Marijuana Used for Medical Purpose is Called Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana is effective for several diseases. You should find the proper advice and medical consultation about the proper use of marijuana. Limited use of it has advantage in medical purpose.

Marijuana used for medical purpose is called medical marijuana. From ancient time marijuana is used as a treatment of epilepsy. But in present timeuse of it is controversial. But there is insufficient data for the conclusion of its efficiency and safety.

Beneficial for medical use

Medical marijuana has some beneficial effect also in several diseases. It can serve as antiemetic and analgesic effects. It may be helpful for vomiting and nausea caused by cemetography. It can also be used for chronic non-cancerous pain.

Restricted and proper use of marijuana can be effective for HIV positive person who smokes it can have a better experience of life. It can be some how effective to get relief from chronic pain which caused by neuropathy.

It is effective for multiple neurological problem such as epilepsy and movement problem. It is also effective for anxiety. Cannabis can elevate mood and expand mind.

Multiple sclerosis like mussel pain, tremors, unsteadiness can also treated by medical marijuana. It also relieves the internal eye pressure which is caused by glaucoma. It also effective for constipation and alcohol hangover

According to our research, marijuana can give psychological and spiritual benefit. It enhances personal spirituality. It turns you to reveal the inner personality. It helps to remove the confusion and get right direction. 

Many times obsession and quick fixes psychological problems can be eliminated by proper use of medical marijuana. But all this can be done by proper consultation of physiotherapist.  Visit our official page to get more information. Our research work by www.newspsychology.com can help you to get the solution.

Effect of marijuana in human life

Marijuana is a powerful drug which most of the time used as addiction. It has several effects on human psychology. Proper and medical use can make marijuana a good medicine.

Basically marijuana is one kind of herbs which can be used for drug. It can be absorbed as liquid or can be smoked. Here is a controversy about the use of this herb. It can be used as a medicine or a drug but depends on the use how it is absorbed.

Marijuana is commonly known as “cannabis”. Marijuana is a preparation that is intendment to use as a medicine and psychoactive drug. It is often used for effect which heightened mood for relaxation.

But modern use of cannabis is recreational or medical use. But the medical use of marijuana is disputed. Excess consumption of marijuana caused lower blood pressure increasing of heartbeat rate, short term of memory loss and lake of concentration.

Long term effect of marijuana

There is a debate of long term use of it. It can create psychological problem like irresponsible behaviour, negative changes in attention and short term amnesia.

Higher level and frequent use can cause mental imbalance. It creates unnecessary anxiety. It creates depressive disorder. It also has effect on physical health. It can causes brain damage. According to our research at here, excess use of it can be carcinogenic. It is difficult to establish a connection between cancer and cannabis. But there is a rear chance of cancer risk because it affects lung function badly.

A small number of studies show that it increases mortality rate. Consumption of it in pregnancy time can restrict the growth, deficit of offspring and leads to miscarriage. It makes people manic and create suicidal tendency. To get out of it person needs proper counselling and consultation.

The medical marijuana liquid is hope for epilepsy children

The study involved 213 people, ranging from toddlers to adults, with a median age of 11 who had severe epilepsy that did not respond to other treatments. Participants had Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, epilepsy types that can lead to intellectual disability and lifelong seizures, as well as 10 other types of severe epilepsy. The participants were given the drug cannabidiol, a component of marijuana that does not include the psychoactive part of the plant that creates a "high." The drug is a liquid taken daily by mouth. Participants all knew they were receiving the drug in the open-label study, which was designed to determine whether the drug was safe and tolerated well.
 
Researchers also measured the number of seizures participants had while taking the drug. For the 137 people who completed the 12-week study, the number of seizures decreased by an average of 54 percent from the beginning of the study to the end. Among the 23 people with Dravet syndrome who finished the study, the number of convulsive seizures had gone down by 53 percent by the end of the study. For the 11 people with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome who finished the study, there was a 55 percent reduction in the number of atonic seizures, which cause a sudden loss of muscle tone.
 
A total of 12 people, or 6 percent, stopped taking the drug due to side effects. Side effects that occurred in more than 10 percent of participants included drowsiness (21 percent), diarrhea (17 percent), tiredness (17 percent) and decreased appetite (16 percent).
 
Study author Orrin Devinsky, MD, of New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, said that these are early findings and larger, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials are needed to measure the effectiveness of the drug.
 
"So far there have been few formal studies on this marijuana extract," Devinsky said. "These results are of great interest, especially for the children and their parents who have been searching for an answer for these debilitating seizures."
The study was supported by GW Pharmaceuticals.


Story Source

  1. The above story is based on materials provided by American Academy of Neurology (AAN). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
 

Boosting natural marijuana-like brain chemicals treats fragile X syndrome symptoms

— American and European scientists have found that increasing natural marijuana-like chemicals in the brain can help correct behavioral issues related to fragile X syndrome, the most common known genetic cause of autism.

The work indicates potential treatments for anxiety and cognitive defects in people with this condition. Results appear online in Nature Communications.

Daniele Piomelli of UC Irvine and Olivier Manzoni of INSERM, the French national research agency, led the study, which identified compounds that inhibit enzymes blocking endocannabinoid transmitters called 2-AG in the striatum and cortex regions of the brain.

These transmitters allow for the efficient transport of electrical signals at synapses, structures through which information passes between neurons. In fragile X syndrome, regional synapse communication is severely limited, giving rise to certain cognitive and behavioral problems.

Fragile X syndrome is caused by a mutation of the FMR1 gene on the X chromosome. People born with it are mentally disabled; generally experience crawling, walking and language delays; tend to avoid eye contact; may be hyperactive or impulsive; and have such notable physical characteristics as an elongated face, flat feet and large ears.

The researchers stress that their findings, while promising, do not point to a cure for the condition.

"What we hope is to one day increase the ability of people with fragile X syndrome to socialize and engage in normal cognitive functions," said Piomelli, a UCI professor of anatomy & neurobiology and the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences.

The study involved mice genetically altered with FMR1 mutations that exhibited symptoms of fragile X syndrome. Treated with novel compounds that correct 2-AG protein signaling in brain cells, these mice showed dramatic behavioral improvements in maze tests measuring anxiety and open-space acceptance.

While other work has focused on pharmacological treatments for behavioral issues associated with fragile X syndrome, Piomelli noted that this is the first to identify the role endocannabinoids play in the neurobiology of the condition.

About endocannabinoids

Endocannabinoid compounds are created naturally in the body and share a similar chemical structure with THC, the primary psychoactive component of the marijuana plant, Cannabis. Endocannabinoids are distinctive because they link with protein molecule receptors — called cannabinoid receptors — on the surface of cells. For instance, when a person smokes marijuana, the cannabinoid THC activates these receptors. Because the body's natural cannabinoids control a variety of factors — such as pain, mood and appetite — they're attractive targets for drug discovery and development. Piomelli is one of the world's leading endocannabinoid researchers. His groundbreaking work is showing that this system can be exploited by new treatments to combat anxiety, pain, depression and obesity.


Journal Reference:

  1. Kwang-Mook Jung, Marja Sepers, Christopher M. Henstridge, Olivier Lassalle, Daniela Neuhofer, Henry Martin, Melanie Ginger, Andreas Frick, Nicholas V. DiPatrizio, Ken Mackie, Istvan Katona, Daniele Piomelli, Olivier J. Manzoni. Uncoupling of the endocannabinoid signalling complex in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome. Nature Communications, 2012; 3: 1080 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2045

Cannabis use doubles chances of vehicle crash, review finds

 Drivers who consume cannabis within three hours of driving are nearly twice as likely to cause a vehicle collision as those who are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, claims a paper published recently on the British Medical Journal website.

The paper's authors, from Dalhousie University, reviewed nine studies with a total sample of 49,411 people to determine whether the consumption of cannabis increases the risk of a motor vehicle collision.

This is the first review to look at various observational studies concerned with the risk of vehicle collision after the consumption of cannabis. Previous studies have failed to separate the effects of alcohol and other substances from the use of cannabis, resulting in a lack of agreement.

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance globally and recent statistics have shown a significant increase in use across the world. Rates of driving under influence have also increased. A roadside survey carried out in Scotland in 2007 showed that out of 537 drivers tested, 15% aged 17-39 admitted to having consumed cannabis within 12 hours of driving.

All motor vehicle collisions involved in the study took place on a public road and involved one or more moving vehicles such as cars, vans, sports utility vehicles, trucks, buses and motorcycles. Results were taken through blood samples or direct self-report.

Results show that if cannabis is consumed before driving a motor vehicle, the risk of collision is nearly doubled. Previous results have also found that there is also a substantially higher chance of collision if the driver is aged 35 or younger.

In conclusion, the authors suggest that the consumption of cannabis impairs motor tasks important to safe driving, increasing the chance of collisions and that future reviews should assess less severe collisions from a general driving population.

The author of an accompanying editorial, from the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, questions the benefits of roadside drug testing on public health. He argues that further evidence of this is required so that countries already carrying out drug testing can help to inform those countries that have yet to introduce it.


Journal Reference:

  1. M. Asbridge, J. A. Hayden, J. L. Cartwright. Acute cannabis consumption and motor vehicle collision risk: systematic review of observational studies and meta-analysis. BMJ, 2012; 344 (feb09 2): e536 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.e536
 

Cannabis: The good, the evil, the ugly

Cannabis-like substances that are produced by the body have both therapeutic and harmful properties, besides their well-known intoxicating effects, and the body's cannabinoid system may be a target for new strategies in cancer treatment. This is what Sofia Gustafsson finds in the dissertation she recently defended at Umeå University in Sweden.

Abuse of cannabis and preparations containing synthetic cannabis-like substances (cannabinoids) is on the rise all over Europe. At the same time, cannabis-based drugs have been approved for certain medical purposes, and in Sweden a compound was approved for symptom alleviation in multiple sclerosis (MS) just the other day. Intensive research is underway about whether new substances that affect the body's own cannabinoids can be exploited for medical purposes, for instance, to relieve pain and to inhibit the growth of tumors. These are the reasons why Sofia Gustafsson studied the impact of cannabinoids on both the nervous system and tumor cells.

The body's own cannabinoids, so-called endocannabinoids, mediate a number of different functions in the central nervous system and in the immune system and are involved in motor movement, reward effects, and learning and memory processes. Cannabinoids from the plant kingdom and synthetically produced cannabinoids affect both of these functions, all of which are mediated via cannabinoid receptors.

Cannabinoids have moreover been shown to affect the fate of cells. Cannabinoids protect some brain cells, whereas cells in certain types of brain tumors, such as glioma, are stimulated to commit controlled cell suicide (apoptosis). Most research on the effects of cannaboids on the nervous system has focused on the adult, fully developed nervous system, while we have relatively little knowledge about the effects on a nervous system that is still developing.

In summary, the findings of Sofia Gustafsson's studies show that cannabinoids can be toxic for cancer cells as well as for nerve cells, and that they decrease emryonal survival. These findings are important for our knowledge both of the potential of the cannabinoid system as a target system for new strategies in cancer treatment and of the risks of new drugs, such as Spice, on nerve development.

Further information: http://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:488475&rvn=1

 

New study proposes public health guidelines to reduce the harms from cannabis use

 A new research study conducted by an international team of experts recommends a public health approach to cannabis — including evidence-based guidelines for lower-risk use — to reduce the health harms that result from the use of cannabis. Led by CAMH scientist and CIHR/PHAC* Chair in Applied Public Health (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver) Dr. Benedikt Fischer, the study is being published in the September/October 2011 issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health (CJPH).

More than one in ten Canadian adults, and about one in three young people aged 16-25, report using cannabis during the past year. Despite the prevalence and health risks associated with cannabis use, the study points out that Canada has not yet taken a public health approach to address its harms, as we have with alcohol, tobacco, and even injection drug use.

"A broad-based public health approach to cannabis use would include a prevention strategy for young people, risk reduction strategies for at-risk users, and better access to treatment for problem users," explains Dr. Fischer. His latest study addresses the risk reduction component, based on a comprehensive review of existent scientific data identifying the preeminent cannabis use patterns and practices leading to key health risks and harms. Based on this evidence, guidelines are offered on how to modify these practices and patterns at the user-level as a public health-oriented policy tool to reduce the harms.

"Misinformation about cannabis can be dangerous," Dr. Fischer explained. For example, surveys show that many young cannabis users believe that it is safe to drive after using cannabis, whereas recent research in Canada shows that a significant number of traffic fatalities in young adults are attributable to cannabis use. "This resembles the situation forty years ago, when the majority of Canadians still believed it was safe to drink and drive," said Dr. Fischer.

"Cannabis is not a benign drug." Dr. Fischer continued. "The evidence linking patterns of use and problems is strong. We can use this evidence to provide straightforward, factual information to cannabis users and their families, friends or peers, on how to reduce the risks for problems, and to create screening tools for health professionals to help address the risks."

Some of the harmful practices and patterns of use documented in the study include:

  • Cannabis use at a young age — Longitudinal studies suggest that using cannabis from a young age can be associated with a number of problems, including mental illness and dependence. While most cannabis users will not progress to other illicit substance use, those who use cannabis from a young age are far more likely to make this transition.
  • Frequent use — Using cannabis often, usually defined as daily or near-daily use, has been linked to a variety of health problems, including cognitive and memory performance, or risk for dependence.
  • Cannabis use before driving — Recent data suggests that approximately five percent of Canadian adult drivers report driving after cannabis use in the past year, and high school student surveys show that more students drive after cannabis use than after drinking alcohol. It is recommended that anyone using cannabis should not drive for three to four hours after consumption.
  • Cannabis use during pregnancy — While the possible consequences of cannabis use during pregnancy have not been reliably distinguished from the potentially confounding impact of alcohol and tobacco use, there is sufficient scientific basis to recommend abstinence from cannabis use during pregnancy.

"A key message is that the most reliable way to avoid cannabis-related harms is to abstain from use," said Dr. Fischer. "Those who do use cannabis need to be advised about patterns of use to avoid problems in the short and long run. Our guidelines are meant to target the most dangerous patterns of use among those citizens who use cannabis, and therefore reduce the possible health problem consequences of such use."

Using scientific evidence to provide guidelines on practices or patterns of use that substantially reduce the risks of acute and long-term harms is analogous to the 'Low Risk Drinking Guidelines' for alcohol, which were first introduced in the 1990s. "Given the prevalence and age distribution of cannabis use in Canada, a public health approach to cannabis use — including prevention strategies for young people, risk reduction, and access to treatment — is overdue," Dr. Fischer stated.

The Canadian Public Health Association endorses the Lower Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines. "The next step is for health and education authorities and the wider community to begin discussion of the evidence-based guidelines, and how this information could best be conveyed to key target groups in the context of a broad-based public health approach," Dr. Fischer said.

*"CIHR/PHAC" refers to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Public Health Agency of Canada


Journal Reference:

  1. Benedikt Fischer, Victoria Jeffries, Wayne Hall, Robin Room, Elliot Goldner, Jürgen Rehm. Lower Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines for Canada (LRCUG): A Narrative Review of Evidence and Recommendations. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2011

Cannabis use precedes the onset of psychotic symptoms in young people, study finds

— Cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood increases the risk of psychotic symptoms, while continued cannabis use may increase the risk for psychotic disorder in later life, concludes a new study published online in the British Medical Journal.

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in the world, particularly among adolescents, and is consistently linked with an increased risk for mental illness. However, it is not clear whether the link between cannabis and psychosis is causal, or whether it is because people with psychosis use cannabis to self medicate their symptoms.

So a team of researchers, led by Professor Jim van Os from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, set out to investigate the association between cannabis use and the incidence and persistence of psychotic symptoms over 10 years.

The study took place in Germany and involved a random sample of 1,923 adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 24 years.

The researchers excluded anyone who reported cannabis use or pre-existing psychotic symptoms at the start of the study so that they could examine the relation between new (incident) cannabis use and psychotic symptoms.

The remaining participants were then assessed for cannabis use and psychotic symptoms at three time points over the study period (on average four years apart).

Incident cannabis use almost doubled the risk of later incident psychotic symptoms, even after accounting for factors such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, use of other drugs, and other psychiatric diagnoses. Furthermore, in those with cannabis use at the start of the study, continued use of cannabis over the study period increased the risk of persistent psychotic symptoms

There was no evidence for self medication effects as psychotic symptoms did not predict later cannabis use.

These results "help to clarify the temporal association between cannabis use and psychotic experiences," say the authors. "In addition, cannabis use was confirmed as an environmental risk factor impacting on the risk of persistence of psychotic experiences."

The major challenge is to deter enough young people from using cannabis so that the prevalence of psychosis is reduced, say experts from Australia in an accompanying editorial.

Professor Wayne Hall from the University of Queensland and Professor Louisa Degenhardt from the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, question the UK's decision to retain criminal penalties for cannabis use, despite evidence that removing such penalties has little or no detectable effect on rates of use. They believe that an informed cannabis policy "should be based not only on the harms caused by cannabis use, but also on the harms caused by social policies that attempt to discourage its use, such as criminal penalties for possession and use."


Journal References:

  1. Rebecca Kuepper, Jim van Os, Roselind Lieb, Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, Michael Höfler, Cécile Henquet. Continued cannabis use and risk of incidence and persistence of psychotic symptoms: 10 year follow-up cohort study. British Medical Journal, 2011; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d738
  2. Wayne Hall, Louisa Degenhardt. Cannabis and the increased incidence and persistence of psychosis. BMJ, 2011; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d719

Cannabis use may worsen sexual dysfunction, rat study suggests

Rany Shamloul's recent review of the medical literature on cannabis use and sexual health has revealed that cannabis use may negatively impact male sexual performance.

"Cannabis is the most widely-used illicit drug globally," says Dr. Shamloul, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. "It is also often used by young, sexually active people who are unaware of the hazardous effects it may be having on their sexual health and performance."

Recent animal and in vitro studies have identified new negative connections between cannabis use and sexual dysfunction that may put an end to previous controversy.

While it was previously known that cannabis could affect certain receptors in the brain, it's now believed that these receptors also exist in the penis. Cannabis use may have an antagonizing effect on these receptors in the penis, making it more difficult for a man to achieve and maintain an erection.

"These findings will change the current understanding of the magnitude of the impact of cannabis use on sexual health," says Dr. Shamloul.

Previous studies examining the effects of cannabis use on male sexual function have been limited and many of these studies have produced contradictory results. While some studies have indicated cannabis could have beneficial effects in enhancing erectile function, other studies have found the opposite.

Dr. Shamloul's research will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.


Journal Reference:

  1. Rany Shamloul, Anthony J. Bella. Impact of Cannabis Use on Male Sexual Health. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2011; DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02198.x

Psychotic illness appears to begin at younger age among those who use cannabis

Cannabis use appears to be associated with an earlier onset of psychotic illness, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies posted online that will appear in the June print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

More than 16 million Americans use cannabis on a regular basis, most of whom began using this and other drugs during their teenage years, according to background information in the article. "There is little doubt about the existence of an association between substance use and psychotic illness. National mental health surveys have repeatedly found more substance use, especially cannabis use, among people with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder," the authors write.

Matthew Large, B.Sc.(Med.), M.B.B.S., F.R.A.N.Z.C.P., of University of New South Wales and Prince of Wales Hospital, New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues identified 83 studies involving 8,167 participants who used cannabis or other substances and 14,352 individuals who did not. All of the studies compared the age at onset of psychosis between those two groups.

The meta-analysis found that individuals who used cannabis developed psychosis about 2.7 years younger than those who did not use cannabis. Those who used any type of substance developed psychosis about two years younger, whereas the use of alcohol only was not associated with the age at onset of psychosis.

"A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain the association between cannabis use and schizophrenia, including the following: (1) that cannabis use is a causal factor for schizophrenia; (2) that cannabis use precipitates psychosis in vulnerable people; (3) that cannabis use exacerbates symptoms of schizophrenia; and (4) that people with schizophrenia are more likely to use cannabis," the authors write. The current findings support the view that cannabis use precipitates schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, perhaps through an interaction between genetic and environmental disorders or by disrupting brain development, they note.

"The results of this study provide strong evidence that reducing cannabis use could delay or even prevent some cases of psychosis. Reducing the use of cannabis could be one of the few ways of altering the outcome of the illness because earlier onset of schizophrenia is associated with a worse prognosis and because other factors associated with age at onset, such as family history and sex, cannot be changed," the authors conclude. "The results of this study confirm the need for a renewed public health warning about the potential for cannabis use to bring on psychotic illness."


Journal Reference:

  1. Matthew Large; Swapnil Sharma; Michael T. Compton; Tim Slade; Olav Nielssen. Cannabis Use and Earlier Onset of Psychosis: A Systematic Meta-analysis. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 2011; DOI: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.5