Abstract Background: Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug but is rarely considered a causal factor in death. Aims: This study aimed to understand trends in deaths in England where cannabinoids were detected at post-mortem, and to evaluate the clinical utility of post-mortem cannabinoid concentrations in coronial investigations. Methods: Deaths with cannabinoid detections reported to the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (NPSAD) were extracted and analysed. Results: From 1998 to 2011, on average 7% of all cases reported to NPSAD had a cannabinoid detected (n = 110 deaths per year), rising to 18% in 2020 (n = 350). Death following cannabis use alone was rare (4%...

Abstract Purpose: Opioid use rates have dropped as North American patients gain access to medical cannabis, indicating a harm reduction role, yet health outcomes remain mostly unexplored. This study presents self-reported medical cannabis use, perceptions of health functioning, and changes in opioid pain medication use in Florida medical cannabis patients. Methods: Patients (n = 2,183) recruited from medical dispensaries across Florida completed a 66-item cross-sectional survey that included demographic, health, and medication usage items, along with items from the Medical Outcomes Survey (SF-36) to assess health functioning before and after cannabis initiation. Results: Most participants were between the ages of 20 and 70 years of age (95%), over 54% were...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Background: Cannabis policy liberalization has increased cannabis availability for medical or recreational purposes. Up-to-date trends in medical cannabis licensure can inform clinical policy and care. Objective: To describe recent trends in medical cannabis licensure in the United States. Design: Ecological study with repeated measures. Setting: State registry data via state reports and data requests on medical cannabis licensure from 2016 to 2020. Participants: Medical cannabis patients (persons with medical cannabis licenses) in the United States. Measurements: Total patient volume, patients per 10 000 of total population, and patient-reported qualifying conditions (that is, symptoms or conditions qualifying...

Abstract Maternal cannabis use during lactation may expose developing infants to cannabinoids (CBs) such as ∆-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). CBs modulate lipid signaling molecules in the central nervous system in age- and cell-dependent ways, but their influence on the lipid composition of breast milk has yet to be established. This study investigates the effects of THC, CBD, or their combination on milk lipids by analyzing the stomach contents of CD1 mouse pups that have been nursed by dams injected with CBs on postnatal days (PND) 1 -10. Stomach contents were collected 2 hours after the last injection on PND10 and HPLC/MS/MS was used to...

Please use this link to access this publication Abstract Purpose Cannabis use has reportedly increased in type 2 diabetic users as a possible co-treatment for associated pain and inflammation. Both cannabis and metformin (an anti-diabetic drug) have a limited number of studies completed on their effect on male reproductive parameters in a diabetic model. This study determined if cannabis and metformin administration alter various reproductive parameters in diabetic male rats. Methods Male Wistar rats (n = 35) were fed on a high fat diet and injected with streptozotocin (30 mg/kg rat) to induce a type-2 diabetic model. Treatment groups received cannabis based on Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations of...

Abstract There has been growing interest in developing therapeutic agents and other consumer products derived from cannabis and its components. To date, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved cannabis as a safe and effective drug for any indication. With the progressive state legalization of cannabis for medical use, healthcare providers and consumers must understand what is known about the safety and efficacy linked to cannabis.

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Objectives Older adults with cancer are increasingly inquiring about and using cannabis. Despite this, few studies have examined cannabis use in patients with cancer aged 65 years and older as a separate group and identified characteristics associated with use. The current study sought to determine the rate of cannabis use in older adult patients with cancer and to identify demographic and clinical correlates of use. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of patients with cancer referred for specialised symptom management between January 2014 and May 2017 who underwent routine urine drug testing for tetrahydrocannabinol as part of...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Substantial preclinical evidence demonstrates the antiproliferative, cytotoxic, and antimetastatic properties of plant-derived cannabinoids (phytocannabinoids) such as cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol. The cumulative body of research into the intracellular mechanisms and phenotypic effects of these compounds supports a logical, judicious progression to large-scale phase II/III clinical trials in certain cancer types to truly assess the efficacy of phytocannabinoids as anticancer agents.

Abstract Introduction Cannabis consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of pregnancy and neonatal complications. Since the underlying mechanism is unknown, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the changes in maternal and fetal blood flow in pregnancies exposed to cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Material and methods A case–control study between 2013 and 2020, included women with continued cannabis exposure during the pregnancies, defined by qualitative detection of THC in urine (Cannabis Group), and low-risk pregnancy women divided into tobacco smokers (Tobacco Group), and non-tobacco smokers (Control Group). We evaluated the association between cannabis consumption and maternal and fetal blood flow parameters measured by Doppler...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Cannabis and cannabis-derived products are increasingly used for recreational and medical purposes including anxiety and epilepsy and are often concurrently used with other types of conventional medications. The concomitant use of cannabis with other therapeutic drugs has been shown to increase the likelihood of deleterious drug-drug interactions. Oxazepam is a well-known benzodiazepine used in clinical practice as an anxiolytic, sedative, and anticonvulsant agent. Oxazepam is a racemic mixture of the S-and R-enantiomers and is primarily metabolized via glucuronidation in an enantiomeric-specific manner, where S-oxazepam is mainly glucuronidated by UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 2B15 and R-oxazepam is glucuronidated...