Marijuana Research

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Guardian UK: Parkinson's treated with marijuana-like chemicals

A treatment for Parkinson's disease has been dramatically improved by boosting the levels of natural marijuana-like chemicals in the brain. Researchers combined a drug used to treat patients with another that prevents the breakdown of substances called cannabinoids in...

Cannabis-Based Medicine Trial: Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity

A six-week, placebo-controlled clinical trial of an oral spray drug derived from whole cannabis plants (Sativex® -- GW Pharmaceuticals, Salisbury, UK) involving 189 individuals with multiple sclerosis showed positive changes in a self-reported measurement of...

Cannabis Treatment: Autoimmune Diseases and Inflammation

In a number of painful syndromes secondary to inflammatory processes (e.g. ulcerative colitis, arthritis), cannabis products may act not only as analgesics but also demonstrate anti-inflammatory potential. For example, some patients employing cannabis report a...

Cannabis Treatment: Dependency and Withdrawal

According to historical and modern case reports cannabis is a good remedy to combat withdrawal in dependency on benzodiazepines, opiates and alcohol. For this reason, some have referred to it as a gateway drug back. In this context, both the reduction of physical...

Cannabis Treatment: Asthma

Experiments examining the anti-asthmatic effect of THC or cannabis date mainly from the 1970s, and are all acute studies. The effects of a cannabis cigarette (2% THC) or oral THC (15 mg), respectively, approximately correspond to those obtained with therapeutic doses...

Cannabis Treatment: Epilepsy

The use in epilepsy is among its historically oldest indications of cannabis. Animal experiments provide evidence of the antiepileptic effects of some cannabinoids. The anticonvulsant activity of phenytoin and diazepam have been potentiated by THC. According to a few...

Cannabis Treatment: Movement Disorders

There are some positive anecdotal reports of therapeutic response to cannabis in Tourette's syndrome, dystonia and tardive dyskinesia. The use in Tourette's syndrome is currently being investigated in clinical studies. Many patients achieve a modest improvement,...

Cannabis Treatment: Spasticity

In many clinical trials of THC, nabilone and cannabis, a beneficial effect on spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury has been observed. Among other positively influenced symptoms were pain, paraesthesia, tremor and ataxia. In some studies...

Cannabis Treatment: Anorexia and Cachexia

An appetite enhancing effect of THC is observed with daily divided doses totalling 5 mg. When required, the daily dose may be increased to 20 mg. In a long-term study of 94 AIDS patients, the appetite-stimulating effect of THC continued for months, confirming the...

Cannabis Treatment: Nausea and Vomiting

Treatment of side effects associated with antineoplastic therapy is the indication for cannabinoids which has been most documented, with about 40 studies (THC, nabilone, other THC analogues, cannabis). Most trials were conducted in the 1980s. THC has to be dosed...

CNN: Medical marijuana may help fibromyalgia pain

Lynda, a 48-year-old mother of three who lives in upstate New York, got a diagnosis of fibromyalgia in 2000. While there are prescription medications for fibromyalgia, she's found one unconventional drug -- marijuana -- that really does the trick. "I would use...

BBC NEWS: Marijuana may block Alzheimer's

The active ingredient in marijuana may stall decline from Alzheimer's disease, research suggests. Scientists showed a synthetic version of the compound may reduce inflammation associated with Alzheimer's and thus help to prevent mental decline. They hope the...

Cannabinoid Treatment: Tourette's Syndrome (TS)

Investigators reported that the subject’s total tic severity score fell from 41 to 7 within two hours following cannabinoid therapy, and that improvement was observed for a total of seven hours. “For the first time, patients’ subjective experiences when smoking marijuana were confirmed by using a valid and reliable rating scale,” authors concluded.

Cannabinoid Treatment: Rheumatoid Arthritis

Investigators reported that administration of cannabis extracts over a five week period produced statistically significant improvements in pain on movement, pain at rest, quality of sleep, inflammation and intensity of pain compared to placebo.

Cannabinoid Treatment: Itching (Pruritus)

Researchers at Wroclaw, Poland’s University of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, reported that application of an endocannabinoid-based topical cream reduced uremic pruritus and xerosis (abnormal dryness of the skin) in hemodialysis patients. Three weeks of twice-daily application of the cream “completely eliminated” pruritus in 38 percent of trial subjects and “significantly reduced” itching in others. Eighty-one percent of patients reported a “complete reduction” in xerosis following cannabinoid therapy.

Cannabinoid Treatment: Osteoporosis

Research published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in 2007 reported that the activation of the CB2 cannabinoid receptor reduced experimentally-induced bone loss and stimulated bone formation.

Cannabinoids: Antibacterial Properties, Methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA)

In 2008, investigators at Italy’s Universita del Piemonte Orientale and Britain’s University of London, School of Pharmacy assessed the germ-fighting properties of five separate cannabinoids against various strains of multidrug-resistant bacteria, including MRSA. They reported that all of the compounds tested showed “potent antibacterial activity” and that cannabinoids were “exceptional” at halting the spread of MRSA.

Cannabinoid Treatment: Alzheimer's Disease

What is it? Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurological disorder of unknown origin that is characterized by a progressive loss of memory and learned behavior. Patients with Alzheimer's are also likely to experience depression, agitation and appetite loss, among other...

NORML: Recent Research on Medical Marijuana

Despite the ongoing political debate regarding the legality of medical marijuana, clinical investigations of the therapeutic use of cannabinoids are now more prevalent than at any time in history. For example, in February 2010 investigators at the University of...