Abstract Background Cannabis products, including the cannabinoids CBD and THC, are rising in popularity and increasingly used for medical purposes. While there is some evidence that cannabinoids improve cancer-associated symptoms, understanding regarding appropriate use remains incomplete. Purpose To describe patient experiences with medical cannabis with focus on use contexts and patients’ reported benefits and harms. Methods A standardized intake form was implemented in a dedicated medical cannabis clinic at an NCI-designated cancer center; data from this form was abstracted for all initial visits from October 2019 to October 2020. We report descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, and multivariate logistic regression. Results Among 163 unique new...

Please use this link to access publication Abstract Purpose This systematic review assesses currently available clinical information on which cannabinoids and what range of doses have been used to achieve positive effects in a diversity of medical context. Methods The data were collected according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol guidelines. Inclusion criteria were articles that assessed administration of any cannabinoid to any clinical population, reported in the ClinicalTrials.gov or PubMed databases, that involved a comparison with other treatment or placebo and a result measurement to assess the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the cannabinoid. Exclusion criteria were review or letter; articles not in the English...

Abstract Rationale There has been increasing attention on cannabis use for medical purposes, but there is currently a lack of data on its epidemiology. Objectives To examine the epidemiology of self-reported cannabis use for medical purposes by (1) estimating its prevalence, (2) comparing gender and age differences, and (3) investigating what reasons they were used to manage. Methods Participants included 27,169 respondents (aged 16–65) who completed Wave 1 of The International Cannabis Policy Study (ICPS) conducted across Canada and the USA in 2018 via online surveys. Cannabis policy conditions were “US legal–recreational” (legal for both recreational and medical uses), “US legal–medical only”, “US illegal”,...

Abstract Evidence on the use and efficacy of medical cannabis for children is limited. We examined clinical and epidemiological characteristics of medical cannabis treatment and caregiver-reported effects in children and adolescents in Switzerland. We collected clinical data from children and adolescents (< 18 years) who received Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), or a combination of the two between 2008 and 2019 in Switzerland. Out of 205 contacted families, 90 agreed to participate. The median age at the first prescription was 11.5 years (interquartile range (IQR) 6–16), and 32 patients were female (36%). Fifty-one (57%) patients received CBD only and 39 (43%) THC. Patients were more likely to receive...

Abstract Some evidence suggests that males and females may differ in their responses to acute cannabis effects, including subjective drug effects and behavioural effects, and cannabinoid pharmacokinetics. This is significant given current changes to cannabisrelated policies and, in consequence, increased cannabis accessibility. The present study combines data from two randomized controlled trials to investigate possible differences among males (n = 21) and females (n = 19) in the acute effects of vaporized cannabis containing 13.75 mg Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), with and without cannabidiol (CBD; 13.75 mg). To control for differences in the timing of assessments, peak (or peak change from baseline) scores were calculated for...

ABSTRACT The endocannabinoid system plays a physiological natural anti-inflammatory anticancer role and the pharmacological effects of cannabinoids from Cannabis plant simply reflect the action of the endogenous ones. Therefore, from a therapeutic point of view Cannabis plant cannot be understood without taking into consideration the physio-pathological role of the endocannabinoid system. Despite the great number of potentially therapeutic molecules with the Cannabis plant, they may be synthetized within four archetypic molecules, which consist of tetra-hydro-cannabinol (THC), cannabinol (CBN), cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabidiol (CBD). All molecules play a similar anticancer activity, whereas their psychological effects are different. THC is the only psychotropic psychedelic cannabinoid, whereas...

Abstract: ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is one of the primary ingredients of cannabis plants and is responsible for the psychoactive properties of cannabis. While cannabidiol (CBD), the nonpsychoactive compound from cannabis, has been shown to stimulate human epidermal melanogenesis, the effects of THC have not been addressed in human epidermal melanocytes. Moreover, to date, no study has tested the effects of these compounds on melanocytes differing in pigmentation, representative of different skin phototypes, which would be significant as different ethnicities are known to differentially metabolize these xenobiotics. Herein, the effects of THC were studied and compared alongside CBD in human epidermal melanocytes derived from lightly-pigmented (HEMn-LP;...

Abstract Cannabidiol (CBD) product regulatory efforts must be informed by research regarding consumer perceptions. This mixed-methods study examined CBD product information sources, knowledge, perceptions, use and use intentions among young adults. This study analyzed (i) Fall 2020 survey data from 2464 US young adults (Mage = 24.67, 51.4% ever users, 32.0% past 6-month users) and (ii) Spring 2021 qualitative interviews among 40 survey participants (27.5% past-month users). Overall, 97.9% of survey participants reported having heard of CBD, 51.4% ever/lifetime use and 32.0% past 6-month use. Survey participants learned about CBD from friends/family (58.9%), products/ads at retailers (36.4%), online content/ads (34.8%), CBD stores (27.5%) and social media...

Abstract Objectives: This study aimed to characterize use and perceptions of cannabidiol (CBD) products. Materials and Methods: Participants aged 16–65 years in Canada (n=15,042) and the United States (n=30,288) completed measures on prevalence and patterns of CBD product use and perceptions of CBD oil as part of the 2019 International Cannabis Policy Study online survey. Results: Past 12-month CBD product use was significantly more prevalent among respondents in the United States (26.1%) than in Canada (16.2%). Consumers in the United States and Canada reported using a range of CBD products, including drops (46.3% vs. 47.3%, respectively), topicals (26.0% vs. 16.7%), edibles/foods (23.8% vs. 17.6%), vape oils (18.9%...

Abstract The proportion of older adults using medical cannabis is rising. Therefore, we aimed to assess the effects of herbal medical cannabis on the functional status of older adults. We conducted a prospective observational study of patients aged 65 years or older that initiated cannabis treatment for different indications, mostly chronic non-cancer pain, during 2018–2020 in a specialized geriatric clinic. The outcomes assessed were activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), pain intensity, geriatric depression scale, chronic medication use, and adverse events at six months. A cohort of 119 patients began cannabis treatment: the mean age was 79.3 ± 8.5...