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Sick Americans turning to medical pot for help MedicalXpress Breaking News-and-Events | September 23

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Posted 9/24/2019 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
More Americans use marijuana to help them cope with an illness than just to get high, a new study finds.


Nearly 46% of those who use pot say they do so because of a medical condition, compared with 22% who say they use marijuana for recreation.

And only 36% of those with a medical problem say they use pot to get high, compared with 58% of other users, researchers found.

"Adults with medical conditions have an increased risk of using marijuana, especially those with respiratory conditions, cancer and depression," said lead researcher Hongying "Daisy" Dai, an associate professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

She said there's still too little data on pot's usefulness against a variety of health issues, so "patients who are taking marijuana for a medical condition should be informed of evidence of efficacy and adverse effects for that condition."

Those who use marijuana recreationally should also be informed of the negative health effects and benefits of marijuana consumption, Dai added.

Negative side effects of marijuana use include hallucinations, mood changes, increased heart rate, nausea, as well as changes in blood pressure, breathing, memory and concentration.

Medical marijuana is allowed in 33 US states and the District of Columbia.

For the study, Dai and her colleagues collected data on more than 169,000 U.S. men and women who took part in a telephone survey in 2016 and 2017.

It revealed that people with medical conditions were more likely to use marijuana than those without health problems.

Use was greater among young adults, especially those with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), arthritis, cancer and depression, than among older people, Dai's team found.

Use of medical marijuana ranged from 25% among 18- to 24-year-olds to 2% of those 65 and older. Daily pot smoking also decreased with age—from 11% of young adults to fewer than 1% of seniors.

Although marijuana is available in many forms, about 3 out of 4 people surveyed said they smoked it.

One medical expert not involved with the study voiced his warnings about these trends.

"These data raise some concerns about this pattern of marijuana use," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Conn.

First, he said, marijuana is unlikely to offer any benefit for some conditions and is quite likely to be harmful for others—for example, asthma.

"Second, since marijuana use in association with medical conditions is higher in adolescents and young adults, and then declines, it suggests that many such attempts at self-medication fail over time, raising the concern that trials with marijuana may delay the use of more effective treatments," Katz said.

He said doctors should be screening young patients for marijuana use so they can help them understand the risks and possible benefits.

"We also need better public education on the topic so young adults don't mistake the limited medical pros and important cons of this drug for a panacea," Katz said.

The report was published online September 20 in the journal JAMA Network open.


Interesting report Hey? Larry
Posted 9/25/2019 1:01 PM (GMT 0)
The problem here as I see it is that until the Feds let it go, we can't get the studies completed to offer the public education they speak of. My biggest fear is that when it does come about, big pharma will end up being much bigger.
Posted 9/25/2019 1:07 PM (GMT 0)
"My biggest fear is that when it does come about, big pharma will end up being much bigger."

$300 per day for Zytiga, Xtandi, and MM. 😉
Posted 9/25/2019 1:07 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, interesting. I didn't see severe childhood seizures- Dravet Syndrome- on the list of diseases. Which is interesting, since spurred on by word of mouth about the success some had using CBD and/or MJ on their own, an FDA approved prescription drug was developed: Epidiolex (cannabadiol, CBD). There was something on NBC Nightly News last night about new guidelines re: CBD put out by the Arthritis Foundation. It was basically saying that, though they had been encouraging such, there were not yet any good studies in humans. However, they realized a lot of their patients were using it and thus they issued guidelines for safety reasons. At their website, they also said this:
"Does CBD work for arthritis? Animal studies have suggested that CBD has pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties, but these effects have not been validated in quality studies in humans. Anecdotally, some people with arthritis who have tried CBD, but not all, report noticeable pain relief, sleep improvement and/or anxiety reduction."
https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/chronic-pain/arthritis-foundation-cbd-guidance-for-adults.php
Posted 9/25/2019 1:16 PM (GMT 0)

mattam said...
"My biggest fear is that when it does come about, big pharma will end up being much bigger."

$300 per day for Zytiga, Xtandi, and MM. 😉

Epidiolex (cannabadiol, CBD) 32K/year. Or, $1500 for a 120 ml bottle at 100mg/ml strength.
Posted 9/25/2019 1:53 PM (GMT 0)
Billy, I'm confident that if you go to a quality CBD store here you can do a whole lot better than that. I know for a fact that $100.00 worth of OG kush will get me by for nearly a week these days. However it doesn't cure nor evidently prevent prostate cancer.
Posted 9/25/2019 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
"'These data raise some concerns about this pattern of marijuana use,' said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Conn.

"First, he said, marijuana is unlikely to offer any benefit for some conditions and is quite likely to be harmful for others—for example, asthma.

"'Second, since marijuana use in association with medical conditions is higher in adolescents and young adults, and then declines, it suggests that many such attempts at self-medication fail over time, raising the concern that trials with marijuana may delay the use of more effective treatments,' Katz said."
Posted 9/25/2019 4:30 PM (GMT 0)

Pontiacwild said...
Billy, I'm confident that if you go to a quality CBD store here you can do a whole lot better than that. I know for a fact that $100.00 worth of OG kush will get me by for nearly a week these days. However it doesn't cure nor evidently prevent prostate cancer.

Hi Pontiac: I was quoting the price for the prescription FDA approved CBD oil. The CBD oil I buy is a whole lot cheaper than that. And if it was legal here, I could grow it, although that might have other effects I am not looking for.
Posted 9/25/2019 4:35 PM (GMT 0)
a couple of years ago we couldn't even talk about pot here and now we get the news. hey we're only about 10 years behind the rest of the world smile
Posted 9/25/2019 6:54 PM (GMT 0)
Pontiacwild pointed out my same concern: Since it is ILLEGAL to actually do medicinal studies on CBD in the US, the only "data" that comes along will be in the alternative literature--which is far from the level of quality the studies need to be.

At least for now, anyone can claim anything about CBD and MJ, and what it's good for. And, they might even be right. But we can't know the answer because, well, it's illegal to actually do the studies. (never mind the bizarre situation the CBD and legal pot sellers and growers have with having to handle very large quantities of cash because it's illegal for them to use a bank)
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