Grandmother-of-10 ditches chemotherapy after she claims CANNABIS oil caused her cancerous breast tumour to shrink to an eighth of the size and her case has sparked the interest of scientists

• Lin Coxon, 69, from Derby, took the £39 oil while waiting for treatment
• Told she needed eight rounds of chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and radiotherapy
• But before she had it, scans showed 33mm tumour had shrunk and is now 4mm
• Cancer also spread to lymph nodes which have reduced from 25mm to 10mm
• Researchers at St George's, University of London, are now looking at her case
• Lin is one of 'a growing and large collection' of patient testimonies, they said

By Claudia Tanner

A grandmother-of-ten has claimed her cancerous breast tumour has shrunk to an eighth of the size since she started taking cannabis oil.

Lin Coxon was told she needed aggressive treatment – including eight rounds of chemotherapy – but has now opted to not have it.

The 69-year-old's cancer had also spread to her lymph nodes and she has said these have now reduced by more than half.

Her case has now sparked the interest of scientists at St George's, University of London, who are studying cannabinoid treatment of cancer in mice.

Lin, from Derby, said: 'Going public with this was a big decision but I do not feel I can morally keep this to myself any longer.

'I cannot say cannabis oil will work for anyone else but my experience would seem to show it is worth trying.

'I feel people have nothing to lose especially if they are waiting for chemotherapy.' 

Lin Coxon says she is choosing to no longer have chemotherapy after claiming cannabis oil has dramatically shrunk her tumour while she was waiting for treatment

Olivia Newton-John, pictured with daughter Chloe Lattanz, plans to use cannabis oil as part of her treatment for breast cancer

Lin is one of a number of cancer patients providing anecdotal reports that medical cannabis oil has improved their prognosis.

Studies suggest cannabis compounds may kill certain malignant cells in the lab. However, experts warn there is no definitive proof yet of its effects on cancer in humans.

In June, Olivia Newton-John's daughter recently revealed that her mother will be treating her second breast cancer diagnosis with medicinal marijuana, along with traditional treatment.

'I had nothing to lose'
 

On June 28, Lin was told by doctors at the Royal Derby Hospital that her breast lump measured 33mm and that it had invaded nearby lymph nodes and muscle.
                     

They said she would need intensive chemotherapy followed by a lumpectomy and the removal of all the lymph nodes. This would then have to be followed by radiotherapy.

But while waiting for her chemotherapy to start, Lin began researching the condition and read other cancer patients reporting that cannabis oil had helped them, including the case of Asda worker Karen Roberts which she read about in her local paper the Derby Telegraph.

Lin bought the same cannabinoid oil as Karen – which is legal and sold without the psychoactive component that causes a high – at a health shop and began taking it while waiting for her chemotherapy to start on August 26.

Researchers at St George's, University of London, are studying Lin's case with interest

She now claims it has shrunk the tumour so much she has chosen not to have any medical intervention, although doctors have advised she does.

Lin said: 'Obviously it was a major shock but I did some reading in the days that followed and saw there were reports that cannabis oil, which is available as a food supplement, could have beneficial effects so I decided I had nothing to lose.

'By July 24 I could not feel the tumour, before it had felt hard. With my chemotherapy due to start on August 23 I asked if I could have another scan but the hospital said no, so my GP suggested I had it done privately which I did on August 21.

'The doctor at the Nuffield Hospital was staggered when he saw the tumour had shrunk from 33mm to 11mm and my lymph nodes had gone from 25mm to 10mm.

'He did a mammogram and saw the whole density had changed which was amazing news, so as it was shrinking so dramatically I spoke to my consultant and deferred the chemotherapy.'

COMPOUND IN CANNABIS DESTROYS LEUKAEMIA TUMOURS

Cannabinoids have been shown to have potential to kill some cancer cells in studies

A compound in cannabis is 'significantly' effective in destroying cancerous tumours in leukaemia, research suggests.

A new study found that combining existing chemotherapy treatments with cannabinoids – the active chemicals in cannabis – had better results than chemotherapy alone.

The findings suggest that a lower dose of chemotherapy can be used on patients, minimising side effects of the treatment, say researchers.

Furthermore, scientists discovered that order the treatment was administered was crucial - using cannabinoids after chemotherapy resulted in a greater death of the blood cancer cells.

Lead author of the study, Dr Wai Liu, from St George's, University of London, said: 'We have shown for the first time that the order in which cannabinoids and chemotherapy are used is crucial in determining the overall effectiveness of this treatment.'

Lin said she is continuing to take the cannabis oil and the tumour is still shrinking.

'The tumour is now down to 7mm with no medical treatment and the lymph nodes are down to 4mm.

'The clinician at the Royal Derby said I should still have chemotherapy but I said I didn't want to as things were moving in the right direction.

'I asked my consultant if he would still be happy to monitor me and he said he would.'

Lin pays £39 for a bottle. She has a few drops each day and a bottle lasts her ten days.

The key to defeating cancer?

Cannabis oil has not yet been approved for use on the NHS – but is readily available to buy online as a food supplement.

It has been widely reported to help other conditions such as arthritis, depression, MS and other illnesses.

Research into the health benefits of taking cannaboids – particularly for cancer – is currently being undertaken at St George's, University of London, and the experts there have been in contact with Lin.

Dr Wai Liu, senior research fellow said: 'I was very interested to hear of Lin's case.

'Cannabidiol, which is just one element of the cannabis plant and one that does not have any psychoactive effect on people, has been shown to target communication signals that are malfunctioning in cancer cells.

'It is thought that by correcting these signals we can enable cancer cells to essentially die rather than duplicate. So it may hold the key to understanding how to defeat cancer in some areas.

'We at St George's, University of London, have shown how this can be done. Although our data has mainly been laboratory- based, we have a growing and large collection of testimony from patients using cannabidiol, usually in a cannabis oil type product, who report positive effects on their battle with this dreadful disease.

'Lin's story is one that adds to this growing list and we wish her all the best in her treatment which should always be under the supervision of her doctors.'

'Sent home to die' 

A picture of the £39 bottle of cannabis oil Lin claims has shrunk her tumour 

Lin, who works as a personal assistant to South Derbyshire MP Heather Wheeler, said she was inspired after reading about how Karen Roberts, of Stenson Fields, who was described as 'terminally ill' with non-hodgkinson lymphoma, took the oil and turned her health around.

Karen said she was sent home by the hospital to die as they said there was nothing else they could do for her – just after she lost husband Garry to leukaemia in 2015.

The hospital took away her medicine so she took the oil to initially relieve her pain – but it helped her health improve and she is now in remission.

Karen said: 'I wasn't bothered at the time, I had lost Garry and was ready to go myself but my kids had read about the oil online and persuaded me to try it. That was two years ago I haven't looked back since.

'I was sent home to die but am still very much here and am due back at work in Asda in March and am looking forward to it.

'Lin spoke to me about what I did and I told her – I am so glad she is doing so well.'

Senator Cory Booker Says He Knows Many Members of Congress Have Used Marijuana

By Joseph Misulonas

Congress tends to have a pretty hostile view towards marijuana. Despite a few people supporting legalization efforts, most politicians trot out the same tired arguments about cannabis leading to horrible things. But one senator is finally calling them out.

Senator Cory Booker introduced a bill a few months ago that would legalize marijuana and help release prisoners who are in jail for minor cannabis convictions. A member of the press asked him a question about motivating people who use marijuana to get involved politically, and Booker shot back saying that those stereotypes are outdated and he knows members of Congress who've used the drug.

“I know in casual conversations in the Congress, many legislators who’ve done pot themselves. 

This pejorative pot smoker label doesn’t fly,” Booker said. “So many Americans have used marijuana or have no judgement for people that do. It’s like saying, ‘Oh, those alcohol drinkers.’ We are a great society, a decent society, a good society, but our criminal justice laws do not reflect the heart of America and we all have got to do something about that.”

He also added that many prominent politicians have done much harder drugs than marijuana.

"Two of the last three presidents admitted to doing drugs harder than pot," Booker said. "Too many people are sitting on the sidelines. And I really want to point fingers."

But Booker wasn't just talking about politicians. He noted that many upper-middle class people use marijuana freely and without any punishment, and therefore don't get involved in legalization efforts. But by staying out of the fight, they simply put the less fortunate in more danger.

“People that are privileged in society who smoke pot and just don’t feel like there’s any chance of consequences in their lives,” Booker said. “Their indulging in that kind of behavior [and] not being a part of the activist community is hypocritical because there’s too many children, too many young people, too many people in my neighborhood and in my community who are suffering for doing the same thing that you’re doing.”

Unfortunately this is the sort of rational thinking that tends to get ignored in Congress. 

Battelle Receives DEA Approval for Marijuana Research

T.R. Massey,

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Battelle announced today that it was awarded a Schedule I Researcher license by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), paving the way for the leading research and development organization to conduct marijuana research with human subjects.

“This new research license will allow us to better understand marijuana use and its impact on health.”

Battelle is one of only a few organizations with a Schedule I Researcher license in the United States that is not a university. The license enables the Battelle Center for Substance Use Research, located on the East Coast, to expand its research program to include marijuana, building on more than 50 years of experience studying the effects of tobacco product use.

Battelle’s research team includes leading experts in behavioral science, analytical and physical chemistry, pharmacology, psychology, and toxicology. Battelle will recruit adults who currently use marijuana to study various aspects of the drug’s effects.

“Marijuana use continues to increase among adults in the U.S., and there is a critical need for reliable research on its behavioral and physical effects,” said Erica Peters, Director of Battelle’s marijuana research program. “This new research license will allow us to better understand marijuana use and its impact on health.”

Schedule I substances are classified as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, making it difficult to conduct research. Initial research studies will examine whether there is a link between marijuana and tobacco use, and how people consume different tobacco products for smoking marijuana, including “blunts.”

The studies will use marijuana from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Drug Supply Program, which provides research-grade marijuana grown at the DEA-registered facility at the University of Mississippi. Battelle’s research will be performed at a highly-secure DEA-approved facility.

About Battelle
Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries. For more information, visit www.battelle.org.

Research Scientist Sees Pre-Clinical Evidence That "Cannabis Kills Breast Cancer Cells"

NBA Legend praises medical marijuana this weekend on banned TV show Cannabis Planet

---

by Cannabis Planet 

 

NBA Legend John Salley will speak out on the benefits of the cannabis plant and Dr. Christina Sanchez, a molecular biologist (Complutense University – Madrid, Spain), discusses her pre-clinical research on the cancer killing and anti-tumoral properties of cannabis this weekend on the educational television program Cannabis Planet.

John Salley is only one of two athletes to have played on an NBA Championship team in three-decades, he has been a proponent of cannabis since he first was introduced to the plant at the end of his playing career. "After I tried cannabis, all of a sudden my joints didn't ache, my back didn't hurt, I could stretch, the pain went away," claims Salley, the former Piston star.

Dr. Christina Sanchez and Dr. Manuel Guzman have done some cutting edge research on cannabinoids as potential anti-tumoral agents in breast cancer from their laboratory in Madrid, Spain.

"We have seen cancer cells being killed in our petri dishes, with the healthy cells remaining intact," stated Dr. Sanchez.

Cannabis Planet is an educational television program about the benefits of marijuana, they bring their message of food, fuel, fiber and medicine into millions of TV households weekly across the U.S. The thirty-minute program airs every weekend in Prime Time on independent stations across the country.  (Listings available at: www.cannabisplanet.com/find-us-on-tv/)

Weekly features include Cannabis cooking with Chef Mike Delao, Hemp Facts with newscaster Pat Finerty and the "Higher Perspective", an esoteric look at the plant from comedian Ngaio Bealum and a musical guest.

Banned by the major satellite services, Cannabis Planet still reaches their viewership via independent, full-power transmission stations whose signals are "must-carry" to all television services within each specific market.  Every week, the show broadcasts in Los Angeles (KJLA), Chicago (WOCK), Philadelphia (WACP), Washington D.C. (WMDE), & Palm Beach (WHDT).

 

Pittsfield Forum Touts Marijuana as Medicine

By Andy McKeever

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Kathleen McKinnon knows full well what heroin addiction does to families.

 

Those struggling with substance abuse put the high above everything else. The bills and even food fall to the wayside. The family is constantly worried.

 

McKinnon believes the answer for those families could be found in cannabis.

 

"Patients need to be able to have an option. This will allow them to start step down programs with the opioids," McKinnon said.

 

McKinnon is the director of operations for Canna Care Docs. The company is a collection of doctors who specialize in marijuana as a medicine. Patients can see a doctor for a cost of $200 -- which the company says is mostly driven because insurance won't cover the visit -- and explore options for medical marijuana. 

 

McKinnon specifically focused on it being used as harm reduction to help people curb opioid addiction when she spoke at the Berkshire Atheneum last week. Canna Cares is partnering with Berkshire Roots, a medical marijuana cultivator and distributor, set to open on Dalton Avenue later this year or early 2018. The two put on a forum to explain what they do.

 

Karen Fisher, executive director for healing interventions, said she grew frustrated seeing the same patients over and over again, patients trying to stay off from opioids. She said while abstinence is the ultimate goal, many often relapse, and relapse with dire consequences. For those people, councilors in the health field have been using harm reduction options.

 

"Our current harm reduction options include methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone, with Naloxone for overdose and syringe access as additional tools," Fisher said.

 

She feels marijuana is a much safer option. Dr. Benjamin Caplan agrees. Caplan had a 58-year-old patient, a veteran, suffering from pain. The man took prescription pain medication every day and became addicted. Another patient was a 23-year-old woman who lost her parents in an accident and had become depressed.

 

"Both of these patients came in and were taught about their options in the cannabis space. Now the veteran is taking opioid on an as-needed basis instead of every day and the young woman is now thriving in psychotherapy," Caplan said.

 

He said cannabis has had "mind-blowing success" with patients. He said thousands of people are prescribed opioid medications to treat chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and more, while opioid have caused a massive addiction problem in the country.

 

"While we see the death toll from opioids climbing toward 70,000 individuals a year, we can scarcely find one death attributable directly to cannabis," Caplan said.

 

Last year, 62,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, he said, and this year the number will climb even further. In Massachusetts, that number is at 2,107.

 

"In each of the last four years here in Pittsfield, between 14 and 18 people have died from opioid-related causes. Where I live in Boston, the numbers are unfortunately worse," Caplan said.

 

"These are not evil people who are becoming addicted. They are certainly not druggies or delinquents or what society sometimes unfairly label."

 

He said there are no withdrawals with cannabis and in the states that have already legalized medical marijuana, the opioid death toll has dropped by a third.

 

McKinnon said the current medical system causes the drug epidemic. In 1996, pain was made the fifth vital sign and doctors were required to assess those levels. 

 

"This resulted in a flood of opioid prescriptions hitting the streets, getting progressively worse each and every year," she said.

 

At the same time, cannabis remained, and remains, illegal under federal law. She points the finger at those policies as leading to what she called the greatest killer of all time.

 

"They gave away opioids like they were Skittles and people turned a blind eye. This created a national pandemic of opioid and heroin use," McKinnon said.

 

But cannabis isn't just used as a medicine for detoxification of opioids. According to Dennis DePaolo, the chief operating officer at Berkshire Roots, it has long been used to treat an array of conditions from rheumatoid to gout.

 

"Cannabis is arguably the most medicinal plants in the world," DePaolo said.

 

He dates medical use of marijuana back 5,000 years. He said he is focused on the science behind marijuana as a medicine, honing in on the dosages, types of plants, and an array of delivery methods -- from smoking to vaporizing to inhalers.

 

"There is still a lot of misinformation so it is going to come to these events, put on these events, and hear from professionals that really look at the research, do the research, and understand the research and can really explain it," DePaolo said.

 

The doctors at Canna Care Docs can make the recommendations, even if a person's primary care doctor hadn't prescribed it. They welcome anyone who may have a qualifying condition to visit them and talk about the options.

 

"It is a recommendation. If you have a qualifying condition and you have a doctor saying, 'yes, you do,' after an in-depth discussion and relationship with that doctor, you can have a recommendation from that doctor to use cannabis legally for a year," said Canna Care Docs co-founder Marta Downing. 

 

But, at least one man in the audience felt the cost to visit a doctor was too much. He said he shouldn't have to pay so much to get a certificate that last one year to purchase it and then have to buy the marijuana.  

Outspoken police officer calls for decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana

Tanya Eiserer, WFAA

Not only did he attend, he was a featured speaker and an honored guest.

“I’m here because I support you,” Novello tells the boisterous crowd of several hundred in his gravelly New York accent.

For several years, the veteran police officer has been a vocal proponent of legalizing medical marijuana. He supports efforts to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

“Today government does whatever it wants to do and you and I have to ask permission to exercise our basic freedoms,” he tells the crowd. “I have a problem with that.”

Uniformed police officers looked on from afar. The officers pointedly did not intervene as people openly smoked marijuana in downtown Dallas during the rally and march.

Long a bur in the side of Dallas chiefs past and present, Novello refuses to remain silent even knowing it could cost him his job. A decade ago, he vocally spoke out about police officers who he believed were violating people’s civil rights.

More recently, he’s been outspoken about the department’s manpower shortage and how long police response times put 911 callers in danger.

Novello’s outspokenness has not gone unnoticed by the department. The department opened an internal investigation after he released a Youtube video in August calling on President Donald Trump to revamp the nation’s marijuana laws.

They opened a second investigation after he gave a News 8 reporter videos to post on Facebook about the response time crisis.

He had planned to retire in September. Novello delayed his retirement. He refuses to retire under investigation.
“Why I am I still employed because quite frankly they know I’m right,” Novello said.

Novello says about seven years ago, he underwent a spiritual awakening. He’s actively involved in Christian prison ministry.

He says the nation’s drug laws have disproportionately targeted minorities.  He points out the hypocrisy that many politicians – Republicans and Democrats alike – have admitted to recreational marijuana use in their youth.

“To me I see this as a morale choice,” he says in an interview prior to the rally. “Let me pose this question to our city leaders what do you say to someone who has gotten out of jail after 20 years for cannabis when we have people in various other states becoming millionaires for the same behavior. How do you reconcile that?”

I asked Novello what he would do if he would do if he was on the job and encountered someone with a small amount of marijuana.

“Well you know that’s an interesting question,” he says. “I’d have a decision to make, wouldn’t I? … Let’s just say up to this point I’ve enforced the laws on the books.”

On Saturday, the crowd gathered just weeks before Dallas’ cite and release policy takes effect.

Under the policy, people caught with small amounts of marijuana will be cited, their drugs confiscated and released rather than taken to jail. People arrested under the policy would still face the same criminal penalties.

“It’s still the criminalization of those we’ve sworn to protect,” he says.

Novello opposes the cite and release policy because it does not go far enough.
“Stand fast, I applaud you and I think you for your time today,” he tells the crowd, ending his short speech.

Novello vows never to be silenced. There’s no doubt that we’ll hear from him again.

What you need to know about Maine’s delayed pot law

Some say the bill crafted by lawmakers avoids a 'wild, wild West,' while others say what voters approved is best. 

By Penelope Overton


With the marijuana bill adopted by the Legislature last week facing a likely governor’s veto, some lawmakers say Maine could turn into the “wild, wild West” of marijuana.

Pot shops selling Snoopy-shaped edibles next to schools. Social clubs cropping up in bucolic village centers. The lowest pot tax in the country. Drive-up window sales.

“Without this bill, we go back to the referendum law,” said Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, referring to the initiative approved by voters last November that his committee spent months refining. “I think we can all agree that law is flawed. Over the last nine months, we found out just how flawed that law is.

Going back to that, it would be chaos, confusion. We’ll be throwing oxygen on the fire of the black market. It will be the wild, wild West in Maine. How could anybody want that? Our bill, it’s not perfect, but it’s much, much better than that.”

Could that happen? Language embedded in the 30-page referendum makes it unlikely. The law prohibits applicants from growing recreational cannabis or operating a marijuana retail store or social club without approval from the state licensing authority and the host municipality. There is a moratorium on all but the personal-use parts of the ballot-box law for now, but even when it lapses in February, Mainers couldn’t launch an adult-use market without the OK of the state and host towns.

Gov. Paul LePage, a staunch marijuana opponent who once called it a deadly gateway drug, is unlikely to sign off on implementation of the ballot-box law if he wouldn’t direct his state agencies to even collaborate with Katz and the joint select committee on their efforts to tighten up the regulatory loopholes and craft a more conservative version of the Marijuana Legalization Act. Katz said repeated requests for collaboration were ignored. “We practically begged, but nothing.”

The voter-approved law says the state licensing authority has nine months to adopt rules for the proper regulation and control of recreational marijuana, but it does not include any timeline for the state licensing authority to begin accepting or issuing licenses.

Marijuana advocates who support the implementation bill from Katz’s committee say the referendum law has “a million loopholes” that the LePage administration could exploit to delay rolling out retail sales.

For example, the voter-approved law says an application for a marijuana cultivation, manufacturing or retail license must be made to the state licensing authority on forms prepared and furnished by the state licensing authority. “What happens if there is no form?” asked David Boyer, the state director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “That’s just one of a million loopholes in the MLA that could be used to stop the full rollout.”

PROS AND CONS OF THE STATUS QUO
Without licensed marijuana growers, manufacturers and retailers, the Maine recreational marijuana scene come March will likely look much like it does now. Adults can grow up to six mature marijuana plants and possess up to 2½ ounces of marijuana for personal use, but they can’t legally buy or sell it. Adults can grow those six plants on someone else’s land with written permission, as long as the plants are tagged, locked and not visible to the public.

Some people, like Katz, say the status quo is bad for Maine – and good for the thriving gray and black market.

Katz believes passage of the Marijuana Legalization Act has boosted public demand for a product that is not legally available for purchase, creating a vacuum in Maine that street dealers are exploiting for big profits. He has no hard evidence of this, but he said he heard repeated testimony in front of the select committee to indicate this was true. Gray-market entrepreneurs have also rushed in to take advantage of loopholes in the referendum law, he said.

For example, the practice of gifting marijuana – giving someone pot at no charge but packaging it in a baggy that costs $100 – may violate the spirit of the voter law, but it’s not technically illegal, he said. Some entrepreneurs have taken gifting to a new level, opening “bud and breakfasts” where they rent rooms at high rates but then give guests goodie bags filled with pot. This has riled town officials in host communities, like Cornish and Auburn, who want a tougher state law, Katz said.

Colorado’s former marijuana czar, Andrew Freedman, urged Maine lawmakers to prohibit the kind of large collective grows allowed by the referendum law. In Colorado, the black market used big, unregulated home grows to feed demand in neighboring states where adult-use marijuana remained illegal, he said. Several big grows were targeted by armed robbers, and turned deadly. These factors forced Colorado to tighten its law, much like Maine is trying to tighten its, he said.

ADVANTAGES OF WAITING
Not everybody thinks returning to the underlying referendum law would be a bad thing. Legalize Maine withdrew its support for the committee’s implementation bill after several last-minute changes to the bill, which its members say were conducted without public input and would make it too hard for its members, many of whom are local medical marijuana caregivers, to transition into the recreational market in the small towns were they live now.

The referendum law gives medical marijuana caregivers in good standing for two years prior to legalization a licensing advantage, allowing them to get the first shot at a limited amount of marijuana growing space that would be available under that law. The committee bill pending before LePage takes off the cultivation cap, strips the bill of caregiver licensing preferences and instead requires any applicant to have lived in Maine for at least two years.

In the current scenario, where the referendum law is in place but not fully enacted, many of Legalize Maine’s caregiver members could continue to sell marijuana to their certified patients and benefit from an increased post-referendum demand for marijuana, using a cycling loophole in the medical marijuana law that allows them to stretch the patient limit by rotating hundreds of patients through a five-patient cap.

The group’s president, Paul McCarrier, urged state lawmakers to scrap their overhaul plans. When asked about how scuttling the overhaul bill might slow down rollout of the adult-use market, McCarrier said getting the adult-use rules right was worth the wait, that tweaking the committee bill until it was “just right” didn’t have to take all that much time. He said returning to the voter-approved law would probably be the quickest and best route to adult-use commercial sales of all.

Cure-all claims for marijuana up in smoke?

Despite the fanfare, the medical benefits of marijuana remain experimental for many conditions

By Scott McLeod


CALGARY – LIVING – Many Canadians can hardly wait for the day the recreational use of marijuana becomes legal. As a medical doctor, I’m far less enthusiastic. I worry about two things: the experimental nature of marijuana in medical practice and the public health consequences of legalized marijuana.

Before you write me off as overly prudish or an anti-marijuana conservative, let me say that I’m not opposed to legalized marijuana in principle – I’m just paying attention to the evidence, or rather, the lack of it. My concern is that as marijuana becomes more easily available, Canadians may become more inclined to self-medicate with what’s been called a “miracle drug.”

Let’s look at the research on the medical use of marijuana.

I’m frequently asked about medical marijuana in my pediatric practice by caring parents who want to help their children with difficult-to-treat conditions. Over the last few months, parents have asked me if medical marijuana can be used to treat their child’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder or cerebral palsy, for example.

Parents consider such options because these medical conditions don’t always respond well to traditional prescription drug or therapy options. Many have heard of “miracle cures” in the media from the use of medical marijuana.

I wish I could be more positive when they ask. I find the possibility of a new medicine to benefit conditions that don’t respond well to current medications exciting. Unfortunately, the research isn’t there yet.

What do we know so far?

Here’s the good news. In May of this year, a double-blind placebo-controlled trial showed that cannabidiol – one of the active ingredients within the marijuana plant – reduced the number of seizures in children with Dravet syndrome, a condition that results in severe seizures, developmental delays, and problems with movement and balance.

The drug may even be approved for use in difficult-to-treat epilepsy cases by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, based on the latest research.

Medical marijuana has also shown a moderate degree of benefit for patients with neuropathic pain and stiffness, and involuntary muscle spasms related to multiple sclerosis.

Other uses, such as the treatment of nausea and vomiting following chemotherapy for those with cancer; assistance with improving weight gain in HIV patients; improvement in sleep disorders; and the reduction of the symptoms of Tourette syndrome all have less evidence of benefit, but may be promising for some in the future.

But that’s where the research ends.

Some of the popularized ways in which medical marijuana is being used, such as for post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, lack long-term evaluation. While medical marijuana may have short-term benefits, long-term use may result in increased aggressive behaviours or even worsening of symptoms.

Today’s medical marijuana is also not what it once was. Generally, we’ve seen a consistent increase in the THC content of marijuana – the main psychoactive component – from the 1960s to t0day. In fact, THC is being sold by licensed producers at concentrations of greater than 15 per cent in a substantial proportion of available strains.

Why is this a problem? The cannabis used in medical research contains less than 10 per cent THC.

We do know that using cannabis with higher THC concentrations is associated with an increased risk of psychosis, but we really don’t know much about the medical effects at these higher concentrations.

While I remain hopeful that medical marijuana may bring medical breakthroughs, more needs to be done to inform the public that its use remains experimental – and, for the majority of conditions or ailments, there’s minimal to no evidence of benefit and it may even be harmful.

Legalization will remove some red tape to allow for more research. But many patients might opt to self-medicate without ongoing monitoring of their symptoms or choose to delay seeking help from a medical professional. These are just some of the public health consequences that could come from the legalization of something that many see as an all-purpose medical cure.

It’s in everyone’s best interests to try to set the record straight.

Weed Science: Researchers Map Marijuana DNA to Unlock Cannabis's Full Potential

By Anthony Cuthbertson

Cannabis can be used in the treatment of numerous conditions, from epilepsy to alleviating the side effects of cancer therapies, but the full extent of the plant’s medicinal benefits remain largely unexplored. A new research initiative hopes to address this by mapping the cannabis genome in a quest to unlock the full potential of pot.

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, partnered with biotech firm Front Range Biosciences (FRB) to conduct the genomics research to “advance understanding of cannabis for medical and nutraceutical uses.”

The research team at UC Davis has previously mapped the genomes of the cabernet sauvignon grape and the arabica coffee bean and now wants to focus on the hemp plant because of its commercial potential.

“We have successfully applied cutting-edge DNA sequencing technologies and computational approaches to study challenging genomes of diverse crops and associated microorganisms,” said Dario Cantu, an assistant professor in the department of viticulture and enology at UC Davis.

“We are now excited to have the opportunity to study the genome of hemp. Decoding the genome will allow us to gain new insight into the genetic bases of complex pathways of secondary metabolism in plants.”

Cantu and his research team are not the first to attempt to map the genome of cannabis, though his research differs in that it hopes to bring clarity to the medicinal rather than the recreational market.

One team at Oregon Health and Science University, led by geneticist Mowgli Holmes, is involved in a project that ultimately aims to sequence the DNA of every kind of cannabis in the world.

The joint initiative with FRB will involve isolating DNA from hemp that is low in THC—the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

“UC Davis is renowned as the leading agriculture university in the world and we are excited to work with Dr. Cantu’s team to improve this crop to reduce pesticide residues and excessive application of fertilizers, in preparation for production targeting medically beneficial compounds,” said Jonathan Vaught, CEO of FRB.

FRB’s involvement in the research is part of a growing trend that has seen dramatic growth in marijuana-related industries in the United States.

A study released in June found that there were 165,000 to 235,000 people already working in jobs related to the weed industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this means there are now more marijuana workers than dental hygienists.

This figure is expected to grow to around 250,000 jobs by 2020, according to a recent report, thanks to changing laws surrounding recreational pot use.

Don't say 'marijuana' – it is a racist word, Canadian politician claims

• Councillor Shawn Cleary says 'marijuana' is a racist word that should not be used.

• Cannabis is currently illegal in Canada but Justin Trudeau may repeal the law.

By Josh Robbins

 

A Canadian politician has urged people to stop using the term 'marijuana' in reference to the drug cannabis branding it 'racist'. Halifax councillor Shawn Cleary took to twitter to warn against "demonising" Latin Americans.

The liberal politician claimed that a police officer had alerted him to the racially sensitive history of the word, most commonly used to refer to the psychoactive substance. After conducting his own research, he concluded that it was a prejudicial term.

His argument rests on the history of cannabis criminalisation in the US, which took place in the early part of the 20th century. The demonisation of the drug and its ensuing prohibition was borne out of a desire to marginalise new arrivals from Latin America, who liked to smoke "maiguana".

The resulting legislation referred to cannabis as "marijuana" in a bid to emphasise that it was an intrinsically Latin recreational substance.

"Marijuana was used to demonise Mexicans," Cleary said in a tweet. "Given US political climate, let's do what we can to not perpetuate racism."

He added: "I'm learning lots now as Chair of the Municipal Working Group on Cannabis or what I refer to as the Weed Committee [winky face emoji]."

Cleary's proposals met with scorn from some on social media. Fellow councillor Matt Whitman said: "Only in Canada could you smoke it but not say it."

Cannabis is currently illegal in the Commonwealth nation but prime minister Justin Trudeau has launched a task force to explore the possibility of reversing the classification. The drug is increasingly being sold over the counter in parts of the US.

A woman smokes a joint during a march in Brazil YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images

In an interview with CBC on 26 October, Cleary stressed the importance of the words used to describe cannabis, saying: "We need to actually have conversations, have dialogue, and talk about these things. By doing that we're actually increasing the amount of understanding and interest in history.

"These are teaching moments. They are opportunities for us to go and learn stuff and to find out more about the history of the world around us."

Is 'marijuana' a racist term?

The US National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators passed a resolution calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis earlier this year. They also delved into the history of the term 'marijuana'.

The resolution read: "During the 1920s and 1930s, when it was first penalised in various states, cannabis use was portrayed as a cultural vice of Mexican immigrants to the United States, and racist and xenophobic politicians and government officials used cannabis prohibition specifically to target and criminalise Mexican-American culture and incarcerate Mexican-Americans," the document stated.

"The racist politicians who first criminalised cannabis used the term 'marijuana' ... to refer to it precisely because they wanted to underscore that it was a Latino, particularly Mexican, 'vice'."

 

Woman cured of sciatica within hours of using cannabis oil she bought online

Richard Hartley-Parkinson

Cannabis oil removed all the pain Brenda Davidson was suffering from her sciatica (Picture: Northpix)

A woman who spent 13 years in crippling pain that reduced her to tears says she has been cured thanks to cannabis oil.

Brenda Davidson says she is virtually pain free since using the oil, which is legally available because it doesn’t contain THC.

A day after trying her firstdrop of the oil she said: ‘I can’t believe this, I am not in any pain!’

Brenda, 55, from Kirkwall, Orkney, said: ‘My hairdresser has done a lot of research into the cannabis oil, and said her mother had seen tremendous results.’

‘She was putting three drops under her mother’s tongue and she reacted very positively to it.

‘She told me that everyone will be different; it will depend on the individual.’

She is planning to stop taking the conventional tablets completely once she is confident the cannabis oil will continue to work.

Brenda was sceptical, but thought she had little to lose by giving it a go.

She took cannabis oil that cost £54 for a 10ml bottle that lasts nearly two months (Picture: Northpix)

It took her about a fortnight before she finally had a look online to see what she could find.

Initially, Brenda opted for a cheaper product, which she found did not work, so she then tried the company CBD Brothers, which had been recommended to her by her hairdresser.

‘It costs £54 for a 10ml bottle, but it lasts me six to eight weeks. I remember it was a Saturday that it first arrived home, so I tried it, then again on the Sunday, but it wasn’t until the Monday, at work, that I thought ‘I can’t believe this, I am not in any pain’!’

As a former cafeteria assistant, Brenda was on her feet for long periods in a day – and was often reduced to tears with the level of pain.

She suffered from sleep deprivation, and tried to hide the agonising pain as best she could from close family, but was unable to walk for any distance – something which is no longer a problem since taking the oil.

Brenda said she had been on holiday in Italy some 13 years ago when, completely out of the blue, she began to feel some strange pains – looking back now, she believes that she may have ignored some of the earlier signs.

What is cannabis oil and is it illegal?

CBD Brothers’ website explained that cannabidiol oil is a cannabis-derived nutritional supplement which possesses a range of medicinal benefits reported to help people with the following conditions: cancer, epilepsy, rheumatism, migraines, psoriasis, diabetes, anxiety, acne, depression, nausea, neuropathic pain and many more, they claim.

Crucially, it does not contain any THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis; in other words, CBD does not get you high. Since last year, it has been legal to buy in the UK, after the Government’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPR) approved its use as a medicine under licence.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of more than 80 cannabinoids, natural compounds found in the marijuana plant. Extracted from the plant as a mineral-rich oil, it is usually bottled with a dropper – but you can also get it in the form of chewing gum, soap or as a vape oil for e-cigarettes.

It has no side effects, either, and is not addictive, CBD Brothers state.

‘I just took painkillers at that time, and went to see the doctor when I got back home. Again they gave me painkillers, and I got an x-ray at some point but nothing showed up.

‘It got to the point that I could no longer walk the dog. I would be in so much pain and just come home crying my eyes out.

‘I have been on different painkillers over the years and they put me through physio but it did not really help.’

Brenda and her husband, Raymond, have recently moved to Nairn – an ambition for a long time – something which she has been able to enjoy, being almost pain-free again.

‘If it does start to niggle a bit by tea-time I just take another drop and it’s fine again – I really did not think it would work, but it has. The NHS should definitely look into providing it on prescription – surely it would work out cheaper for them than giving out all these prescriptions for painkillers.

‘Altogether, it is the best £54 I have ever spent!’

Cannabis oil is not approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium for use on the NHS in Scotland, so it isn’t generally available.

However, patients can make special requests for any medicine not approved by the SMC. This has to be signed off by their GP or consultant, and is then considered by a panel of relevant experts.

Christopher Nicolson, director of pharmacy at NHS Orkney said: ‘Cannabis oil has not yet been considered for use in Scotland by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, therefore it is not yet available on prescription.

‘However, in general terms, there is scope for doctors to make a request if they wish to prescribe the product. This involves an application being made to the office of the Medical Director. NHS Orkney would then consider the request, and take expert advice before any agreement to fund the treatment..’

Trump Declares Opioid Health Emergency; Sessions Blames Cannabis

Leafly Staff

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to declare the opioid crisis a national public health emergency in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017, in Washington. First Lady Melania Trump listens at left. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

President Donald Trump on Thursday declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency — a step that won’t bring new dollars to fight a scourge that kills nearly 100 Americans a day, but will expand access to medical services in rural areas, among other changes.

“This epidemic is a national health emergency,” Trump said in a speech at the White House, where he bemoaned a crisis he said had spared no segment of American society.

“As Americans we cannot allow this to continue,” he said.

“If we can teach young people, and people generally, not to start, it's really, really easy not to take 'em.”

President Donald Trump

Administration officials have made clear that the declaration, which lasts for 90 days and can be renewed, comes with no dedicated dollars. But they said it will allow them to use existing money to better fight the crisis. Officials also said they would urge Congress, during end-of-the year budget negotiations, to add new cash to a public health emergency fund that Congress hasn’t replenished for years.

The Public Health Emergency Fund currently contains just $57,000, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, a negligible amount. Officials would not disclose how much they were seeking.

Sessions Blames Cannabis

Meanwhile, across town at a forum hosted by the Heritage Foundation, Attorney General Jeff Sessions pinned the blame on cannabis and advised Americans to heed the advice Nancy Reagan gave in the 1980s. Americans, he said, should “just say no” to drugs.  

“I do think this whole country needs to not be so lackadaisical about drugs,” Sessions said. “When you talk to police chiefs, consistently they say much of the addiction starts with marijuana. It’s not a harmless drug.”

“We’ve got to to reestablish, first, a view that you should just say no,” he said. “People should say no to drug use.”

Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden reported on Sessions’s Heritage Foundation speech, which was scheduled to focus on Constitutional law. Holden pointed out that numerous studies found that the ‘Just Say No’ programs of the 1980s were abysmal failures. Holden writes:

Exposure to abstinence-based drug programs of the era such as D.A.R.E. — which also promoted the notion that students should simply say no — have been abandoned by many school districts amid reports the curriculum failed to reduce drug initiation or use.

A 1994 study by the Research Triangle Institute, which was funded in part by the Justice Department, found that the program had little to no impact on drug use. And in 2011, the National Institute of Justice rated D.A.R.E. as having “no effects,” adding that there was “no statistically significant impact on drug use or attitude towards drug” for students involved.

Pelosi: All Talk, No Action

Critics of the White House policy complained that today’s action by Trump consisted of no action at all. 

Leading up to the announcement, Trump had said he wanted to give his administration the “power to do things that you can't do right now.”

“How can you say it’s an emergency if we’re not going to put a new nickel in it?” said Dr. Joseph Parks, medical director of the nonprofit National Council for Behavioral Health, which advocates for addiction treatment providers. “As far as moving the money around,” he added, “that’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi also was critical, calling the new declaration “words without the money.”

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said that Trump “continued talking about criminal justice answers to a public health problem, even though the war on drugs is itself a major factor contributing to the overdose crisis.” 

 

The President,Sánchez-Moreno added, “had a chance to do something meaningful to help stem the tide of overdose deaths in the country; including by pushing for greater access to naloxone and adopting other health-based recommendations from his own opioid commission. Instead, he is condemning even more people to death, imprisonment, and deportation in the name of his war on drugs.”

‘Nothing Desirable About Drugs’

Trump’s audience Thursday included parents who have lost children to drug overdoses, people who have struggled with addiction, and first responders whose have used overdose reversal drugs to save lives. The President also echoed Sessions’s back-to-the-80s advice: 

“The fact is, if we can teach young people, and people generally, not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take them,” the president said of drug use, after detailing his brother’s struggles with addiction. “And I think that’s going to end up being our most important thing. Really tough, really big, really great advertising. So we get to people before they start so they don’t have to go through the problems of what people are going through.”

“There is nothing desirable about drugs,” Trump added later. “They’re bad.”

There’s an Ad Campaign?

Trump also spoke personally about his own family’s experience with addiction: His older brother, Fred Jr., died after struggling with alcoholism. It’s the reason the president does not drink.

Trump described his brother as a “great guy, best looking guy,” with a personality “much better than mine”

“But he had a problem, he had a problem with alcohol,” the president said. “I learned because of Fred.”

Trump said he hoped a massive advertising campaign, which sounded reminiscent of the 1980s “Just Say No” campaign, might have a similar impact.

“If we can teach young people, and people generally, not to start, it’s really, really easy not to take ’em,” he said.

Candidate Trump: Opioid Crisis a Priority

Leading up to the announcement, Trump had said he wanted to give his administration the “power to do things that you can’t do right now.” As a candidate, he had pledged to make fighting addiction a priority, and pressed the issue in some of the states hardest hit.

“When I won the New Hampshire primary, I promised the people of New Hampshire that I would stop drugs from pouring into your communities. I am now doubling down on that promise, and can guarantee you we will not only stop the drugs from pouring in, but we will help all of those people so seriously addicted get the assistance they need to unchain themselves,” Trump told a crowd in Maine weeks before last November’s election.

Once in office, Trump assembled a commission, led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, to study the problem. The commission’s interim report argued an emergency declaration would free additional money and resources, but some in Trump’s administration disagreed.

Chris Christie: This Is ‘Bold Action’

Christie, in a statement, said Trump was taking “bold action” that shows “an unprecedented commitment to fighting this epidemic and placing the weight of the presidency behind saving lives across the country.”

Officials said the administration had considered a bolder emergency declaration, under the Stafford Act, which is typically used for natural disasters like hurricanes. But they decided that measure was better suited to more short-term, location-specific crises than the opioid problem. Drug overdoses of all kinds kill an estimated 142 Americans every day.

As a result of the public health emergency declaration, officials will be able to expand access to telemedicine services, include substance abuse treatment for people living in rural and remote areas. 

Officials will also be able to more easily deploy state and federal workers, secure Department of Labor grants for the unemployed, and shift funding for HIV and AIDs programs to provide more substance abuse treatment for people already eligible for those programs.

Obamacare Medicaid Pays for Treatment

Trump also directed other departments and agencies to exercise their own available emergency authorities to address the crisis.

But Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), said the effort falls far short of what is needed and will diverts staff and resources from other vital public health initiatives.

“Families in Connecticut suffering from the opioid epidemic deserve better than half measures and empty rhetoric offered seemingly as an afterthought,” he said in a statement. He argued, “An emergency of this magnitude must be met with sustained, robust funding and comprehensive treatment programs.”

Democrats also criticize Trump’s efforts to repeal and replace the “Obamacare” health law. Its Medicaid expansion has been crucial in confronting the opioid epidemic.

Adopted by 31 states, the Medicaid expansion provides coverage to low-income adults previously not eligible. Many are in their 20s and 30s, a demographic hit hard by the epidemic. Medicaid pays for detox and long-term treatment.

Sessions: ‘Do Our Best’ To Enforce Laws

Also today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions went on Hugh Hewitt’s conservative talk radio show to discuss a number of issues. Cannabis, of course, came up:

Hugh Hewitt: Let me turn to marijuana, Mr. Attorney General. A lot of states are just simply breaking the law. And a lot of money is being made and banked. One RICO prosecution of one producer and the banks that service them would shut this all down. Is such a prosecution going to happen?

Jeff Sessions: I don’t know that one prosecution would be quite as effective as that, but we, I do not believe that we should, I do not believe there’s any argument, because a state legalized marijuana that the federal law against marijuana is no longer in existence. I do believe that the federal laws clearly are in effect in all 50 states. And we will do our best to enforce the laws as we’re required to do so.

HH: But one prosecution that invokes a supremacy clause against one large dope manufacturing concern, and follows the money as it normally would in any drug operation and seizes it, would shut, would chill all of this. But I haven’t seen one in nine months, yet. Is one coming?

JS: Really analyze all those cases, and I can’t comment on the existence of an investigation at this time, Hugh, you know that, so, but I hear you. You’re making a suggestion. I hear it.

HH: I’m lobbying.

JS: (laughing) You’re lobbying.

Although a growing body of research suggests that medical marijuana is a powerful tool in preventing opioid addiction, lowering opioid dosages, and helping opioid-addicted patients move off the powerful painkillers, there was no mention of cannabis at today’s White House event.

Americans Support Legalizing Marijuana in Record-High Numbers: Poll

New Gallup poll shows majority of Republicans now support legalization, too

The NYC Cannabis Parade happening on Saturday, May 6, 2017; is a four-decade old original New York City tradition, part of the city's classic heritage of cutting-edge progressive movements and protest advocacy. The Global Marijuana March (GMM) was born in New York City as the first annual pro-cannabis event and since expanded to hundreds of different cities in dozens of countries worldwide taking place in hundreds of cities around the world on the first Saturday of every May since 1999. Erik McGregor/Getty Images 

 

A new Gallup poll released earlier this month shows that a record-high percentage of Americans now support legalizing marijuana, with 64 percent of those polled in favor of legalization.

This marks the highest level of public support since the proposal was first made nearly five decades ago; in 1969, just 12 percent of Americans supported legalization, though that figure more than doubled by the end of the next decade.

The number continued to rise, and since 2013, more than half of Americans have consistently voted in support of legalizing marijuana. At present, the drug is still illegal at a federal level, but 29 states – including Seattle, California, Maine and Nevada – have all legalized some form of marijuana use, with eight states and Washington D.C. fully legalizing adult recreational use.

Another interesting revelation in the recent Gallup poll is the fact that a majority of Republicans now support legalization as well; historically, Democrats and independents have been more likely to express their support for marijuana legalization.

In September, members of the GOP made a push for medical marijuana research, breaking rank with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has launched a very vocal, very public campaign against the legalization of the drug. (Earlier this year, Sessions reportedly blocked the Drug Enforcement Agency from approving two dozen proposals for experts to conduct research on the effects of marijuana.)

"There's no transformation. I've always been for any decent medicine," Utah Senator Orrin Hatch told Rolling Stone in September. "I know that medical marijuana can do some things that other medicines can't. I'm for alleviating pain and helping people with illness." 

Regular marijuana users have more sex, study says

By Jen Christensen,

(CNN)Dr. Michael Eisenberg, an assistant professor of urology, sees a lot of patients at the Stanford University Medical Center who have problems performing in the bedroom.

To determine what the problem is, they'll go through a laundry list of regular activities. Often, patients will ask whether they need to smoke less marijuana.

There isn't a lot of research on the topic. However, with marijuana becoming legal in a growing number of states, Eisenberg thought it'd be worth exploring.

What he found surprised him.

"Usually, people assume the more frequently you smoke, the worse it could be when it came to sex, but in fact, we learned the opposite was true," Eisenberg said. His study was published in this week's Journal of Sexual Medicine.

The study looked at data from the US government's National Survey of Family Growth. It asked more than 28,000 women and nearly 23,000 men how often they had sex in the four weeks prior to the survey and how frequently they used marijuana in the past year.

Women who didn't use marijuana reported having sex six times on average during the past four weeks. Women who used marijuana daily had sex 7.1 times on average.

The trend was similar for men. Men who abstained from marijuana said they had sex an average of 5.6 times in the four weeks before the survey, compared with the daily marijuana users who reported having sex 6.9 times, on average.

"We were surprised to see the positive association between users," Eisenberg said. "This was across the board: marital status, race, none of that mattered." The study focused on heterosexual sex, and it didn't explain why there might be a connection between sex and marijuana.

Eisenberg said past research on human and rodent models has shown that marijuana use may generally increase arousal. However, studies have also shown that too much marijuana use can decrease sperm count, and while men may want to have sex more, orgasm may be a challenge.

"It can have a different impact on different people," said Joseph Palamar, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at New York University, who is not connected with the current study.

He thought it was a "cool epidemiological paper" that "did the best it could with the data," but it did have limitations. "It's unclear from the data if people had marijuana in their system before or during sex," Palamar said. Someone could smoke in the morning but not have sex until the evening, when it wouldn't be in their system any more, for example. He added he'd like to see a study that could show more of a direct effect on frequency.

Palamar authored a small study comparing the sexual experience of people who are under the influence of alcohol versus marijuana.
             

Studying 24 adults, his research found that people under either influence had increased feelings of self-attractiveness, but alcohol seemed to make people more social and bold and helped them make more connections with potential partners, compared with those people using marijuana. It showed that drinkers typically have more regrets about who they slept with and are less choosey, whereas marijuana users tended to be more selective.

Because marijuana is still illegal in the majority of places, Palamar found that most people have to smoke in private, and that could lead to more opportunities to initiate intimacy, compared with people who drink, since alcohol is everywhere.

Marijuana may also have increased some people's sensitivity during the act itself, although some reported getting so "lost in their own heads," they weren't paying as much attention to their partners, and they did not enjoy sex as much.

"And if marijuana makes you paranoid, as it does with some people, it could really, pardon the pun, screw your ability to have an orgasm," Palamar said. Some women also reported vaginal dryness when they smoked pot, and that too can limit sexual pleasure.

Both scholars hoped these studies will encourage other researchers to dive deeper into the topic. In the meantime, Eisenberg said that if a patient asks whether his frequent marijuana use is getting in the way of his sex life, he will tell them that "it may not be the culprit."

Regular marijuana use can have other impacts on your health. Research in adults is still limited, but what we know is that smoking can irritate your lungs, and studies have shown it can raise your heart rate, making you more vulnerable to a heart attack.

"For most people, we tell them instead to go to the gym and lose 20 pounds," Eisenberg said. Being overweight can give men arousal problems.

"We always talk about anything that can be good for your heart can be good for your penis," he said. "For a lot of guys, hearing that is an amazing motivator."

Marijuana Doesn't Impair Sexual Desire, Study Suggests

By Kelsey Kennedy,

Credit: MWesselPhoto/Shutterstock

People who frequently use marijuana are likely to have sex more often, a new study suggests.
The researchers found that the women in the study who said they hadn't used marijuana in the past year reported that they'd had sex an average of six times in the previous month. Women who did report using marijuana in the past year reported that they'd had sex more frequently, an average of seven times in the previous month.

The findings were similar for men, according to the study, published today (Oct. 27) in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Men who said they'd used marijuana in the past year reported having sex an average of seven times in the previous month, compared with an average of six times for men who said they hadn't used marijuana in the past year.

To examine the relationship between marijuana use and frequency of sexual activity, the researchers looked at survey results from about 50,000 people in the U.S. who took the National Survey of Family Growth, a federal survey that collects information on family relationships, reproductive health and drug use. Of the participants, 25 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women reported ever using marijuana.

The researchers used data from three cycles of survey, one given in 2002, one given from 2006 to 2010, and one given from 2011 to 2015. The participants were men and women ages of 15 and 44, but the researchers limited their analysis to respondents ages 25 and 44.

Across all cycles of the survey, both men and women who used marijuana reported a higher frequency of sexual activity. The researchers noted in the report that the study isn't proof that marijuana use causes increased sexual activity; however, "the data imply that regular marijuana use will not impair sexual function or desire."

The research is an "impressive study because of its size," said Joseph Palamar, an associate professor of public health at New York University's Langone Medical Center, who studies drug use and sexual behavior and who was not involved in the new study.

But Palamar stressed that the findings show a correlation, not cause and effect. In other words, using marijuana more frequently doesn't directly cause more sexual activity.

"Really, marijuana would need to be used shortly before or during sex to study its true sexual effects," Palamar told Live Science. Because the surveys didn't ask participants when they were using marijuana, it's difficult to directly relate use of the drug to sexual activity and function based on this study, Palamar said.

And then there's the survey's definition of sex itself. The survey asked if respondents had "sexual intercourse" in the previous four weeks, and clarified that "sometimes, this is called making love, having sex or going all the way."

But "those terms have very different meanings for different people," Palamar said.

Studying marijuana's impacts on sex is complicated: The drug affects each person differently, and different situations can influence a person's experience with the substance, Palamar said. So, although the study is large, it doesn't tell us much, he said.

"We don't know if it's good sex. We don't know if it's dysfunctional sex," he said. It's also possible that people who are more likely to smoke weed are also more likely to have sex, or to report it on a survey. "It might just be a lifestyle or just a personality type."

Recreational marijuana could be sold in private sector later on, minister says

Legal age for marijuana use is expected to be announced soon

By Elizabeth Fraser, 

Finance Minister Cathy Rogers says it's important the province 'start tight' in the marijuana business so it can combat the illegal pot trade. (CBC) 

The province might be relying on NB Liquor to sell recreational marijuana initially, but it hasn't ruled out selling in the private sector later on, Finance Minister Cathy Rogers says.

"Down the road after we get some experience, we'll learn from the experience and we may look at other ways," Rogers said Thursday.

In the meantime, the province announced on Wednesday that NB Liquor will set up a stand-alone stores before the legalization of recreational marijuana in July 2018.

Up to 20 stores will be established in 15 communities across the province, with strict policies in place.

Stores must be located at least 300 metres away from schools, they will only display products under glass, and customers will need to show identification to prove they are of legal age before they can even get inside the building.

The use of recreational marijuana will be legal in July 2018. (Eric Engman/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner/Associated Press)

"We didn't start out letting the private sector sell alcohol," Rogers said. "It's new territory and it's very important … that we start tight to combat the illegal market," she said.

For now, the latest retail model will allow the province to be ready by next July, when marijuana becomes legal.

"We've said from day one that we'll have a retail model that we'll start with and this now has been announced, it's ANBL," she said.

"It's separate stores from their current alcohol stores for a number of very good reasons."

There's no decision yet on what the price will be, what the stores will be called, or what the legal age will be.

Brian Harriman, president and CEO of NB Liquor, took part in the province's announcement that the Crown corporation will sell marijuana through a subsidiary. (Catherine Harrop/CBC News)

However, Rogers did tell Information Morning Fredericton that there have been discussions surrounding the legal age for marijuana use and what the age will be. She said the legal age is expected to be announced soon.

She also said costs to start up a marijuana retailing operation, will be "next to nothing" and the implementation of these stores are within the province's current budget.

"We have nothing extra this year," she said.

Next year, the province's main focus will be on supply, a good distribution model and corporate and social responsibility, she said.

And eventually, the province hopes to see some revenue from selling the product.

Wants to keep customers in province

Meanwhile, the province is still waiting to hear from the federal government about a tax regime and expects to see some profit from recreational marijuana down the road.

A small number of stores will be spread out across the province in areas based on income traffic and population. Residents will also be able to purchase recreational marijuana online.

But Rogers said the province is still trying to sort out ways it can keep consumers buying recreational marijuana in New Brunswick and avoid buying from other provinces.

The province has signed agreements with two cannabis producers, Organigram and Canopy Growth, to be suppliers.

"Those who do decide to consume will have the benefit of knowing their product," she said.

The Beauty Industry Has Spoken: CBD Is the New Super Oil

By Shiri Sarfati

A range of TheraJoy’s body products. Kaitlyn Flannagan for Observer

Ever since Moroccanoil launched their argan-based hair care collection about a decade ago, consumers have been obsessed with the notion that moisturizing oils are essential for beauty care.

Argan might have been this movement’s early rock star, but oils continue to be a beauty market craze, appearing in everything from your shampoo to your facial cleanser. And while argan remains a stalwart, the market is always ready to jump at a new oil trend.

Enter CBD or cannabidiol hemp oil, a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis that has long been used for its therapeutic benefits, which include soothing skin, treating joint injuries and easing chronic pain—though it’s largely been shunned by western medicine due to its close relationship with its psychoactive sister, THC. But a few small studies have confirmed what has been thought by traditional cultures for years—a 2014 scientific report found that because of its anti-inflammatory and sebum-reducing properties, CBD and cannabis sativa can have a positive effect on acne-prone skin.

In the beauty industry’s experiments with CBD, a number of early adopters have confirmed the oil’s incredible moisturizing and skin soothing properties, due to its high levels of essential fatty acids. And for hair, they’re touting its ability to soften and thicken the follicles.

But many retailers in the U.S. are hesitant to stock anything containing CBD, and for good reason.

The laws surrounding its possession and distribution are murky, at best, so selling CBD products could constitute an illegal activity. The federal government classifies all cannabis extracts as a schedule one drug. Depending on what part of the plant CBD has derived from, the oil may be illegal, as well. Yet because many aspects of drug regulation fall under the purview of individual states, 15 have been able to legalize the plant’s use for recreational purposes over the past 5 years, and in these states, the use and sale of CBD are above-board. With legal access to cannabis increasingly growing, the stigmas against its non-psychoactive byproducts has lessened, and companies and consumers alike are eager to experiment with its potential benefits.

High-potency CBD oils and salves can currently be found in medical marijuana dispensaries, cannabis lifestyle stores and health food stores in the states that have legalized its use. But as CBD becomes more mainstream, expect to see more big companies joining in. Andrea Hume, manager of Herbin’ Living, a smoke shop, vape lounge and dispensary in Miami, Florida can’t keep enough stock in store to keep up with the demand of CBD topicals. She predicts that in the coming months we’ll see more popular skin care companies “throwing a CBD line into their range.”

It’s already a main selling point for a few. TheraJoy, Khus + Khus, CBD for Life and Herb Essntls, have all made a name for themselves by openly disclosing the fact that CBD oil is their main ingredient.

“We created this company because we wanted to give people a way to feel better,” said Gene Fein, CEO of TheraJoy Pharma, who have created a high-potency CBD and coconut oil-based salve that is sold through dispensaries in Southern California. “I feel pretty confident that when major retailers do start carrying CBD products, we will be one of the first brands stocked on those shelves,” he said.

Moreover, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2017, introduced to the house this July, aims to remove Hemp from the list of federally controlled substances. This Act defines industrial hemp as containing less than 0.3 percent THC and acknowledges that “industrial hemp is a non-narcotic agricultural commodity that is used in tens of thousands of legal and legitimate products.”

“CBD derived from cannabis has some THC in it” says Fein. That’s why his company buys its organic hemp from Europe, where it can be legally sourced and lawfully imported into the U.S. “We want to stay in compliance,” he asserts.

There is still a lot of speculation around the beauty benefits of CBD, but nevertheless, beauty companies have jumped on board, infusing everything from bath bombs to pomade with this trending ingredient. Here are five products to try.

Khus + Khus SEN Face Serum

From one of the leading brands in the CBD beauty space comes a face serum that uses European Eco-Certified CBD Oil as its main ingredient. Antioxidant and anti-aging skin nutrition is what this serum will deliver to your weary visage.

TheraJoy CBD Salve

This topical ointment combining 99 percent pure CBD and pure coconut oil claims to be one of the most potent salves on the market. It can be used to ease joint pain, while providing added moisturizing properties to the skin.

TheraJoy’s facial serum and salve. Kaitlyn Flannagan for Observer

Herb Essntls Cannabis Infused Moisturizer

Cannabis sativa oil takes center stage in this facial moisturizer. It is made with organic ingredients and purports to keep skin looking young and healthy.

Apothecanna Calming Body Oil

Great for when the skin feels stressed out, Apothecanna’s body oil was built around cannabis and other nourishing ingredients to relax the body and soothe the mind.

Apothecana’s range of body oils. Apothecana/Facebook

Malin + Goetz Hair Pomade

For those days when hair just won’t stay comes a hair pomade from Malin + Geotz. Using cannabis as an ingredient, this pomade provides essential fatty acids to moisturize, smooth and keep flyaways at bay.

Malin + Goetz Hair Pomade. Malin + Goetz/Facebook