Medical Marijuana

DENVER – Coloradans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will now be able to treat their conditions with doctor-approved medical marijuana, bringing a close to a years-long fight.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Senate Bill 17 Monday, which will allow physicians, after consultation and a medical background review, to prescribe patients suffering from doctor-diagnosed PTSD with medical marijuana treatments.

Colorado joins at least 20 other states, as well as Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories, to allow medical pot treatments for PTSD.

Read More:http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/after-years-long-fight-colorado-approves-medical-marijuana-treatment-for-ptsd

Women with menstrual cramps in New York state could have a new option for easing their monthly pains: medical marijuana.

The New York State Assembly is considering a bill to add dysmenorrhea — the medical name for menstrual cramps — to the list of conditions for which doctors can legally authorize a patient to use medical marijuana. Under the state's law, only patients with the specific medical conditions named in the law can access medical marijuana in New York, according to Newsweek. Cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis are among the conditions already on the list.

Severe cases of dysmenorrhea can be "debilitating," New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal wrote in the bill. "Medical marijuana can alleviate many of the painful effects of dysmenorrhea."

Read More:http://www.livescience.com/59370-marijuana-period-cramps-dysmenorrhea.html

A preclinical study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that very small doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), can slow the production of toxic clumps of beta-amyloid proteins in the brain, which are thought to kick start the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a healthy brain, these protein fragments are broken down and eliminated. For those with Alzheimer’s disease, the fragments accumulate to form hard, insoluble plaques.

The study supports the results of previous research that found evidence of the protective effects of cannabinoids, including THC, on patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Back in 2006, Kim Janda, a chemistry professor at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and his colleagues published the first study showing that THC might have a positive effect in fighting Alzheimer’s.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/medicinal/positive-effects-of-medical-marijuana-on-alzheimers-prevention/

GW Pharmaceuticals has chosen the perfect moment to file its cannabis-derived therapy, Epidiolex, with U.S. regulators.

The New England Journal of Medicine just published results from a Phase III study showing that GW’s Epidiolex (derived from cannabidiol) significantly reduced monthly convulsive seizures, especially in children with Dravet syndrome, one of the most difficult types of epilepsy to treat. Children can have dozens, even hundreds, of seizures per month.

GW Pharmaceuticals first reported in March 2016 that CBD-derived Epidiolex cut monthly convulsive seizures by 39 percent in children with Dravet syndrome, but full results of the 120-patient study were only published last week.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/news/gw-pharmaceuticals-files-for-fda-approval-after-report-confirms-success-in-treating-epilepsy/

Once the federal government finally allows medical marijuana to become a legitimate part of the healthcare industry, Big Pharma could suffer the loss of billions of dollars, a new report finds.

It seems the pharmaceutical trade has more than enough reasons to fear the legalization of marijuana, as an analysis conducted by the folks at New Frontier Data predicts the legal use of cannabis products for ailments ranging from chronic pain to seizures could cost marketers of modern medicine somewhere around $4 billion per year.

The report was compiled using a study released last year from the University of Georgia showing a decrease in Medicare prescriptions in states where medical marijuana is legal. The study, which was first outlined by the Washington Post, was largely responsible for stirring up the debate over how a legitimate cannabis market might be able to reduce the national opioid problem. It found that medical marijuana, at least with respect to those drugs for which it is considered an alternative treatment, was already costing pill manufactures nearly $166 million annually.

Read More:http://www.salon.com/2017/05/27/medical-marijuana-could-cost-big-pharma-4-billion-a-year_partner/

An experimental drug derived from cannabis to treat epilepsy is on the brink of becoming the first of its kind to win US government approval.

The drug's active ingredient is cannabidiol, the compound in marijuana thought to be responsible for many of its therapeutic effects. Cannabidioldoesn't contain THC, marijuana's main psychoactive ingredient, so it doesn't get users high.

According to results from two large clinical trials released over the past two months, however, cannabidiol does appear to help reduce seizures in two of the hardest-to-treat forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and Dravet Syndrome.

Read More:http://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-epilepsy-drug-2017-5