marijuana study Archives

New Hampshire Senate Committee Votes to Establish Commission to Study Marijuana Legalization

May 26, 2017 by Anthony Martinelli

**Nevada’s Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to establish a commission designed to study the legalization of marijuana.**

House Bill 215 will now move towards a vote by the full Senate. Given it has already been passed by the full House of Representatives, passage in the Senate would send it to Governor Chris Sununu for consideration.

The 22-person commission would be tasked with examining “the possible impacts of changing state policy to treat marijuana in a manner similar to the way the state deals with alcohol and shall study the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana including the specific issues related to growing, selling, taxing, limiting use, advertising, promoting, and otherwise regulating marijuana and marijuana-infused edible products.”

Study: Marijuana Reverses Aging Processes in the Brain

May 8, 2017May 8, 2017 by Anthony Martinelli

**Although memory performance decreases with age, marijuana can reverse these aging processes in the brain. This is according to a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine.**

In the study, old mice were able to regress to the state of two-month-old mice with a prolonged low-dose treatment with marijuana as its active ingredient. This has strong relevancy in the treatment of brain-related disorders such as dementia. The results are now presented in the journal Nature Medicine.

According to scientists at the University of Bonn and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, mice have a relatively short life expectancy in nature and display pronounced cognitive deficits even at twelve months of age. The researchers administered a small quantity of THC, the active ingredient in the hemp plant (cannabis), to mice aged two, twelve and 18 months over a period of four weeks.

Study: 90% of Adults Who Use Marijuana to Treat Epilepsy Find Success

February 28, 2017 by Anthony Martinelli

According to a new Australian study published by the journal Epilepsy Behavior, and published online by the U.S. National Institute of Health, a vast majority of those who use marijuana to treat epilepsy (including parents who administer it to their children) find success in doing so.

For the study; “Epilepsy Action Australia conducted an Australian nationwide online survey seeking opinions on and experiences with the use of cannabis-based products for the treatment of epilepsy.” The survey “consisted of 39 questions assessing demographics, clinical factors, including diagnosis and seizure types, and experiences with and opinions towards cannabis use in epilepsy.”

A total of 976 responses met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that 15% of adults with epilepsy and 13% of parents/guardians of children with epilepsy were currently using, or had previously used, cannabis products to treat epilepsy.

Study: Cannabinoids Offer Therapeutic Benefits for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

August 25, 2016 by Anthony Martinelli

Yet another study has found that cannabinoids may treat or at least greatly benefit those with post traumatic stress disorder (and may prevent it if administered shortly after a traumatic event). The new study was published in the journal Behavioural Pharmacology, and published online by the National Institute of Health.

“There is substantial evidence from studies in humans and animal models for a role of the endocannabinoid system in the control of emotional states”, says the study’s abstract. It states that preliminary studies in humans “suggest that treatment with cannabinoids may decrease PTSD symptoms including sleep quality, frequency of nightmares, and hyperarousal.”

Cannabinoids May Protect Against Essential Tremor, New Study Finds

August 23, 2016 by Anthony Martinelli

A new study published by the British Journal of Pharmacology has found that cannabinoids may protect against the behavioral disturbances caused by an essential tremor.

“Essential tremor (ET) is a neurological disorder with unknown etiology”, states the study’s abstract. “Its symptoms include cerebellar motor disturbances, cognitive and personality changes, hearing and olfactory deficits.”

For the study researchers “set out to establish the effects of cannabinoid type 1 receptor agonism [such as cannabinoids] and antagonism in an established rodent model of ET using a battery of accepted behaviour assays in order to determine risk and therapeutic potential of endocannabinoid system modulation in ET.”

Study: Cannabinoids a Treatment Option for Diabetes-Associated Depression

August 22, 2016 by Anthony Martinelli

The journal European Neuropsychopharmacology has published a study showing that cannabinoids may provide a treatment option for depression associated with diabetes.

“The pathophysiology associated with increased prevalence of depression in diabetics is not completely understood, although studies have pointed the endocannabinoid system as a possible target”, researchers state. With this in mind, they “aimed to investigate the role of this system in the pathophysiology of depression associated with diabetes.”

Study: Cannabidiolic Acid (CBDA) Inhibits Highly Aggressive Breast Cancer

August 20, 2016August 18, 2016 by Anthony Martinelli

Cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), a little-known compound found in cannabis, can inhibit the migration of highly aggressive breast cancer, according to a study published by the Journal of Natural Medicines and published online by the National Institute of Health.

“The biological activities of CBDA have been attracting increasing attention”, states the study’s researchers, who “identified CBDA as an inhibitor of the migration of MDA-MB-231 cells, a widely used human breast cancer cell line in cancer biology, due to its highly aggressive nature.”

Study: Pain Relieving Effects of Cannabis Stronger for Men than Women

August 16, 2016 by Anthony Martinelli

A study published in the September, 2016 issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, and epublished ahead of print by the U.S. National Institute of Health, has found that the pain relieving effects of cannabis are significantly stronger on men than on women,

According to the study’s abstract; “This retrospective analysis compared the analgesic, subjective and physiological effects of active cannabis (3.56-5.60% THC) and inactive cannabis (0.00% THC) in male and female cannabis smokers under double-blind, placebo-controlled conditions.”

Study: Cannabinoids Enhances Visual Responses

August 10, 2016 by Anthony Martinelli

A new study being published in the next issue of the journal eLife, and published online ahead of print by the U.S. National Institute of Health, has found that cannabinoids can enhance visual responses.

“Type 1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1Rs) are widely expressed in the vertebrate retina but the role of endocannabinoids in vision is not fully understood”, the study’s abstract begins. “Here we identified a novel mechanism underlying a CB1R-mediated increase in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) intrinsic excitability acting through AMPK-dependent inhibition of NKCC1 activity.”

DEA Approves Study of Cannabis in Treating PTSD

April 22, 2016 by Anthony Martinelli

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has given approval to a study examining the benefits of cannabis in treating post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), who will be conducting the study, the DEA has given them approval to purchase whole-plant cannabis from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the only federal agency that can distribute cannabis for research purposes. Now that MAPS has this approval, they’ll now begin the process of recruiting and enrolling study participants.