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Can Marijuana Be The Answer For Pain?

Like many of her friends, Alexandra Callner, now 58, experimented with recreational marijuana when she was younger.

“I had tried it, and hated it, in my 20s,” Callner says. “When I was around pot smokers, I thought, ‘Ugh, losers.’ ”

But, that was before her knee arthritis became so bad, it robbed her sleep, night after night. She took two over-the-counter pain pills a day, but the pain would wake her up at night. And the drugs were hard on her stomach.

“It was making me kind of nauseous,” she says of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. Plus, she needed to stay active to manage her dog boarding service in Pasadena, CA.

Then came another solution. “A neighbor said, ‘Try this,’ ” Callner says. It was a joint.

Callner got a medical marijuana card, and then she tried it. “I slept through the night.”

That was a year ago, and it’s now her nightly ritual. “Every night, I get into bed, read about an hour, take one or two puffs, and then I am off to sleep,” she says. “The pain is much lighter.”

About 50 million Americans like Callner live with chronic or severe pain. Patients and doctors are seeking treatments besides the potent prescription painkillers like opioids and the nonprescription medicines that Callner found tough to tolerate.

So could marijuana be the next pain reliever of choice?

Lack of Research

Donald Abrams, MD, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, helped review research on marijuana for a 2017 report from the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

There is a lack of evidence about the health effects of marijuana, he says.

Adds Angela Bryan, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado, Boulder: “The evidence we have thus far suggests that cannabis is moderately effective for pain relief.” But most studies haven’t compared marijuana with other ways to relieve pain, she says.

Cannabis is the scientific name for the marijuana plant. Researchers prefer to use “cannabis” instead of “marijuana” because marijuana is associated with recreational use, Abrams says.

Why the lack of evidence from research in the U.S.?

Although medical marijuana in some form is legal in 30 states and Washington, D.C., it’s still illegal on the federal level. It’s classified as a Schedule I drug — putting it in the same category as other drugs of “high potential for abuse” that have ”no currently accepted medical use,” such as heroin and LSD.

That means federal rules put limits on what researchers can do.

“In the state of Colorado [which allows medical and adult private use], I can go to any dispensary and buy whatever I want to treat whatever I want,” says Bryan, who’s also co-director of the CU Change Lab, which explores health and risk behavior. “You would think that means researchers can, too. The problem is, researchers are in a federal institution [at the University of Colorado]. If we do anything in violation of federal law, we could have all federal funding withdrawn.”

Bryan’s team has grants for four research studies on marijuana, including one on lower back pain. Participants come to the university for their initial assessment, but then must go to the dispensary on their own to buy the marijuana, she says. Declassifying marijuana as a Schedule I drug would make her research easier, Bryan says, or at least as easy as alcohol research.

“If I want to do a study on alcohol, I bring someone in, give them wine, get blood [samples], and see what happens when they use alcohol.”

Bryan says she could use marijuana supplied by the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a license to the University of Mississippi to cultivate marijuana for research. The marijuana from dispensaries is different and more potent  than that supplied by the National Institute on Drug Abuse farm, she says.

Patient groups, including those for veterans, are among those pushing for more research. Nick Etten, a former Navy SEAL, founded the Veterans Cannabis Project in 2017. “We are bringing stories to the Hill,” he says, ”of veterans who have found relief from their health issues through cannabis.” He reaches out to individual U.S. legislators, he says, to elevate marijuana as a health issue and to persuade them to declassify marijuana.

In 2016, the National Football League Players Association created a pain management committee to study ways to help players deal with injuries and chronic pain, says Brandon Parker, a spokesman. “Marijuana is just one of several alternative pain relievers being studied by the committee,” he says.

Research Scorecard

The National Academies’ report looked at data from 1999 on, reviewing more than 10,000 scientific studies, of which only seven were directly related to pain relief. One of the seven looked at data from 28 studies.

Abrams says the evidence on marijuana and pain is strongest for helping nerve pain (neuropathy) and cancer-related pain. The committee also concluded that certain oral cannabinoids improved muscle spasms in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Cannabinoids are one of more than 60 chemicals in the cannabis plant. Abrams says it makes sense that marijuana may help relieve pain because the body has cannabinoid receptors, or places where the chemical attaches to cells.

Cannabinoid
The above wheel serves as a resource to determine which cannabinoids
may help treat symptoms associated with mood, eating/gastrointestinal disorders,
neurological disorders, pain, sleep disorders, and other medical conditions.

Here is a sampling of research or reviews published in the past year:

  • Israeli researchers found marijuana gave substantial pain relief to more than half of 1,200 cancer patients who used it for 6 months.
  • In a review of 16 published studies including more than 1,700 participants with chronic nerve pain, German researchers found that marijuana-based remedies increased the number of people who reported a 50% or more reduction in pain relief. But they also concluded that the risks may outweigh the benefits. People taking marijuana-based remedies were more likely to have sleepiness, dizziness, and confusion.
  • In a small study of 47 patients with Parkinson’s disease, Israeli researchers found a 27% improvement in pain with marijuana use.
  • Medical marijuana helped to ease pain in 26 patients with fibromyalgia, a condition in which the body has ”tender” points. Half the patients stopped taking any other medicines for fibromyalgia, but 30% did have mild side effects.
  • A study from the European Academy of Neurology found that cannabinoids given at various doses eased pain in migraine patients by 40% or more. It helped cut pain in people with cluster headaches, too, but only if the patient had a history of childhood migraine.
  • Marijuana and cannabinoids may have modest effects on the pain and muscle spasticity that come with multiple sclerosis, according to an Australian review that looked at 32 studies.

Not for Everyone

Experts also saw potential downsides to marijuana. The European Academy report found that marijuana use may:

  • Make you more likely to be involved in a car accident
  • Raise the chance of unintentional marijuana overdose injuries among children, something that has happened in states where marijuana use is legal
  • Lead to more frequent bronchitis if smoked on a regular basis
  • Raise the odds of having schizophrenia and, to a lesser extent, depression

Smoking marijuana is also linked to delivering a lower birth weight baby, although the relationship with other pregnancy and childhood outcomes is not clear, the report says.

Abrams says marijuana can raise heart rate and either raise or lower blood pressure. Frail older people with balance issues have a risk of dizziness and falling.

Will Marijuana Replace Opioids?

Some research suggests that marijuana could take the place of opioids. Two recent studies found that states with medical marijuana laws or legalized recreational use may have a decline in opioid prescriptions.

In another study, researchers polled nearly 3,000 medical marijuana patients, including about a third who said they had used opioid pain medicines in the past 6 months. Most said the marijuana provided relief equal to their other medications, but without the side effects. While 97% said they were able to lower the amount of opioids they took if they also took marijuana, 81% said that taking marijuana alone was more effective than using both marijuana and opioids.

That finding makes sense to Alex Jordan, 29, an artist who works at the Green Valley Collective, a marijuana dispensary in the Los Angeles area. She manages her chronic pain with daily use of marijuana joints and products that contain cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabinoid.

Her experience helps her guide her customers, who range from young adults to those over age 80, to an effective remedy. “I would say 60% of our users use [marijuana] to manage some kind of pain, whether it be physical or mental,” she says.

Without it, her pain is severe – usually a 4 to 7 on a 10-point scale, she says. It started after she was in a car accident in 2011. The van she was riding in hit black ice and flipped seven times. The accident left her with a broken sternum (breastbone), six broken ribs, six crushed vertebrae, and collapsed lungs, making breathing difficult. Morphine helped relieve the pain in the hospital. Later, she says, “I could get any pill I wanted” for pain relief. She wore a neck brace for 2 months and a back brace for 6, but the pain persisted.

She wanted off the potent painkillers and had used marijuana recreationally in years past. She experimented with different options until she found her current regimen. And to make access easier, she and her husband moved from New York City to Los Angeles, where recreational marijuana is legal, last year. Before the move, the pain had gotten so bad, she had trouble putting on a shirt. These days, she’s working regularly and branching out as a freelance artist.

“The lack of pain is a wonderful thing,” she says. “It brings me to tears.”

 

By Kathleen Doheny        April 20, 2018
WebMD Article Reviewed by Arefa Cassoobhoy, MD, MPH on April 20, 2018

Sources

Article: Can Marijuana Be The Answer For Pain?
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendation’s for Research,” January, 2017.
National Conference of State Legislatures: “State Medical Marijuana Laws.”
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML): “Legalization.”
Donald Abrams, MD, oncologist and professor of clinical medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
Angela Bryan, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder; co-director, CU Change Lab.
Nick Etten, founder, Veterans Cannabis Project.
Brandon Parker, spokesman, National Football League Players Union.
Alexandra Callner, owner, Spoiled Dog Pet Care, Pasadena, CA.
Alex Jordan, artist; budtender, Green Valley Collective, North Hollywood, CA.
JAMA Internal Medicine: “The Role of Cannabis Legalization in the Opioid Crisis.”
European Journal of Internal Medicine: “Prospective analysis of safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in large unselected population of patients with cancer.”
Cochrane Database System Review: “Cannabis-based medicines for chronic neuropathic pain in adults.”
Clinical Neuropharmacology: “Medical Cannabis in Parkinson Disease: Real-Life Patients’ Experience.”
Journal of Clinical Rheumatology: “Medical Cannabis for the Treatment of Fibromyalgia.”
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports: “The Use of Cannabis and Cannabinoids in Treating Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis: a Systematic Review of Reviews.”
World Health Organization: “Cannabidiol (CBD) Pre-Review Report,” Expert Committee on Drug Dependence Thirty-ninth Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 6-10, 2017.

 


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Canada Becomes Second Nation in the World to Legalize Marijuana

(CNN) Recreational marijuana use will soon be legal in Canada after the Senate passed a “historic” bill on Tuesday with a vote of 52-29.

Canada is only the second country in the world – and the first G7 nation – to implement legislation to permit a nationwide marijuana market. In the neighboring US, nine states and the District of Columbia now allow for recreational marijuana use, and 30 allow for medical use.

Bill C-45, otherwise known as the Cannabis Act, stems from a campaign pledge of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to keep marijuana away from underage users and reduce related crime.

The act to legalize the recreational use of weed was first introduced on April 13, 2017, and was later passed at the House of Commons in November. The Senate passage of the bill was the final hurdle in the process.

Uruguay was the first country to legalize marijuana’s production, sale and consumption in December 2013.

Although the Canadian government had initially stated its intent to implement by July 2018, provinces and territories, who will be responsible for drafting their own rules for marijuana sales, have advised that they would need eight to 12 weeks after the Senate approval to transition to the new framework.

The government is expected to choose a date in early or mid September.

Study Finds Alcohol Makes You Aggressive; Pot, Pretty Much the Opposite

On Twitter, Trudeau praised the bill and focused on Canada’s youth.

@JustinTrudeau
It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana – and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept

“It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana – and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate,” he tweeted.

The justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, also applauded the vote.

“This is an historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada,” she tweeted. “This legislation will help protect our youth from the risks of cannabis while keeping profits out of the hands of criminals and organized crime.”

cannabis-infographic

What’s legal and what’s not

Once the bill is formally approved, adults will be able to carry and share up to 30 grams of legal marijuana in public. They also will be allowed to cultivate up to four plants in their households and prepare products such as edibles for personal use.

However, stringent rules will still govern the purchase and use of marijuana.

Consumers are expected to purchase marijuana from retailers regulated by provinces, territories or — when neither of those options are available – federally licensed producers. Marijuana will also not be sold in the same location as alcohol or tobacco.

The Canadian government has also implemented changes to their impaired driving laws, to address repercussions for driving under the influence of cannabis.

The bill set a floor on the minimum age of the consumer at 18 years, and makes the production, distribution, or sale of cannabis products an offense for minors.

While provinces can increase the minimum age, the intent is to continue to discourage Canadian youth from pot use, by establishing many of the same restrictions that exist for cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Canada Plans to Use Its Marijuana Revenue in the Best Possible Way

Market boom

C-45 is also expected to spark a billion-dollar industry, given total spending on marijuana could surge as high as 58%, especially as users are expected to be willing to pay a premium for legal access to the drug.

In the United States, BDS Analytics estimated that the pot industry took in nearly $9 billion in sales in 2017. The revenue from the sales is equivalent to the entire snack bar industry.

As a result, the attempts to legalize cannibas for recreational use have caused Canadian marijuana companies like Canopy Growth Corp., Aphria Inc., and Aurora Cannabis Inc. to become the center of investor frenzy.

As provinces decide local rules of implementation, marijuana availability will vary across the country. In Alberta, recreational weed will be widely available at more than 200 private retailers across the province. On the opposite end of the spectrum, marijuana availability will only be provided in 40 state-run shops in Ontario. In Newfoundland and Labrador, it will be available in Loblaws grocery stores.

By Bani Sapra, CNN          Wed June 20, 2018
 
CNN’s Mary McDougall and Madison Park contributed to this report.
source: cnn.com

 


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9 Remarkable Healing Properties Of CBD

Cannabis has been stigmatized for decades, but scientists and society cannot deny that the plant’s active ingredients, known as Cannabinoids, provide a natural remedy to a host of health issues. While CBD, extracted from the cannabis plant, is structurally similar to THC, part of the allure is that it won’t get you high.

“CBD is now the most researched cannabinoid on the market and rightly so because the studies go back to the 1940s proving its effectiveness on the nervous and immune systems, with no toxicity, side effects, nor psycho-activity,” says Jared Berry, CEO of Isodiol, a company that produces hemp-extracted CBD for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetic companies.

Cannabis is known to have 85+ different cannabinoids, many of them potentially having health benefits.

“Cannabinoids promote homeostasis at every level of biological life, from the sub-cellular to the organism, and perhaps to the community and beyond,” writes NORML, a foundation that works to reform marijuana laws.

According to research, cannabinoids synergize and help support humans’ built-in Endocannabinoid System (ECS). It was in 1992 that scientists discovered that the ECS plays a direct role in homeostasis, which regulates every metabolic process in the body, such as pain sensation, appetite, temperature regulation, stress reactivity, immune function, and sleep, as well as other processes. Even more interesting is that muscle and fat tissue also utilize these receptors to control their processes.

So basically, CBD communicates with our body’s main command center to keep things running as they should. Pretty amazing.

While the government has arguably made selling CBD quite difficult, the US Department of Health and Services ironically patented cannabinoids in 2001.

The FDA and DEA refuse to change their stance on cannabis.

“Naturally, this shows a certain amount of hypocrisy that there is ‘no accepted medical use’ for cannabis according to federal law,” Sam Mendez, an intellectual property and public policy lawyer who serves as the executive director of the University of Washington’s Cannabis Law & Policy Project recently told the Denver Post.  “And yet here you have the very same government owning a patent for, ostensibly, a medical use for marijuana.”

Politics aside, let’s look at just nine of the myriad ways CBD can help improve  health.

EPILEPSY
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder caused by unusual nerve cell activity in the brain. Each year, about 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with this condition. Many turn to mind-numbing medications, brain surgeries and invasively implanted electrical stimulation devices, with little to no relief.

Yet, 20 years of research has shown that CBD has anti-seizure activity, and has been used successfully to treat drug-resistant, epileptic children with no side effects.

“CBD oil is also really good option for people with seizures, because you want a method of delivery they can’t choke on. As an oil, it can be rubbed on the gums and under the tongue,” adds Payton Curry, the founder of Flourish Cannabis, and a huge proponent of CBD. Curry views cannabis as a vegetable, and uses everything from the bud to the root stock to maximize its non-psychoactive properties.

DEPRESSION
These days, just thinking of the future of the health care system in this country and the assaults on our environment is enough to get a person down and out.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, in any given year, persistent depressive disorder PDD, affects approximately 1.5 percent of the U.S. population ages 18 and older. That’s about 3.3 million American adults.

In 2015, an estimated 16.1 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.

CBD has shown to have antidepressant-like actions, enhancing both serotonergic and glutamate cortical signaling through a 5-HT1A receptor-dependent mechanism.

ANXIETY
We live in a Xanax-addled society. Anxiety Disorders today affect 18.1 percent of adults in the United States, which equates to approximately 40 million adults, between the ages of 18 to 54.

One of CBD’s most promising implications is in the realm of anti-anxiety. Studies show that CBD can positively impact behavior and reduce psychological measures of stress and anxiety in conditions such as PTSD, social anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

CBD also significantly reduced cognitive impairment and discomfort in speech performance, and significantly decreased angst surrounding public speaking.

Even some pet owners have reported that using CBD oil on their dogs has calmed them down, writes Gunhee Park, Co-Founder of Ministry of Hemp.

While more research is needed to illustrate optimal dosage for anti-anxiety, consider this an opportunity to experiment and learn what works for you.

OXIDATIVE STRESS
Today, chronic disease is on the rise like never before with oxidative stress playing a significant causative role. Oxidative stress occurs when the body has too many free radicals and can’t counteract the damage. People fall prey when eating a nutrient deficient diet or when they experience an onslaught of toxins and the body can’t keep up and detox, causing more symptoms of dis-ease.

Oxidative stress is associated with a number of ailments including neurodegenerative diseases, heart disease, gene mutations and cancer.

How amazing that CBD is particularly beneficial in the treatment of oxidative stress-associated diseases of the CNS, because cannabinoids’ ability to cross the blood brain barrier and exert their antioxidant effects in the brain.

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
Chronic low-level inflammation can severely erode your health; the silent lurker contributes to at least seven of the 10 leading causes of mortality in the United States, which include heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and nephritis.

While real organic food and proper nutrition should be the base of any anti-inflammatory protocol, CBD has shown to significantly suppress chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain without causing dependency or tolerance.

CHRONIC PAIN AND NEURO-PROTECTION
Studies also indicate that this magical compound can help reduce chronic pain, which is fantastic considering America is witnessing a serious and deadly opioid epidemic. To put things in perspective, we are now losing more people to opioids than from firearms or car crashes – combined.

Cannabis can regulate immune functions and shows positive effects where neurons have been damaged, which makes it a safe and effective treatment for ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and MS. CBD has also slowed down cell damage in diabetes patients and worked effectively to block progression of arthritis.

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
As if CBD wasn’t already a home run, CBD also plays a positive role on our metabolism, and body weight regulation.

In a published study in the scientific journal Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

CBD was found to:

  •       Stimulate genes and proteins that enhance the breakdown and oxidation of fat.
  •       Increase the number and activity of mitochondria, which increases the body’s ability to burn calories).
  •       Decrease the expression of proteins involved in lipogenesis (fat cell generation).
  •       Help induce fat browning.

SLEEP
Not sleeping can wreak havoc on your psyche and physique. According to the American Sleep Association, 50-70 million U.S. adults have a sleep disorder today.

Evidence suggests that CBD oil can improve quality of sleep and reduce anxiety. I can attest. One study found that CBD blocked anxiety-induced REM sleep suppression, resulting in better quality of sleep. Another study found that the oil reduced participants’ cortisol levels, which are linked to anxiety and stress in the body.

When it comes to doses for treatment, Gunhee writes that CBD dosing experiments have shown that small doses of CBD have an “active” effect, meaning it actually helps you stay active and focused while interestingly, large dosages have the opposite effect: sedation.

ADDICTION
How ironic that we can use a compound belonging to a Schedule 1 Drug (marijuana) to stop the addiction of other narcotics.

CBD is thought to modulate various neuronal circuits involved in drug addiction. A limited number of preclinical studies suggest that CBD may have therapeutic properties on opioid, cocaine and psychostimulant addictions. One of the most promising application is using CBD to curb the habits of cigarette smokers.

CBD can even be effective for the treatment of cannabis withdrawal syndrome and certainly helped me kick Xanax for good.

Many of these could replace synthetic drugs that have flooded the market and allow patients and customers to use a natural non addictive plant compound as a remedy.

In the words of Gunhee, co-founder of Populum: “…maybe that’s the exact reason why progress has been so slow; approval of CBD as a legitimate supplement and drug would be a significant blow to big pharmaceutical companies.”

By: Maryam Henein       May 12, 2017       About        Follow at @MaryamHenein


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Pot Policies: Everything You Need To Know About Marijuana Legalization

A look at pot policies across Canada

A look at how the provinces and territories plan to manage weed consumption once it’s legalized in Canada.

Cannabis curious? Jonesing for your first legal joint? Either way, get ready to roll: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says marijuana will be legal by next summer.

Bill C-45, which will legalize cannabis across the country, largely leaves it up to the provinces and territories to determine how marijuana can be sold and used. Below, we take a look at the current state of these pot policies.

Some things to consider:

  • Ontario is the only province that has passed its marijuana law. Other provinces and territories are in various stages of completing theirs, so much of the below information is subject to change. Saskatchewan and Nunavut have been excluded from our reefer roundup as both have yet to unveil even partial pot plans.
  • In every province and territory, the federally-mandated public possession limit of 30 grams of dried cannabis has been maintained, though some provinces, like Quebec and Alberta, will permit you to keep more at home.
  • With the exception of Manitoba, all jurisdictions have opted to keep their legal dope-smoking ages in line with those for drinking alcohol.
  • Bill C-45 allows individuals to grow up to four marijuana plants, though some provinces, like Manitoba and Quebec, plan to ban home cultivation.
  • Provincial and territorial plans vary widely on whether you’ll be able to smoke in public.
  • Provinces and territories also differ on whether pot shops will be publicly or privately owned. For those opting for publicly-owned stores, these will be operated by provincial Crown corporations that sell liquor. In some cases, provinces have even created subsidiaries of these companies with names like CannabisNB and the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation. Unless otherwise noted, these will be standalone stores wholly separate from those that sell alcohol.

After our jurisdictional breakdown, keep reading. We’ll also attempt to peer through the haze at the biggest issues still facing marijuana legalization: namely, testing drivers for impairment, weed in the workplace, smoking in rental properties and the availability of edible products.

ALBERTA
Age: 18+
Where to buy: Privately-run storefronts plus government-operated online sales.
Grow your own?: Up to four plants. Outdoor growing will be banned.
Where to smoke?: Only where tobacco may be smoked.
Other notes: No possession limits in private residences.

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Both government and privately-run storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: To be determined.
Where to smoke?: Only where tobacco may be smoked.
Other notes: More details are expected in early 2018.

MANITOBA
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Privately-run storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: Not permitted.
Where to smoke?: To be determined.
Other notes: Legal age is one year above the legal drinking age. Municipalities will be able to hold referendums to ban retail stores.

NEW BRUNSWICK
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Government-operated storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: Up to four plants.
Where to smoke?: Only on private property and in private residences.
Other notes: 20 cannabis stores will be open in July. No possession limits in private residences. All cannabis must be securely locked up at home.

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Privately-run storefronts plus government-operated online sales.
Grow your own?: To be determined.
Where to smoke?: Only on private property and in private residences.
Other notes: Government-run liquor stores will sell cannabis in some smaller municipalities. Private online sales may be permitted in the future.

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Privately-run liquor stores and government-operated online sales
Grow your own?: Up to four plants.
Where to smoke?: On private property and in private residences. Smoking will also be allowed on trails, highways, streets, roads and in parks when they are not in use for public events.
Other notes: Cannabis will initially be sold through liquor stores. Individual communities will be able to enact cannabis restrictions and/or prohibitions. Landlords will also be able to declare their properties smoke-free.

NOVA SCOTIA
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Government-operated storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: Up to four plants.
Where to smoke?: To be determined.
Other notes: Cannabis will be sold alongside alcohol in provincial liquor stores.

ONTARIO
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Government-operated storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: Up to four plants.
Where to smoke?: Only on private property and in private residences.
Other notes: 40 cannabis stores will be open in July. 150 will be in operation by 2020.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Government-operated storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: To be determined.
Where to smoke?: Only on private property and in private residences.
Other notes: More details are expected in early 2018.

QUEBEC
Age: 18+
Where to buy: Government-operated storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: Not permitted.
Where to smoke?: Only where tobacco may be smoked, with the exception of university and CEGEP campuses.
Other notes: 15 cannabis stores will be open in July. 150 will be in operation by 2020. Users will be able to keep up to 150 grams at home.

YUKON
Age: 19+
Where to buy: Government-operated storefronts and online sales.
Grow your own?: Up to four plants.
Where to smoke?: Only on private property and in private residences.
Other notes: At least one cannabis store to be opened in Whitehorse in July. Private retailers may be allowed in the future. Landlords will be able to ban marijuana use.

Other issues to consider:

IMPAIRED DRIVING

  • There is currently no government-approved roadside testing technology for marijuana impairment.
  • According to a recent Health Canada survey, there is also currently no consensus on how long it takes to be able to drive safely after consuming cannabis.
  • Experts say roadside urine and blood tests are not useful ways to test drivers for impairment because regular marijuana users can yield positive results days — or even weeks — after use.
  • Currently, specially-trained police “Drug Recognition Experts” (DREs) use a 12-step system to detect drug impairment in drivers, including examining one’s eyes, attention, blood pressure and pulse.
  • While the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that DREs can be used for expert evidence in trials, critics have decried the subjective nature of their evaluations.
  • The RCMP, in conjunction with other Canadian police departments and Public Safety Canada, has recently experimented with roadside saliva tests. While these have proven to successfully test for the presence of marijuana in a driver’s system within several hours of use, they cannot quantify a driver’s level of impairment the way roadside alcohol tests do. It is thus feasible for a driver to fail a roadside saliva test despite not being impaired. A recent University of Calgary study, moreover, shows that it’s also possible to fail a roadside saliva test after inhaling second-hand marijuana smoke.
  • Regarding drug-impaired driving, some provinces are opting to err on the side of caution. Quebec, for example, has proposed a zero-tolerance policy that allows police to arrest anyone who fails a roadside saliva test and immediately suspend their license for 90 days. Ontario will also be enforcing a similar zero-tolerance policy for commercial drivers and drivers 21 and under while simultaneously beefing up existing fines and penalties for non-novice drivers over the age of 21.
  • Once cannabis becomes legal, police forces across the country will likely be utilizing roadside saliva tests before moving onto assessments by DREs to determine if a driver is impaired.

 

WEED AT WORK

  • Employers have expressed concern that marijuana legalization will lead to impairment, lower productivity, poor attendance and safety issues in the workplace.
  • An even bigger grey area is whether employers will legally be able to test, discipline or even fire workers for using a substance that is legal.
  • Business groups are hoping that provincial legislation clarifies both employer and employee rights regarding marijuana.

 

REEFER IN RENTALS

  • It remains unclear if landlords will be able to prohibit tenants from smoking marijuana in rental properties.
  • Landlords are also concerned about tenants growing marijuana, which could lead to increased electricity usage and the spread of damaging mould.
  • Real estate lawyers are currently looking to tobacco-smoking rules for guidance. While landlords cannot retroactively prohibit smoking tobacco in rental units, they can include such restrictions in new leases. It is unclear if such existing restrictions will be applicable to marijuana once it becomes legal. Landlords are also currently able to take action on cigarette smoking if migrating smoke bothers others in a property. Court rulings regarding such cases, however, have been inconsistent.
  • Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories have proposed laws that would allow landlords to ban using marijuana on their properties. Only time will tell if courts will offer landlords those same rights in other jurisdictions.

 

EDIBLE PRODUCTS

  • Marijuana-infused edible products like packaged cookies and candies will not be available in the summer of 2018.
  • For medicinal users, however, Health Canada has emphatically recommended against smoking the plant due to the potential for respiratory issues.
  • According to a September study, nearly half of Canadians want to try edible marijuana products after legalization goes into effect.
  • While dried cannabis and cannabis oil – both of which will be sold in 2018 – can be used to make edible products at home, the federal government has said that packaged edible products won’t be commercially available until approximately one year after legalization goes into effect.
Daniel Otis, CTVNews.ca Writer    @dsotis
Tuesday, December 26, 2017


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World Health Group: Pot’s CBD Has Health Benefits

A compound found in the cannabis plant is not harmful, has health benefits, and does not have abuse potential, experts at the World Health Organization say.

The WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence focused on cannabidiol, or CBD, one of the naturally occurring cannabinoids found in cannabis plants.

After reviewing evidence from animal and human studies, the committee concludes that “In humans, CBD exhibits no effects indicative of any abuse or dependence potential.”

The experts produced the report in November, while the WHO announced its conclusions this week. In May, the committee will study cannabis and cannabis-related substances more fully.

Other major studies have shown marijuana and its products can relieve pain, nausea related to cancer treatment, and multiple sclerosis-related muscle spasms. But using cannabis has well-known short-term and long-term health effects, such as learning and coordination problems.

Because federal law makes it a crime to have marijuana and CBD, researchers must pass strict government scrutiny just to study its usefulness.

DEA View of CBD
The conclusion of the WHO flies in the face of the view of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It says that CBD must be treated the same as THC and other cannabinoids from a cannabis plant, and it should remain a Schedule I drug.

NORML Response
Marijuana advocates applauded the WHO’s conclusion. “It was terrific to see WHO acknowledge what other scientific research has already stated,” says Justin Strekal, political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

In an email statement, he adds: “While we are pleased to see the WHO finally acknowledge that absurdity of international restrictions, the continued domestic classification and criminalization of cannabidiol as a Schedule I controlled substance is out of step with both available science and common sense. It is yet another example of the U.S. government placing ideology over evidence when it comes to issues related to the cannabis plant.”

 

CALM Response
Scott Chipman, Southern California chairman of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana (CALM), took issue with the report.

“We need to maintain a strict scientific perspective and protocols when it comes to new drugs,” he says. “We need double-blind studies related to marijuana and all components, research on the harms versus the benefits, identification of the side effects and specific ailments identified through these studies – even for CBD,” he says.

He says some ongoing drug studies of CBD do show promise in treating seizure disorders, but he also sees potential problems with the drugs, along with concerns about contamination and other potential harms with over-the-counter products.

What Is Medical Marijuana?
Medical marijuana is any part of the marijuana plant that you use to treat health problems. People use it to get relief from their symptoms, not to try to get high.

Most marijuana that’s sold legally as medicine has the same ingredients as the kind that people use for pleasure. But some medical marijuana is specially grown to have less of the chemicals that cause feelings of euphoria.

The experts also say that CBD might be able to treat epilepsy (where most research has focused), although results are mixed. Other conditions it might treat are Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, anxiety, depression, and other maladies. CBD may ease inflammation, provide antioxidants, and relieve pain.

Based on its research, the committee concluded that current information does not call for scheduling of the drug. In the U.S., CBD is a Schedule 1 controlled substance. These are defined as drugs with no medical use and likely to be abused.

Twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes. Other states, including Georgia, have legalized the possession of CBD to treat specific disorders.

It remains a federal crime, however, to have or sell any form of marijuana, including CBD. Despite those federal regulations, CBD is an ingredient in popular products sold over the counter as oils, extracts, supplements, and gum to treat many ailments.

CBD usually is given as a capsule or dissolved in liquid to be taken orally, under the tongue, or as a nasal spray. CBD does not produce the high that another cannabinoid – tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -does, experts say. In fact, CBD appears to have effects opposite of THC.

The WHO announcement drew a positive response from marijuana advocates and criticism from those who don’t want it to be legal.

By Kathleen Doheny   Dec. 15, 2017       Article Reviewed by Neha Pathak, MD on December 15, 2017

Sources
World Health Organization: Cannabidiol (CBD) Pre-Review Report, Expert Committee on Drug Dependence Thirty-ninth Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 6-10, 2017.
Scott Chipman, Southern California chairman, Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana (CALM).
Justin Strekal, political director, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Governing: “State Marijuana Laws in 2017 Map.”
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: “Nearly 100 Conclusions on the Health Effects of Marijuana and Cannabis-Derived Products Presented in New Report; One of the Most Comprehensive Studies of Recent Research on Health Effects of Recreational and Therapeutic Use of Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Products.”

source: WebMD


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Fun Fact Friday

  • Within the first two months of legal marijuana sales in Colorado, property crimes decreased by 14%, and homicide rates were down by 67%.

  • Video games train the human brain to make faster real life decisions.

  • A study found that anxiety disengages the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that plays an important role in flexible decision making.

  • Without your little finger, you would lose 50% of your hand strength.

~ Happy Friday!~

 


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Pot-Infused Cuisine Will Be The Next Big Trend, Food Expert Predicts

Dalhousie’s Sylvain Charlebois urges policy to minimize risk, survey indicates interest in pot-infused dishes

A professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax predicts marijuana will be a growing trend in the food industry, and says policy needs to be implemented to minimize risk.

Bill C-45 does not include the legalization of edible cannabis products, and Ottawa has said it would deal with those products at a later date.

Sylvain Charlebois conducted research alongside Simon Somogyi, a Dalhousie University faculty of agriculture associate professor, surveying Canadians’ willingness to consider marijuana as a food ingredient and incorporate it into their diet.

“Some people may actually prefer to do that, but they need to understand the risks in doing so,” said Charlebois.

Just over 45 per cent of respondents in the Canada-wide survey said they would be willing to buy food containing marijuana, if recreational use is legalized.

“This could be the next gluten-free phenomenon,” said Charlebois, citing the multimillion-dollar industry. “A lot of companies are seeing marijuana as the next trend.”

Edible marijuana products don’t represent the same threat to your lungs but can lead to more severe impairment, Dr. Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist with Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, has told CBC News.

Edible cannabis products often contain THC, the psychoactive substance that gives consumers that “high” feeling, and can come in many forms, including baked goods, candy and cannabis-infused butter.

For adults, overeating marijuana edibles rarely leads to serious consequences beyond intense anxiety or a strong urge to go to sleep, according to Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health. But for children, Daly has told CBC News, the consequences can be far more severe, and can include depressed respiration and possibly even coma.

She said seven per cent of reported cannabis poisonings in American children end up in critical-care units.

Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, said there must be strict regulation and a limited range of products available initially. Edibles must have clear identification of dosage and servings, and come with education about how it takes longer to take effect than smoking.

Understanding the effects

Charlebois said Bill C-45 focuses on the exchange of marijuana, outlining regulations for who can buy, where and who will sell it. He said those guidelines are important, but aren’t helpful beyond the point of sale.

“People will go home and cook, maybe process it and make all sorts of food products,” he said.

“Canadians understand the effects of alcohol, but maybe not marijuana in their spaghetti sauce or extra spices in their pizza. The effects may actually be felt one, two, three, even four hours after eating it,” said Charlebois, also dean of the faculty of management.

‘Policy has a role to play’

The poll by Charlebois and Somogyi found that about 68 per cent of people across the country favour the impending legalization of pot, with the bulk of that support in B.C. and Ontario.

The survey was conducted on a sample size of 1,087 people over age 18, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Charlebois believes “rigorous policy has a role to play” in food-related use of marijuana.

Without proper regulation, Charlebois said buyers could see marijuana-infused products without the proper dosage or packaging.

With files from The Canadian Press

by Allison Devereaux    CBC News     Sep 26, 2017 
source: www.cbc.ca


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Fun Fact Friday

 

  • It’s ok and “I’m fine” are the two most common lies spoken in the world.

  • Marijuana was initially made illegal in 1937 by a man who testified the drug made white women want to be with black men.

 

  • Giving up alcohol for just one month can improve liver function, decrease blood pressure, and reduce the risk of liver disease and diabetes.

  • Research has shown that people are happiest at 7:26pm on Saturday evening.

 

~ Happy Friday!~


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Fun Fact Friday

  • Optimistic people are 23% less likely to die of cancer and 30% less likely to die from heart diseases.
  • Porphyrophobia is the fear of the color purple.
  • When people feel physically cold, they seek out psychological warmth, like watching a romantic movie that will make them feel warm inside.
Optimistic people are 23% less likely to die of cancer
and 30% less likely to die from heart diseases.
  • Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per day.
  • Eating mangos one hour before smoking marijuana can heighten the effects.
  • 85% of people have experienced a dream so real that they were not sure if it happened in real life or not.
Happy Friday!
 source:   factualfacts.com   https://twitter.com/Fact   @Fact


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Study Highlights Medical Marijuana’s Underexplored Potential For Helping Opioid Addiction

A small human pilot study, along with a number of animal studies, are revealing that cannabinoids, extracts of cannabis legally sold as medical marijuana, could reduce cravings and ease withdrawal symptoms in heroin users. In light of the U.S. opioid epidemic, this is a neglected area of research that quickly needs attention, argues neurobiologist Yasmin Hurd of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who studies how both cannabinoids and opioids act on the brain. She discusses her position in a short review published February 2 in Trends in Neurosciences.

While both cannabinoids and opioids regulate the perception of pain, the two drugs affect different parts of the brain and how the sensation is communicated from neuron to neuron. This translates into cannabinoids having, for example, a stronger effect on inflammation-based chronic pain. Meanwhile, opioids are particularly good at relieving acute pain, which is why they are used in surgery. The problem is that opioids can quickly lead to a deadly addiction.

“If you look at both drugs and where their receptors are, opioids are much more dangerous, in part because of the potential for overdose–the opioid receptors are very abundant in the brainstem area that regulates our respiration, so they shut down the breathing center if opioid doses are high,” Hurd says. “Cannabinoids don’t do that. They have a much wider window of therapeutic benefit without causing an overdose in adults.” Young people can overdose from consuming too much edible medical marijuana.

medical-marijuana

Accumulating evidence in animal models supports that cannabinoids could have long-lasting therapeutic effects. A specific cannabinoid, cannabidiol, has been seen to reduce heroin cravings in animals more than a week after abstinence, and seems to restore some of the neurobiological damage induced by opioid use. A small pilot human investigation led by Hurd mirrored these findings in rodents. In the study, cannabidiol particularly helped relieve anxiety related to cravings in heroin users abstaining from use.

Politicians are only beginning to acknowledge that an epidemic of opioid overdoses is taking place across the United States, particularly in suburban and rural areas, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse is asking researchers to think creatively about new strategies for pain relief (10.1016/j.neuron.2016.09.051). Marijuana has been a neglected option because there are restrictions on studying its effects in humans. While there has been a growing interest by the scientific community in cannabinoids since the legalization of medical marijuana, it means that we still don’t know much about how it could be used therapeutically, despite at least a million people having prescriptions.

“We have to be open to marijuana because there are components of the plant that seem to have therapeutic properties, but without empirical-based research or clinical trials, we’re letting anecdotes guide how people vote and policies that are going to be made,” Hurd says. “It’s one of the first times in our history that we’re making laypeople and politicians decide whether things are medicinal or not. If we want to say something is medical marijuana, we have to prove that it is medicinal.”

CELL PRESS      February 2, 2017