.  What you’re not hearing in the media is that in fact, this is probably early-onset folks self-medicating.

You can imagine somebody who is experiencing some symptoms of psychosis, particularly folks with less access to medical care, or folks who are already a little bit paranoid because of the disorder and they’re unwilling to go to a physician.  They hear their friends are using cannabis and enjoying it.  They do it, too, they notice some mild improvements in their symptoms, they turn to it later when they have a psychotic break.   What a surprise, [the researchers] say, “they smoked cannabis first, that’s the big issue.”

What burns my ass is that this same journal a month before had another article failing to replicate this data where we find folks with a special genetic risk and if they’re heavily involved with cannabis early in life they’re more likely to develop schizophrenia.  So all this malarkey about, “oh, if you’re a genetic risk then you’re really gonna get it” isn’t showing up in other data sets.  The media isn’t covering that in the least.

The other finding in this big meta-analysis is that early onset of psychosis showed up for folks who were using drugs more generally – not just cannabis – and this makes much more sense pharmacologically.  When you think about cocaine, amphetamine, and other drugs that work directly in the dopamine system, that’s the system that schizophrenia is all about.  And what a surprise, these folks are more likely to have an early onset.

I’m concerned that the cannabis-related studies are really spurious and they’re compounded by  use of amphetamines, Ritalin, Adderall, all these other stimulant drugs that people were – particularly in Australia – unwilling to fess up to, but more than willing to say they used cannabis.  We’ve got a big problem here.

As we’ve seen time and again none of us want children to have access to cannabis. And the way to get that access limited is, of course, not an underground market that never cards anybody, but a taxed and regulated one, where folks that are too young to be experimenting with this and folks who have psychosis in the family can be markedly more advised and essentially educated before they even purchase the plant.

NSL: Matthew Large, this researcher here, even addressed what we just discussed about the self-medication; he said, quote:

“There is not so much evidence for the widely-held view those patients self-medicate with marijuana.  Marijuana smoking almost always comes before psychosis and few patients with psychosis start smoking marijuana for the first time.”

Is this a case then where they’re just defining psychosis as their starting point of looking at these people rather than the onset of symptoms that would pre-date or pre-sage the psychosis that’s about to come?

DR. MITCH: That’s it exactly, Russ, and as we’ve mentioned in the past what often happens is they find a big record of people who’ve had psychotic breaks and then go back and see if they’ve reported cannabis earlier.  But we have very poor assessments of these potential psychotic symptoms before these people used cannabis and the few studies that do do that, the measures are slightly biased against cannabis users.

I’ve pointed out in the past one of the big questionnaires for this – a schizotypal personality questionnaire – has an item that says “I use words in strange and unusual ways.” Well, sure, schizophrenics certainly do that.  They make words up; that’s part of the way that you manifest the diagnosis.  But we also have a whole subculture here where people are “kickin’ back with the chronic at 420.”  Well, what a surprise, people who do that may say “I use words in a strange and unusual ways.”  In my dataset when you drop that item out, suddenly the link between schizotypy and cannabis use disappears. I’m concerned there are comparable problems in these other datasets.

NSL: One of the things we’ve always said in these pieces with you and I talking about this is how worldwide the rates of schizophrenia and psychosis seemed to stay stable at about 1% of the population, even if that population starts smoking a whole lot of weed – if a lot of them start smoking or if they start smoking a lot of it – doesn’t matter is still stays the same.

But one of the hypotheses they have here is that, “Yeah, sure, there’s a certain 1% that are gonna get psychosis but these 1% are gonna get it earlier and then they’d have these extra two or three years of psychosis-free functioning that they would be losing out of because of their use of marijuana.”

My first thought on that is if this were the case, wouldn’t we see a lowering of the median age of psychosis onset when we have higher use of cannabis in a society?

DR. MITCH: In fact, Wayne Hall in Australia has made this same suggestion and they have yet to detect this change in the median age of first onset. But he’s suggesting that some new data are going to reveal that in the current younger cohort, this is the case.  I haven’t seen those data yet and I’m a little concerned.  In part we go to so much effort now to try to identify psychosis earlier that it seems like if that is the case, it may be simply that we are better at identifying psychotic disorders than we were 20 years ago, so we have this other potential confound.  And as Paul [Armentano] has emphasized time and again, we do have a subset of folks who really respond well to cannabis-based medicines in controlling psychotic episodes, and I think it may be a cannabidiol issue where Project CBD may be able to help us isolate who might be helped and who might not from this.

And then, of course, that fits that self-medication hypothesis better.  I feel like the critique of that self-medication that they offer in this meta-analysis is premature, in part because of how poorly we assess psychotic symptoms prior to anyone’s cannabis use.

NSL: What is the actual risk to people who have a history of mental illness or who feel they may have a certain mental illness and how they should entertain the notion of using cannabis to treat themselves?

DR. MITCH: In fact, cannabis is rarely my first choice for any of the more common mental illnesses. So we’ve talked before about depression, anxiety, and PTSD.  With depression, cannabis may help a subset of folks.  A number of my friends who’re in clinical practice say that the people who are using it are having more troubles in their practice.  But that may be a different subset.

But my first line of defense – it really sounds corny – but kind of a bibliotherapy.  Educate yourself about depression. If you have a mental health center that you appreciate, 12 weeks of good hard work, of taking a look at your own faults, how you behave during the day, the way you frame the events in your life; that can last a lifetime in the treatment of depression.  And then cannabis is just to enjoy, not something you have to lean on in order to make sure you have a happy day.

With anxiety, I’ve done this both on Facebook to some of our friends and repeatedly in emails and my published work.  Anxiety is one of the psychological disorders that psychology really has mastered. If folks again are willing to go see a therapist for a good couple of months and really put some effort in, you can literally tame this kind of thing and make it so anxiety is no longer debilitating, and then suddenly your cannabis again is just for fun.  The idea that cannabis is actually going to help anxiety is very dose-dependent, very strain-dependent, and not the most efficient way to get at this.

PTSD, I just got those new data on that.  A ton of people think that cannabis helps some of the symptoms of PTSD.  I completely believe them.  But compared to these exposure-based treatments – which I know are a drag – [cannabis] is not going to last a lifetime the way that that kind of treatment can, and then again cannabis is just for fun.  It doesn’t have to be for medication and you’re less likely to have these lingering symptoms of the emotional numbing, the distancing from your family, or these kind of freaking-out experiences when you’re in a big crowd.  And then, what a surprise, you basically worked hard for three months and kicked this disorder rather than felt like “I have to lean on cannabis for the rest of my life.”

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What Do You Know? The Drug Czar Is Lying Again

Feb 11

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Earlier this week Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske sat down for a face-to-face interview with The Daily Caller’s Mike Riggs. (Riggs is the Daily Caller reporter who yesterday broke the story regarding the DEA’s plans to reschedule plant-derived THC while keeping the actual plant illegal.)

Riggs asked the Czar some tough questions, including this one specific to medical cannabis: “You’ve said before that you don’t see medical benefits to smoked marijuana and also that the jury is still out on medical marijuana. What sort of scientific consensus does the ONDCP require? How many studies have to come out arguing for medical benefits? What do you need to see?”

The Czar’s reply? “[Y]ou know there are over 100 groups doing marijuana research, and they’re getting their marijuana from the University of Mississippi. There are several things in clinical trials right now. So we’ll just have to wait for those.”

To which I reply ‘Bulls–t!’

As I write today on Alternet.org, a review of the U.S. National Institutes of Health website clinicaltrials.gov shows that there are presently only six FDA-approved trials taking place anywhere in the world involving subjects’ use of actual cannabis. Of these, two are completed, one is assessing the plant’s pharmacokinetics, and one is assessing pot’s alleged harms.

Memo to the Drug Czar: That leaves a grand total of — not “over 100″ — but rather just two ongoing clinical trials to assess the medical efficacy of cannabis. You sir, are a liar (but then again, I suppose we all knew that already).

Pot May Be Instrumental in Combating Cancer, MS and Other Diseases But the Gov’t Refuses to Fund the Necessary Research

via Alternet

[excerpt] A review of the U.S. National Institutes of Health website clinicaltrials.gov shows that NIDA’s kibosh on medical marijuana trials continues unabated. Though a search of ongoing FDA-approved clinical trials using the keyword ‘cannabinoids’ (the active components in marijuana) yields 65 worldwide hits, only six involve subjects’ use of actual cannabis. (The others involve the use of synthetic cannabinoid agonists like dronabinol or nabilone, the commercially marketed marijuana extract Sativex, or the cannabinoid receptor blocking agent Rimonabant.)

Of the six, two of the studies are already completed: ‘Opioid and Cannabinoid Pharmacokinetic Interactions‘ and ‘Vaporization as a Smokeless Cannabis Delivery System,’ both of which were spearheaded by researchers (primarily Dr. Donald Abrams) at the University of California at San Francisco.

The four remaining studies are still in the ‘recruitment’ phase. Of these, only two pertain to the potential medical use of cannabis: ‘Cannabis for Spasticity of Multiple Sclerosis,’ which is taking place at the University of California at Davis and is likely the final clinical trial associated with the soon-to-be-defunct/defunded California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, and ‘Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease,’ led by researchers at the Meir Medical Center in Israel.

Of the remaining studies, one focuses on the detection of cannabinoids and their metabolites on drug screens, while the other, entitled ‘Effects of Smoked Marijuana on Risk Taking and Decision Making Tasks,’ seeks to establish pot-related harms — hypothesizing that subjects “demonstrate poorer decision-making abilities and increased risk-taking behaviors” after smoking marijuana.

You can read the full interview with Drug Czar Kerlikowske here.

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Medical Marijuana May Help Fibromyalgia Pain

Dec 15

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Lynda, a 48-year-old mother of three who lives in upstate New York, was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2000. While there are prescription medications for fibromyalgia, she’s found one unconventional drug—marijuana—that really does the trick.

“I would use [marijuana] when the burning pains started down my spine or my right arm, and shortly after, I found I could continue with housework and actually get more done,” says Lynda.

Fibromyalgia is notoriously difficult to treat and only 35%–40% of people with the chronic pain condition get relief from the available medications. Although there are strong opinions surrounding its use, some patients are trying marijuana—legally or illegally—and finding it can help fibromyalgia pain.

“My patients are asking me all the time about it,” says Stuart Silverman, MD, a clinical professor of medicine and rheumatology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in Los Angeles. “Historically and anecdotally, marijuana has been used as a painkiller.”

Why marijuana sometimes helps
Our bodies naturally make pain relievers called endorphins, but they also make other substances that can trigger pain relief in the so-called endocannabinoid system. This system seems to play a key role in many processes in the body, including modulating how we feel pain. Marijuana contains cannabinoids very similar to those that occur in the body naturally.

Fibromyalgia patients typically experience body-wide pain, but they must often take multiple drugs for other symptoms, which can include difficulty sleeping, restless legs syndrome, depression, and anxiety. However, marijuana may treat multiple symptoms, and some patients are seeing results.

It seems logical—why shouldn’t fibromyalgia sufferers try marijuana for their symptoms, if they live in a state where medical marijuana is legal?

But there are two problems with herbal cannabis, Dr. Silverman and other critics say: It’s a complex natural substance that contains about 60 different compounds with potentially medicinal effects, some of which may interact with one another. The other problem is that the amount of these various compounds may vary by batch, as marijuana is not synthesized but grown.

While Dr. Silverman says he has great hopes that synthetic medicines based on individual compounds in cannabis may one day help fibromyalgia patients (after appropriate randomized controlled clinical trials have been done), he argues that the real thing today is just too inconsistent.

“We think that there’s probably a role for that class of compounds, the cannabinoids in general, and it’s just a question of working out how that’s going to be put into practice,” says Mark Ware, MD, an assistant professor in family medicine and anesthesia at McGill University, in Montreal, and the executive director of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids.

Drugs derived from marijuana
Dr. Ware recently published a study showing that one such compound, nabilone (Cesamet), helped fibromyalgia patients sleep better. It was more effective than amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant often prescribed to fibromyalgia patients to ease pain and improve sleep. And a study published a couple of years ago found nabilone helped lessen pain and anxiety in fibromyalgia patients.

Nabilone is a synthetic analog of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol—THC for short—often thought of as the active ingredient of cannabis. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug back in 1985 for treating nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

The only other cannabis-based drug now on the market in the U.S. is dronabinol, which is sold as Marinol in the U.S. and is FDA-approved for treating chemo-related nausea and vomiting. It hasn’t been tested formally in fibromyalgia patients, although Lynda received a prescription for Marinol in 2006.

“The drug makes me more tired and doesn’t last long enough in my system, but I’ve stuck with it since then for two basic reasons—I do supplement with marijuana, just not as many times per day,” she says. “There are times that I don’t use all day or week or month.”

A third cannabis-based medicine, Sativex, is now in clinical trials in the United States for treating cancer pain. The drug is sprayed under the tongue or into the cheek, and contains THC and cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis that eases inflammation and pain and may also reduce the side effects of THC (like anxiety, hunger production, and some of the intoxicating properties), as well as a number of other compounds (other cannabinoids and terpenoids, which are analgesics in their own rights).

But do they help?
“It is quite possible that cannabis-based medicines could be helpful for sufferers of fibromyalgia based on available science,” says Ethan Russo, MD, who is senior medical advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals, which makes Sativex, and a study physician for the U.S. clinical trials now underway for cancer treatment.

Dr. Russo says he’s hopeful Sativex will get FDA approval for treating cancer pain in 2013. “While a theoretical basis for Sativex potentially helping benefit fibromyalgia symptoms is quite strong, and we know it has been very helpful with neuropathic pain and sleep disturbance in many other conditions,” he adds, “it’s ultimate utility in fibromyalgia can only be proven in a meaningful, practical fashion through formal randomized clinical trials.”

For now, Dr. Ware says, patients with fibromyalgia who aren’t being helped by their existing treatment might want to discuss nabilone with their physician. “A lot of doctors just don’t know that these prescription cannabinoids exist,” he says.

However, these drugs have side effects too. “The most typical side effects are what I call the three D’s: drowsiness, dizziness, and dry mouth. It’s not euphoria as such,” he adds.

In Canada, federal law allows patients to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s support (they can’t prescribe marijuana because it’s not approved as a drug in Canada) of the patient’s application to possess; the drug is delivered directly to the patient, and grown under controlled conditions by the government.

“I have patients with a range of pain syndromes who have failed all their other treatments and for whom herbal cannabis has been the only reasonable option that they have that controls their symptoms,” Dr. Ware says. In such cases, he adds, he will help the patient obtain the card they need to authorize them to possess the drug.

But in the U.S., the legality of medical marijuana is determined state-by-state (it’s now legal in 14 states), and rules and regulations vary widely. (Get state-by-state information.) And while Attorney General Eric Holder said last year that he would no longer go after people who were selling or using medical marijuana legally, many users—and potential users—are fearful of the legal risks they may be taking.

“Licensed for use or not, it’s still a federal crime, says Dee, a 52-year-old medical assistant with fibromyalgia, who lives in Colorado, which passed a law allowing medical marijuana in 2000. While visiting a wellness center for therapeutic massages, staffers suggested she try marijuana for her symptoms.

After getting her doctor’s approval, “I tried a little of this and a little of that. I would say that most of the time my pain was not relieved,” although she did sleep better and had a better appetite. “I did find one plant that really did help, but it was hard to get, and you only get so much grown per plant for year.” So when the time came for Dee to get her state license to use medical marijuana (Colorado gives people 90 days), at a cost of $90 every year, “I let the ball drop.”

While Dee says she has no problem with medical marijuana, she is concerned about the increase of dispensaries across the state. “There are more places to purchase medical marijuana than banks or Mexican restaurants now,” she says.

In New York, the state assembly has approved medical marijuana legislation, and Lynda says she is working to support legalization efforts there. For now, legal or not, she is continuing to use marijuana.

“I would suggest to any ‘fibromyalgiac’ to try marijuana if they are open to it,” says Lynda. “I swore when I became a parent I would not touch weed again (ah, youth), but times have changed, and I was desperate to find something for the burning pain so I could function. I’m glad that I made this decision because it works for me.”

Lead writer: Anne Harding
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NorCal cities bring pot growing into the light

Nov 20

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OAKLAND, CA - JANUARY 28: Different kinds of ...
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As numerous cities get set to levy voter-approved taxes on medical marijuana retailers, some municipalities in Northern California are already moving aggressively toward creating government-sanctioned marijuana farms to help supply them.

Cities hope to rake in even more tax revenue from medical marijuana cultivation, which has remained in the shadows although it has been legal in the state since 1996.

On Monday, Oakland will begin the application process for four permits to run industrial-scale marijuana farms within city limits.

In Berkeley, a successful ballot measure to allow medical pot cultivation in industrial zones has would-be growers scrambling to score scarce real estate.

Farther north, the Sonoma County wine country town of Sebastopol passed an ordinance Tuesday allowing for the creation of two large gardens for medical marijuana dispensaries, and two more “collective” gardens where patients could grow their own.

In Eureka, the Humboldt County seat, a committee is taking applications for four medical marijuana cultivation and processing permits to serve as-yet-unopened dispensaries in the city.

All this is taking place even though the state’s medical marijauna laws require any businesses in the medical marijuana trade to operate as nonprofits — and even though the amount of marijuana these cities are authorizing growers to cultivate could net a typical drug trafficker decades in federal prison.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not return messages seeking comment on how the agency might respond if these city-approved operations actually started growing pot.

Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, who co-sponsored that city’s cultivation ordinance, said the DEA had contacted her office but only to request copies of the regulations and background materials. She said the agency advised her that they were conducting research into the ways various cities were handling medical marijuana regulation.

“I think that’s a very hopeful sign,” Kaplan said.

California voters earlier this month rejected a ballot proposition that would have legalized marijuana for recreational use, but the already thriving medical marijuana industry shows few signs of decline.

The state’s loose standards for medical marijuana use allow Californians to easily obtain a doctor’s recommendation for the drug. Yet the law provides little guidance for how patients or their caregivers can legally cultivate the drug, which has forced growers underground.

Oakland officials hoped to bring pot growing into the light and curtail the environmental damage, fire danger and crime associated with covert grow houses.

The City Council over the summer authorized four permits for large-scale growing. The permits would not set limits on the amount of pot that could be grown, but growers would have to implement environmental protections, security, labor standards, transparent finances and inventory tracking.

Permit holders would have to pay an annual $211,000 fee as well as a special higher tax rate levied on marijuana businesses by the city.

About 300 individuals and groups have expressed interest in obtaining cultivation or dispensary permits, city records show.

First on that list is Debby Goldsberry, a longtime fixture on the Northern California medical marijuana scene and a founder of Berkeley Patients Group, a pot dispensary in operation for more than 10 years.

Goldsberry said that two-thirds of her dispensary’s patients live in Oakland, indicating a a need for more medical marijuana outlets.

“As an Oakland resident, I’m very interested in expanding any industry that can help our city,” Goldsberry said.

Goldsberry also campaigned for Berkeley’s Measure T, which authorizes up to six 30,000-square-foot growing facilities in the city.

Also on Oakland’s list is a Boston-based company called Pharmasphere Systems. Chief executive David Darlington says the company is not interested in obtaining a permit for itself but in partnering with a grower who would use Pharmasphere’s indoor growing technology.

Right now, the only plant Pharmasphere grows is Madagascar periwinkle, which contains compounds used in chemotherapy to treat some kinds of cancer. But Darlington says the business opportunity presented by medical marijuana outweighs any stigma that might be attached to being associated with pot.

“We clearly think that the risk is manageable and that the market is potentially so large that you can’t ignore it,” he said.

How large? An economic analysis prepared for a nonprofit seeking one of the Oakland cultivation permits found that a 100,000 square-foot growing facility could generate up to $71 million in annual sales.

Under the city’s newly approved special 5 percent tax on medical marijuana businesses, sales from just that one facility would result in more than $3.5 million in additional tax revenue.

The report also estimates that the operation would create more than 370 jobs with an average annual salary of nearly $54,000.

Growers anticipate such high returns that one developer says he has received serious inquiries from about a half-dozen would-be growers for what could be Berkeley’s most coveted pot-growing real estate — a defunct ink factor being offered for $2.5 million.

The 1.5 acre site includes a 37,000-square-foot building with high ceilings ideal for growing marijuana and thick concrete walls that make the facility easier to secure.

James Madsen of Orton Development, who is coordinating the sale, said potential buyers have established businesses and appear serious about delving into the science of cultivating marijuana as a medical treatment.

“For us, it wasn’t an industry we sought out. It sought us out,” Madsen said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/20/norcal-cities-bring-pot-growing-light/#ixzz15rquH8Rt

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What are the dangers of using prescription pain killers?

Oct 6

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There have been 0 reported deaths from overdose on marijuana. Marijuana is a much safer alternative medicine than most prescription pain killers. To learn more about legally using marijuana as medicine, visit http://www.thecannabisdoctors.com or call 626-344-7596 to schedule a confidential appointment.

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