WeedLife News Network

Arthritis often causes a dramatic lifestyle change that’s accompanied by depression and/or anxiety. But that doesn’t have to be the case. 

One-and-a-half million people in the United States suffer from rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In fact, The Arthritis Foundation estimates that three times as many women as men have the disease and it affects individuals of all ages, but primarily women ages 30 to 60. 

Commonly affecting the hands and feet of the body, RA is considered an autoimmune disease, where the body attacks joints, leading to inflammation and pain as well as a loss of motion. With a diagnosis comes a rapidly-changing lifestyle, often causing activities and hobbies that were once loved and now off-limits.

Through stories on the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society website, many individuals have shared that arthritis has caused a dramatic lifestyle change that’s often accompanied by depression and anxiety. But that doesn’t have to be the case. 

Changing perceptions around cannabis with arthritis 

With patients young and old experiencing the debilitating effects of rheumatoid arthritis, individuals like Pearl Schomburg are advocating for doctors to mention the effects of cannabis in office. Pearl explained to Newshub, “Cannabis balm was the first thing I discovered and was shocked by how well it worked.”

“This study should come as good news to patients who are already using cannabis to treat pain,” explains Zach Walsh, a study co-author. “Increases in pain sensitivity with opioids can really complicate an already tough situation; given increasing uptake of cannabis-based pain medications, it’s a relief that we didn’t identify a similar pattern with cannabinoids.”

Authors of the study initially speculated that frequent cannabis users would demonstrate greater pain sensitivity, but this wasn’t the case.

Frequent opioid users run the risk of developing hyperalgesia. / Photo: Igor Vershinsky / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Photo: Igor Vershinsky / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Celebrations for medical cannabis access being added to Nebraska’s ballot in November turned out to be very short-lived. But the fight goes on.

There is no medical marijuana program in Nebraska currently and no other allowances for patients. That may have changed after the November election.

Late last month we reported Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana had announced its amendment supporting patient access to medical marijuana would appear on the November ballot. More than 182,000 petition signatures were delivered to support the initiative. However, the group expected a legal fight to keep it there and certainly got one.

Late last week, the Nebraska Supreme Court issued an opinion to remove the constitutional amendment from the ballot. Five judges ruled against the amendment’s inclusion and two supported it.

The amendment being dropped was based on a constitutional requirement that all proposed initiatives must be a “single subject”, to avoid voter confusion and attempts to have two separate and different issues being rolled into one to get something over the line. It appears the amendment was viewed to have multiple subjects, the right to access medical marijuana for medical purposes – and supply. But you can’t really have one without the other.

For Australian football player Ryan Gale, his previous years of athletic glory have been replaced by a harsh new reality.

Gales lives with chronic pain due to his injuries and required a hip replacement at just 33-years-old.

“I don’t think I ever went one week without pain somewhere,” Gale told 7NEWS.

Now Gale and other ex-athletes are hoping to benefit from a medical cannabis trial that is underway at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne and Emerald Clinics in Perth.

The trials are being conducted by Zelira Therapeutics, a medical cannabis company, and seek to demonstrate the efficacy of medical cannabis for patients who traditionally rely on opioids for chronic pain.

Focusing on novel traits of cannabis plants, a partnership among CannaPacific, Xing Technologies and Newcastle University, seeks to develop “one of the most advanced medical cannabis genomic breeding programs in the world,” notes a statement from CannaPacific.

It is hoped that engineering novel cannabis varieties with less variability and more productivity will lead to new low-cost medicinal formulations and improved delivery of products.

“There is over 100 cannabinoids in the plant, and many are still yet to be exploited,” says CannaPacific chief executive Joshua Dennis, according to the Newcastle Herald. “THC and CBD are there in the highest quantities, but there is a whole gamut of other cannabinoids in the plant in really low quantities,” Dennis says.

Minor cannabinoids, some of which have been shown to have medicinal benefits or promise, are present in strains. The trick will be identifying the new varieties with more of them.

By developing genetic markers, it will be possible to identify specific significant parts of the plant genome and “select which plants to incorporate into our breeding program in order to combine desirable traits such as specific cannabinoid profiles and yield,” Professor Christopher Grof, director of the university’s Centre for Plant Science, says in the CannaPacific release.

Medical marijuana sales from Aug. 21 through Wednesday ticked up compared to the last reporting period, according to the sales report the state revenue agency released Friday.

Daily sales during the 20-day period that ended Wednesday were $600,000 on average. The daily sales average during the 16-day reporting period that ended Aug. 20 was $592,000. The Department of Finance and Administration said the 29 dispensaries in operation during the most recent reporting period averaged $20,698 in daily sales.

About $12 million in sales from 1,766 pounds sold was reported during the 20-day period. Since the state's first legal sale of the drug in May 2019 in Garland County, dispensaries have reported $143 million in sales from 22,530 pounds sold. More than half the sales revenue occurred in the past four months.

Suite 443, where the first legal sale of the drug in Arkansas was transacted last year, was third in sales for the second-straight reporting period. It reported 119.52 pounds sold for the 20-day period that ended Wednesday. The Malvern Avenue dispensary in unincorporated Garland County was second in sales during the 21-day period that ended Aug. 4 and fourth during the 19-day period that ended July 14.

Green Springs Medical, the only dispensary in Hot Springs' city limits, ranked 11th with 71.4 pounds sold. It was the daily sales average leader for more than a year, but as more dispensaries have come online its market share has shrunk.

The aging process for humans can really be a sad thing.

As time goes by the human body starts to break down and condition(s) develop.

Unfortunately, it’s a reality that cannot be overcome.

Getting older can be a tough thing to navigate for many people.

The aches and pains are a constant reminder that Father Time is undefeated.

Curaleaf, the state’s largest medical marijuana company, has announced it will open its second New Jersey dispensary in Bordentown Township early next year.

The Massachusetts-based company announced it will open its first satellite dispensary on Route 130 North. It currently operates a dispensary and cultivation site as Curaleaf NJ in Bellmawr.

The company said it will begin construction on its 9,000-square-foot dispensary in the fall. It has 92 dispensaries in 23 states.

The dispensary is one of several expected to open in the coming months, including MPX NJ in Atlantic City, TerrAscend in Phillipsburg and a second location of Harmony in Hoboken.

That will bring the total number of dispensaries in the state to 15. But more than 85,000 patients have enrolled in the program, and they often face lines, product shortages and long drives to get to dispensaries.

Cannabis has a positive effect in taming inflammation and a myriad of ailments associated with swelling.

While inflammation is the cause of many maladies, it’s also sometimes the remedy. It accounts for back pain, arthritis flare ups, headaches, bowel disorders and even an increase in heart disease. Alzheimer’s is yet another affliction associated with inflammation. And cannabis? It’s a known anti-inflammatory.

As studies show, not only does cannabis have a positive effect in taming inflammation and a myriad of ailments associated with inflammation, the entourage effect created by the combination of cannabinoids, including THC, gives a person an even better result. When this synergy takes place, inflammation is greatly relieved, and thus so are the diseases and pains that go with it.

Quality and longevity of life are sincere goals of most human beings, and accomplishing those goals takes a level of fitness that is somewhat lacking in the average American lifestyle. Many people unable to exercise or stretch for their health aren’t capable because of inflamed joints or other painful inflammations that hinder activity.

Because cannabis works as an anti-inflammatory, it could very easily be the ticket to better health and wellness all around. If the joint pain isn’t in the way and the mindset is elevated to a can-do level, the world opens up a bit and the first steps toward holistic health have been taken.

For autistic people and their families, the therapeutic potential of cannabis is promising, but the research remains limited.

Spectrum, a publication dedicated to autism research, has published a guide detailing what is currently known about cannabis and autism.

Fourteen U.S. states have approved medical cannabis as a treatment option for autism and GW Pharmaceuticals, the company behind Epidiolex, the first cannabis-derived drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is currently conducting trials to measures its effectiveness in treating Rett syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

According to Spectrum, the company is also recruiting autistic children for a phase 2 trial of cannabidivarin, another component of cannabis.

The success of Epidiolex has led many to wonder if the drug could be similarly successful in treating seizures and other autism-related traits. The quick answer? It’s still too early to know.

Missouri medical cannabis is being delayed yet again and is still not available for purchase, still because of a lack of testing sites for cannabis as well as delays caused by COVID-19. 

Many cannabis patients in Missouri who have been eagerly awaiting legalization are frustrated at the lack of progress in the state. A few dispensaries are open, and a few growers are geared up and ready to go, but there are still no resting facilities at all, so none of the cannabis can be legally sold. 

“Everyone thought this would be progressed along a little bit faster. We’ve got a little over 60,000 patients that are waiting for guys like me to get up and growing,” John Mueller, CEO of Missouri dispensary Greenlight, said.

The Status of MMJ in MO

Part of the setback has been COVID-19, as shutdowns, cutbacks, and timeline changes have not helped to get testing facilities up and running, but the fact remains that the state is running out of time to get things going for 2021. 

“It slowed the industry down. Your planning and zoning, your city council, everyone across the state kind of took a pause,” Mueller said.

Seniors’ use of cannabis and their support for its legalization is on the upswing.

According to nationwide polling data compiled by the Pew Research Center, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of “Boomers” (those born in the United States between the years 1946 and 1964) now say that marijuana ought to be legal for adults. That percentage is up significantly from a decade ago, when fewer than one-in-three seniors endorsed its legalization.

Some of this change in attitude is arguably the result of more seniors having firsthand experience with cannabis. According to data published this month in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, “From 2016 to 2018, cannabis use increased for men in all age groups and in most women. … Among those aged 65 to 69 years, cannabis use increased from 4.3 percent to 8.2 percent in men and from 2.1 percent to 3.8 percent in women.”

Why are increasing numbers of seniors turning to — or in some cases, returning to — cannabis? For starters, in many jurisdictions, marijuana’s legal status has changed. Medical cannabis is now legally available in 33 states and throughout Canada — providing many older adults for the first time with safe, above-ground, uninterrupted access to an array of marijuana products. This access is pivotal to older consumers, as the majority of seniors prefer non-herbal, non-smoked cannabis preparations, such as marijuana-infused capsules or edibles — preparations that are rarely available in the illicit marketplace.

Furthermore, seniors are becoming more familiar with and accepting of cannabis’ therapeutic properties. Not only are increasing numbers of seniors becoming aware that cannabis can mitigate many of the health-related symptoms that come with older age, such as chronic pain, but they also understand that it can do so with fewer side-effects than many prescription drugs, like opioids.

This coming October, I’ll be completing my third half marathon — fingers crossed. Considering that I could barely run one kilometer when I first started jogging six years ago, I am pretty proud of myself. However, I am also self-aware enough to know that this journey has solely been to push my body and boundaries, not break any long distance records or compete in the Olympics.

One thing that has always been a concern for me, pre- and post-race, is pain management. I am laden with a myriad of ailments — think: lower back issues, torn ligaments in my left foot and a broken big toe on the right, both of which never quite healed properly. And ever since I was a child, I have been wary of taking pain meds.

So when I started looking into cannabis, for curiosity and journalism sake, I quickly came upon stories of people consuming cannabis for training purposes when it came to sports.

“Cannabis can be helpful for sports both during activity and afterward,” Dr. Jordan Tishler told me recently over email. “Its primary role is that of a pain reliever, which can be helpful in both situations.” Dr. Tishler, a Harvard-trained physician and cannabis therapeutics specialist with over 23 years experience in the field, notes that one stoner-ism does ring true regarding marijuana — it’s not a performance enhancer, and it can affect reaction time, so choose wisely when consuming for sports. “However,” he adds, “for real-world exercise, the decrease in pain, and perhaps increase in focus, can be of greater benefit than any specific detriment.”

One fascinating aspect for me were the women who were using cannabis as a pain salve while pushing their bodies to the limit.

While CBD and THC certainly can’t take over the entirety of a pain management regimen, studies on cortisone treatments are bringing the conversations of cannabis to greater light.

From joint pain to the often debilitating effects of arthritis, corticosteroid injections have been a staple in managing pain and inflammation for the almost 30 million Americans that suffer from osteoarthritis (OA). With new research showcasing the long-term effects of one of the most used treatments for OA, doctors and researchers are concerned about the risks of injections and the potential risks involved with cortisone. 

A Boston University study published this month found that patients who had been given the medicine by injection found a risk for “accelerated OA progression or adverse joint events after treatment.” Meaning, when a patient was treated for osteoarthritis via a shot of cortisone, it may have accelerated the progression of the disease, including complications, joint destruction, and bone loss. 

Interestingly, the study found that certain preexisting conditions, such as older age and Caucasian race seemed to increase the risk for the outcome even more. Researchers recommended MRI pre-screening before injections were given to identify the area better and find if the danger could be accurately assessed before the dose was given. 

Understanding the Effect of Cannabis on OA

Long cited and used for inflammation and joint pain, cannabis and CBD oil have helped with not only chronic pain conditions, but managing symptoms of OA. In a 2018 study published in the Current Opinion in Pharmacology, researchers stated, “There is a growing body of scientific evidence which supports the analgesic potential of cannabinoids to treat OA pain.” To dive deeper, Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia found that since OA pain is multi-faceted, cannabis can help trigger the body’s own endocannabinoid system (ECS) to block pain receptors and potentially offer relief. 

Two congressmen have introduced a bill that would allow cannabidiol (CBD) and other hemp-derived products to be sold as dietary supplements in the U.S. as manufacturers still await federal regulation regarding the use of CBD in food. 

The Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2020 was announced by Representatives Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Morgan Griffith of Virginia last week. 

This bipartisan piece of legislation, only the most recent effort to help consumers access CBD in the aftermath of the 2018 Farm Bill, would mandate that “cannabidiol derived from hemp, and any other ingredient derived from hemp shall be lawful under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) as a dietary ingredient in a dietary supplement.”

Manufacturers would need to comply with the new dietary ingredient requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

“Hemp was historically an important crop for Virginia farmers, and dietary supplements made from it do not possess dangerous addictive qualities. Nevertheless, the current state of regulation creates confusion about its legal uses. I joined this bipartisan bill to provide certainty for hemp farmers that their crop may find legal uses,” Representative Griffith said in a statement. 

A cannabis-based medicine has been approved for use on the NHS in Scotland for the first time, giving hope in the treatment of rare types of childhood epilepsy.

Cannabidiol (Epidyolex) has been accepted for the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a condition which can cause frequent debilitating seizures, by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).

It has also been allowed to treat Dravet syndrome, another rare type of epilepsy, which again is characterised by severe seizures of various types.

Patients can have learning disabilities, sleep problems and usually required 24-hour care and are fully dependent through their lives.

However, Cannabidiol in combination with clobazam can reduce the frequency and severity of seizures for some patients, enabling them to have a better quality of life.

The governor’s comments join a fierce opposition wave against medical marijuana legalization in Nebraska.

A voter-approved initiative to legalize medical cannabis in Nebraska will appear on the November ballot, but marijuana shouldn’t even be labeled a medicine, according to Gov. Pete Ricketts. The comments represent a fierce opposition emerging in Nebraska against legalization.

“There is no such thing as medical marijuana,” Ricketts said at a press conference Monday. “This is not something that would be prescribed by a doctor. It’s not going to be distributed through a pharmacy. These are dispensaries that would be in your communities.”

Ricketts has spoken out against medical cannabis on multiple occasions and claimed that in legalized states, people “show up to work stoned” and cause a greater number of accidents.

“This is not a benign thing, this is a dangerous thing,” he added.

I am fortunate to live in a state that recognizes, to a degree, the medical benefits of cannabis (marijuana).  It effectively eases my  symptoms, unlike any of the various side-effect-laden, addictive drugs prescribed for my conditions.

The program, however, is falling short of its potential.

The two Compassionate Care Centers in Sussex have severe supply problems that limit their effectiveness for patients.  They too often have none of the product that a patient relies on, be it dried cannabis flower, concentrates, or edibles.  One of the two centers rarely has THC-containing product other than on their weekly delivery day; the other is more reliable but runs out at times during the day.  The product availability within categories is inconsistent. 

Cannabis varieties are known as strains; strains differ in their cannabinoid and terpene components (it’s not all about THC) and have very different effects and efficacy.  Patients learn which strains help them - it’s a wonderful discovery! 

The problem is that the availability of the strains at the CCCs is hit or miss; we often have to experiment or settle for a suboptimal medicine.  There are also differences in product offerings across CCCs.  Patients often must visit multiple centers to obtain the products they need.  Imagine having to visit one pharmacy for antibiotics and a different one for cough medicine.