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BARCELONA - Cannabis prescribed for chronic pain is associated with an elevated risk of heart rhythm disorders, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2022.

Study author Dr. Nina Nouhravesh of Gentofte University Hospital, Denmark said: “Chronic pain is a rising problem. According to Danish health authorities, 29% of Danish adults over 16 years of age reported chronic pain in 2017, up from 19% in 2000. Medical cannabis was approved in January 2018 on a trial basis in Denmark, meaning that physicians can prescribe it for chronic pain if all other measures, including opioids, have proven insufficient. Safety data are sparse, hence this study investigated the cardiovascular side effects of medical cannabis, and arrhythmias in particular, since heart rhythm disorders have previously been found in users of recreational cannabis.”

Medical cannabis comes in various formulations depending on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) levels. Dronabinol (high THC), cannabinoid (more THC than CBD), and cannabidiol (high CBD) can be prescribed in Denmark. The drug can be inhaled, eaten, or sprayed in the mouth.

The researchers identified a total of 1.6 million patients diagnosed with chronic pain in Denmark between 2018 and 2021. Of those, 4,931 patients (0.31%) claimed at least one prescription of cannabis (dronabinol 29%, cannabinoids 46%, cannabidiol 25%). Each user was matched by age, sex and pain diagnosis to five non-users with chronic pain who acted as controls. Users and controls were followed for 180 days and their risks of new cardiovascular conditions were compared.

The median age of participants was 60 years and 63% were women. The study reports, for the first time, the chronic pain conditions of medical cannabis users in Denmark. Some 17.8% had cancer, 17.1% arthritis, 14.9% back pain, 9.8% neurological diseases,  4.4% headaches, 3.0% complicated fractures, and 33.1% other diagnoses (mostly unspecified chronic pain).

The absolute risk of new-onset arrhythmia was 0.86% in medical cannabis users compared with 0.49% in non-users, for a relative risk of 1.74. The risks of new-onset acute coronary syndrome and heart failure did not differ between the two groups. The results were similar for each chronic pain condition and each type of medical cannabis.

Current studies on marijuana for cancer are hopeful, and patients who want to explore using cannabis for cancer are recommended to talk to their doctors.

The big C has a tremendous impact on society and families around the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were over 1,750,000 new cancer cases in 2019 alone, and around a third of those patients died from cancer.

Unfortunately, there is still no known cancer cure, though the evolution of medical technology continues to save more lives. But cancer patients, along with their families, still have to face hardships: treatment with side effects, expensive and addictive medications for pain, poor quality of life, and emotional anguish. But perhaps cannabis can make things a little simpler.

Researchers from the Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse sought out to analyze how patients with advanced cancer responded to medical marijuana treatment.

Participants for the study were enrolled in New York’s MMJ registry. “The goals of this study were to review the characteristics of patients who received medical marijuana under our ambulatory palliative care program and to determine barriers to access and use of medical marijuana in this population,” says the study.

“Data from June 2017 to June 2020 were analyzed. Patients were included if they had a diagnosis of cancer, were certified by a qualified practitioner in the New York Medical Marijuana Program, and received care at Upstate Medical University,” it reads. “Patients were excluded if no marijuana certificate was found or if they transferred care.”

With interstate commerce banned in cannabis, many brands rely on illicit operators to market their products across the country.

By Sarina The annual Hampton Cannabis Expo is expected to draw a crowd this weekend, in part because Long Islanders can see a state-sanctioned path for getting the recreational industry off the ground by 2023. 

Now in its fifth year, the Hampton Cannabis Expo will draw entrepreneurs and investors interested in the marijuana industry, said Neil Kaufman, whose Hauppauge law firm handles corporate cannabis transactions across the nation and is one of the event's sponsors. 

The expo attracted more than 600 people last year, but organizers are planning for a bigger crowd now that COVID-19 is less of a health threat for big gatherings and the state has started rolling out a framework for licensing recreational marijuana firms, Kaufman said. 

"We're expecting attendance to be through the roof. It wouldn't surprise me if there were over 1,000 people there," Kaufman said. "This is an ideal time and place to gather together a huge portion of the industry — and people that hope to be in the industry — to try to accelerate the development of the cannabis industry in New York State, and on Long Island in particular.” 

Regulators have granted 10 "conditional" or temporary cultivation licenses to farmers based on Long Island, according to the Office of Cannabis Management, which creates policies for medical and recreational marijuana.

Clark County is looking to make it easier for people who have old, low-level cannabis convictions on their records — years after the state legalized recreational marijuana use — to keep that information out of the public domain where it could still have consequences for their jobs and housing searches.

At a Clark County Commission meeting earlier this month, officials awarded three nonprofits grants totaling $1.2 million from cannabis tax revenue. Both the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada and Nevada Legal Services received $500,000 to continue sealing records to address cannabis conviction injustices, while Code for America, a technology nonprofit, was awarded $200,000 to explore bringing automatic record sealing to Nevada.

“There was a woman who couldn't go see her son graduate on an Air Force base because she had a felony record [for cannabis],” said Venicia Considine, the director of development and community relations at Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, who is also a Democratic Assembly member. “There's a lot of people that live here in Las Vegas that couldn't get jobs, simply because they had something on their record from a decade, two decades ago, that was eligible for record sealing, but there was no real way to get it done.”

Most states have a petition-based process that requires money and multiple actions in each jurisdiction where convictions are filed, and according to experts, less than 10 percent of people who are eligible, get their records cleared. Coders, lawyers and technology professionals want to help state entities conduct a mass record sealing of cannabis convictions, circumventing the tedious process that includes first petitioning a judge, and, if granted, manually sealing the record in each jurisdiction throughout the state.

Policy experts at Code for America, a Bay Area-based organization that uses technology to empower government agencies, have nine months to investigate the scale of digital investment needed to carry out automatic record sealing in Nevada. Lawmakers and legal experts hope Code for America will bring a second wind to the Nevada Second Chance Act, or AB192, a cannabis conviction record-sealing bill passed in 2019 and sponsored by then-Assemblyman William McCurdy II.

“I wanted [AB192] to be an automatic seal, but that was impossible, because we currently still have records that are not digitized,” said McCurdy, who is now a Clark County commissioner.

Aussie basketball legend Lauren Jackson was a pain-riddled 'zombie' before medicinal cannabis allowed her to make a remarkable comeback aged 41​​

Did you know that medical cannabis is legal in Australia? Prescribed in oil, capsule, cream and flower form, there is a multitude of conditions that medical cannabis can help with, Dr Suzanne Graham explains.

Consumers now have the liberty of choosing from so many products and methods of consumption that you can tailor your dose and experience just the way you like it.

Microdosing is a form of consuming drugs in such a way that you avoid getting extremely high. Once associated with psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs such as magic mushrooms and LSD, more people have discovered the benefits of microdosing marijuana over the last few years. As opposed to macrodosing or getting as high as you possibly can, the point of microdosing is to enable the user to still stay productive and focused in a task.

There really is no right or wrong way to consume marijuana. Whether you prefer to microdose to up your creativity or medicate, or macrodose because you want to feel extremely relaxed or buzzed, it’s all down to personal preferences. There are also many ways you can consume marijuana these days — some are better suited for microdosing while others are best for macrodosing.

Microdosing Marijuana

A microdose of marijuana is considered between 1 to 2.5 mg of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive substance of the plant. This is considered the minimum effective dose.

Microdosing small amounts such as these provide the user with the plant’s medicinal and therapeutic benefits without getting too high that you can no longer function. People microdose for many reasons.

The authors stated that “the better results could be due to the medicinal properties, including anti-inflammatory effects, of some cannabinoids.”

A new study found that “cannabis consumption is associated with lower COVID-19 severity among hospitalized patients.” (Benzinga)

According to the researchers “cannabis may actually lead to reduced disease severity and better outcomes despite a five-fold greater concomitant use of tobacco amongst cannabis users compared to non-users in our study population.”

Researchers aimed to assess whether cannabis users hospitalized for COVID-19 had improved outcomes compared to non-users.

The study published in the Journal of Cannabis Research showed that cannabis users had better outcomes, including a decreased need for ICU admission or mechanical ventilation.

A post on Facebook, shared hundreds of times, claims that a “60 gram supply of Cannabis Oil” is “enough to treat one cancer patient”. It also includes an image of several plastic syringes which it claims contain cannabis oil, with the caption “Cancer Cure”.

While there is evidence some cannabis products can be beneficial to cancer patients, and research on this is ongoing, there is no current proof that cannabis oil can cure cancer. 

Claims that cannabis products can cure cancer are ‘misleading’

The Facebook post doesn’t provide any source for its claim that 60g of cannabis oil would be enough to treat one cancer patient, nor does it include any specific information about what types or stages of cancer could allegedly be treated with cannabis oil. 

The acquisition was announced in March this year, and APIRx stakeholders received almost 218.17 million new Incannex shares at a notional value of $0.573 each. The new shares are subject to a 12-month escrow for the vendors.

As part of the deal, APIRx founders Dr George Anastassov and Lekhram Changoer have joined Incannex as non-executive director and chief technical officer, respectively.

Commenting on the acquisition, Incannex chief executive officer and managing director Joel Latham said it follows a long relationship with Dr Anastassov and Mr Changoer that began in 2018.

“After extensive due diligence and corporate strategy assessments of the APIRx assets, we are excited and ready to commence development activities over our newly acquired portfolio of drug candidates.”

World’s largest medicinal cannabis drug portfolio

The Township of Ocean’s governing body is further weeding through the details in making changes to its cannabis business ordinance.

The first reading of the proposed amendments and supplements to the ordinance passed unanimously at this month’s committee meeting. Residents will have the opportunity to discuss the changes at the second reading of the ordinance at the August 2 Township Committee meeting.

“The Township of Ocean is now putting in place the criteria for cannabis in the Township of Ocean,” said Mayor Ben LoParo, adding that the governing body will review it before the vote in a public meeting. “The applicant will need to provide the ownership of the business, business plan, and community benefits.” The proposed ordinance requires applicants to pay a $2,500 non-refundable application fee. Additionally, the Township of Ocean plans to collect a $10,000 annual fee for businesses that operate cultivation, manufacturing or medical cannabis facilities in the municipality.

Four types of licenses will be available withing the municipality if the ordinance is approved. A Class 1 License is for Cannabis Cultivation; Class 2, Cannabis Manufacturing, Class 3, Cannabis Wholesale; and Class 4, Cannabis Distribution. A separate license covers medical dispensaries. LoParo pointed out that the ordinance excludes the retail sale of recreational marijuana even though 57 percent of the municipality’s voters were in favor of the legalization of adult recreational cannabis use.

“I don’t think that’s right,” said LoParo. “I think we should include it because our voters said yes. We’re doing our people a disservice by not giving them what they voted for…We’re also giving up two percent of the recreational income, which could wind up to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in our tax account.”

LoParo pressed for feedback from the two other members of the township committee. Deputy Mayor Ken Baulderstone said he first wanted to see how the medical dispensary “worked out” before considering recreational retail sales. “The steps that we have taken are already more than eighty percent of the municipalities in the state,” Baulderstone stated.

The use of medical cannabis is rapidly rising in the United States. Of the 50 states, 37 have legalized medical marijuana and 19 have legalized recreational use. This has resulted in a total of $3.7 billion in cannabis tax revenue and increasingly widespread awareness of the plant’s pain-relieving qualities and potential to treat other illnesses and conditions.

According to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine, the number of registered U.S. medical cannabis patients quadrupled between 2016 and 2020 to nearly 3 million total. This supports statistics from cannabis health technology company Veriheal, which reported 170,000 newly enrolled Florida patients in 2020 alone.

Medicinal Marijuana as an Alternative to Pills

The cannabis plant can assist in alleviating various conditions, from insomnia and Crohn’s disease to PTSD and depression. Considering that over 20% of Americans suffer from chronic pain—historically the most common reason people opt for medical cannabis—researchers have homed in on the potential of cannabis as a safer alternative to addictive opioid-based painkilling medications. Opioids have claimed hundreds of thousands of U.S. lives since the 1990s.

A study published in 2015 found that the use of medical cannabis “was associated with improvements in pain, function, quality of life and cognitive function.” The efficacy of cannabis as pain treatment has led to significant decreases in opioid use. According to a study, opioid overdose deaths were reduced by 25% in states that enacted medical cannabis programs.

Millennials were the biggest demographic of medical marijuana cardholders in 2020, followed by Generations X and Z. Statistics indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic combined with heavy political tension in 2020 caused these groups to experience depressive episodes, stress, and anxiety. Instead of seeking out traditional medications that often come with severe side effects, these groups chose cannabis as a tool for improving their mental health.

Is there a relationship between cannabis use and outcomes in spinal surgery and other procedures?

While there is limited literature examining the potential connection, a team of orthopedic specialists sought further answers. They ultimately found that patients with a history of cannabis use are indeed less likely than non-users to experience adverse medical outcomes after thoracolumbar (lower back) spinal fusion (TLF) surgery. The study, “The Impact of Isolated Baseline Cannabis Use on Outcomes Following Thoracolumbar Spinal Fusion: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis” was recently published in The Iowa Orthopedic Journal.

The orthopedic specialists, affiliated with the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, analyzed the relationship between cannabis use and surgical outcomes with a 704-patient cohort, all undergoing TLF surgery for adult spinal deformity (ASD). Researchers queried the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database between January 2009 and September 2013 to identify all patients who underwent TLF for ASD. To be included, individuals were over the age of 18 and had either minimum 90-day or two-year follow-up surveillance.

According to the researchers, ASD is a spectrum of disorders presenting in late adolescence or adulthood and includes adult spinal scoliosis, iatrogenic spinal deformity and primary degenerative sagittal imbalance. The authors note that, as life expectancies increase, the prevalence of ASD is rising and more surgical corrections are expected to occur in the future.

“With shifting public sentiment, expanding decriminalization, and a lack of objective data on the potential consequences of cannabis use, it is imperative to identify how baseline cannabis use impacts postoperative outcomes of patients with adult spinal deformity (ASD) undergoing thoracolumbar fusion (TLF),” the study reads.

Half of the sample identified themselves as cannabis consumers and the other half did not. The study looked to compare 90-day complication, 90-day readmission, and two-year revision rates between cannabis users and non-users.

Though marijuana use is now legal in most of the United States, questions remain about how smoking marijuana can affect lung health and the risk of lung cancer in particular.

Research has suggested that smoking marijuana can cause damage to the lungs but is not as detrimental as smoking tobacco.2-4 Studies have also indicated that smoking marijuana may not increase a person’s risk of lung cancer, but robust evidence is lacking.2-9

“We concluded that there is moderate evidence that there is no association between cannabis smoking and lung cancer,” said Donald I. Abrams, MD, professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California San Francisco and integrative oncologist at the USCF Osher Center for Integrative Health. 

Dr Abrams is one of the experts who reviewed evidence on the health effects of cannabis for a report published in 2017 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).

Among the research reviewed for that report was a pooled analysis of 6 case-control studies encompassing 2159 individuals with lung cancer and 2985 control participants. The analysis showed “little or no association” between the intensity, duration, cumulative consumption, or age at the start of cannabis smoking and the risk of lung cancer. 

Another study reviewed for the NASEM report was a population-based study of cannabis use in 49,321 Swedish military conscripts. Researchers evaluated the risk of lung cancer over a 40-year follow-up period. They found a 2-fold increase in lung cancer risk among participants with a history of “heavy” cannabis use (defined as having smoked more than 50 times at baseline) compared with those who had no history of cannabis use. 

A new study shows further evidence of the harms of vaping.

Conducted by researchers from Portland State University and published in the journal of Chemical Research in Toxicology, the study claims that the process of heating up cannabinoid acetates creates a toxic gas called ketene that’s harmful to the lungs.

Researchers tested different cannabinoid acetates and tried to measure how much ketene was produced in a single vape puff. They measured acetates like delta-8 THC, a compound that’s currently unregulated by the FDA and that’s potent, crossing the blood-brain barrier more easily.

Researchers found that ketene is formed at lower settings of heat than anticipated and that each puff releases an amount of toxin that’s dangerous to people’s health. Ketene is supposedly so toxic to humans that it’s dangerous to even test it, thus, becoming difficult to measure its impact on the human body.

“The thing we’re most concerned about is prolonged exposure, we don’t know what that is,” said Kaelas Munger, a doctoral student and one of the authors of the study.

“That’s why papers like ours are needed. Otherwise people would be exposed to this really toxic substance and it’s really impossible to look for the evidence.”

MedPharm Research, a leading cannabis researcher, announced today that the company’s proposal, which was submitted to the FY23 Cannabis Research Opportunity at the Colorado State University Institute of Cannabis Research (ICR), titled “Isolation and Pharmacological Evaluation of Phytocannabinoids for Alzheimer’s Disease,” has been selected for funding.

Scoring of the proposal was organized into six categories: significance, approach, broader impacts, environment, data analysis, and environment. Reviewers from the ICR review panel applauded the novelty of the project, the training needed for a scientific intern, and how well the proposal defines the metric of evaluation for each data analysis aim. They concluded that the likelihood of the project to succeed is high, adding that minor cannabinoids is an area where more research is needed.

According to the Center for Disease Control, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are projected to grow to 13.9 million, nearly 3.3 percent of the population in 2060. Brains of people with Alzheimer’s show neurodegeneration and high levels of oxidative stress and inflammation.

“The study results will allow MedPharm to further develop innovative, bioavailable, and bioequivalent dosage forms. These are important elements in support of Investigational New Drugs (INDs) and New Drug Applications (NDAs) for future FDA-approved products,” says Scott Karolchyk, MS, RPh, Director of Formulation and Development. The phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) has neuroprotective, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Other studies have shown that CBD has been shown to be effective in vivo, making the phytocannabinoid an interesting candidate for novel therapeutic interventions in Alzheimer’s therapy, especially because there are no psychoactive or cognition-impairing properties, thus adding to the significance of the MedPharm study.

“It’s by pursuing this one-of-a-kind study in an area where research is really needed that sets MedPharm apart from other cannabis research and development companies,” Albert Gutierrez, President of MedPharm, says.

WEED, Inc. a global cannabis & hemp bioresearch company based in the USA, focused on the development and application of cannabis-derived compounds for the treatment of human and animal diseases, acquired 100% of Hempirical Genetics, LLC, for 2 million shares of common stock valued at $.25 per share and $250,000 in cash over 4 years. One million shares and $10,000 was paid on signing this agreement. (Benzinga)

Glenn E. Martin, WEED, Inc.'s CEO stated, "Our teams in USA, Australia and Israel are excited that a pipeline of Original "Landrace" strains from the 1970s' can now be moved into clinical trials and product development for the global market. WEED now has over 15 "PURE" original, pristine, F-1 grade cannabis strains today, including, Panama Red, Acapulco Gold, Red Bud Colombian & Santa Marta Gold. Our newly acquired inventory includes over 30 CBD & CBG strains as WEED believes that multiple combinations of precise cannabinoid strains will create the entourage effect to achieve the medical outcome desired. Eventually, WEED plans to bring our unique desired strains to the Adult Use markets once the "Law of the Land" brings back the Freedoms lost 70+ years ago."

Miller stated, "I've known Glenn Martin for 50+ years and honored to take the helm of HEMP BioSciences to buildout our genetic studies. My goal is to bring the strongest, highest quality THC and hemp products to market at affordable prices.

"Double the quality, half the price" should be the mantra for the cannabis industry, while creating diversity & equality to the cannabis sector. Our Veterans have been highly overlooked, and I look to develop vet programs at low or no cost, which I know is a priority of Glenn and mine."