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Cannabis as Medicine? Overview

It is utterly mind-blowing that people have no idea that Cannabis has been part of the medical prescription landscape for over 20 years. That’s right T. G. A (Therapeutic Goods Administration) trialled and approved cannabis based medicines have been available as an option to alleviate, if only in small ways, some of the symptoms of a couple of diseases or help with recovery from treatment. However, the claims of this plant being a ‘miracle cure’ for just about everything, have existed for of 100 years… yet in no credible and advanced research has any of the properties of the Cannabis plant ‘cured’ anything, ever!

There is no argument that some components of this incredibly complex plant can have some therapeutic benefit, be it ever so small, but deriving such from the plant with out co-opting some of the more detrimental components has proven incredibly difficult. On top of that, the evidence emerging from latest science, sees that some of these therapies, do more harm than good, with the temporary alleviating of a symptom on one hand, and incurring along term genetic harm on the other!

Again if facts and evidence matter to your best-practice health care, then this is the space for you. Make informed decisions based on science, and not quackery!

Chronic Pain Associated With Increased Cannabis Use and Adverse Effects Among Young Adults

Nonmedical cannabis use is on this rise in adults suffering from pain, despite evidence demonstrating negative clinical outcomes. Researchers investigated the relationship between cannabis use, adverse consequences, and chronic pain in a US-based cohort of young adults aged 18–25 years.

  • The sample of 403 young adults reported a mean cannabis use of 47 days in the prior 90 days; of this sample, 20 percent reported chronic pain.
  • Participants with chronic pain used cannabis at significantly greater frequency (incident rate ratio [IRR], 1.35), intensity (IRR, 1.61), and reported more negative consequences (IRR, 1.23), compared with those without chronic pain.

Comments: This study contributes to a growing body of evidence that young people with chronic pain have increased cannabis use compared with their peers and experience more adverse effects. Youth are neuro-developmentally vulnerable to cannabis’s effects, with brain maturation occurring through the mid-twenties. Cultural messages that promote cannabis as a “medication” appear to be drowning out accurate information about the risks of use for this age group. Given the implications, young adults should be advised of non-cannabis alternatives to mitigate chronic pain.

(Source: Boston Medical Centre, Emily Nields, DO)

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