Abstract (1) Background: In November 2017, medical cannabis was legalized in Poland. Until now, there have been no studies conducted to examine the perspectives of Polish physicians about their preferences regarding medical cannabis legal status and educational needs. (2) Methods: The survey was a self-developed online questionnaire with 57 participants. Participation was voluntary. The link was shared through a personal network of medical doctors, regional medical chambers, and with doctors attending palliative care courses organized by our research group. Results: Between June and October 2020, 173 HCPs from Poland completed the survey. More than half of the study participants never received any education on...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract The association between cannabis exposure and working memory impairment and its neural substrates remain unclear. In this cross-sectional observational study, we investigated this by examining the relationship between frequency of exposure to cannabis, working memory performance and regional brain volumes and tested whether lower volumes of cortical and subcortical structures mediate the association between cannabis exposure and working memory deficit using the Human Connectome Project data from 234 individuals with self-reported cannabis exposure and 174 individuals unexposed to cannabis. We tested the relationship between self-reported frequency of cannabis exposure and list-sorting working memory task performance...

Abstract Cannabis use during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis. According to a current hypothesis, this results from detrimental effects of early cannabis use on brain maturation during this vulnerable period. However, studies investigating the interaction between early cannabis use and brain structural alterations hitherto reported inconclusive findings. We investigated effects of age of cannabis initiation on psychosis using data from the multicentric Personalized Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) and the Cannabis Induced Psychosis (CIP) studies, yielding a total sample of 102 clinically-relevant cannabis users with recent onset psychosis. GM covariance underlies shared maturational processes. Therefore, we performed...

Abstract Cannabis is the most commonly used drug during pregnancy in the United States and Canada, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that all pregnant individuals be screened for cannabis use and counseled regarding potential adverse health impacts of use. However, those considering or using cannabis during pregnancy report experiencing stigma and lack of information from health care providers and, thus, frequently rely on friends, family, and the internet for information. This article describes 3 types of decisions individuals may be making about cannabis use during pregnancy and suggests approaches health care providers may take to minimize judgment and provide optimal...

Abstract STUDY QUESTION Do phytocannabinoids (PCs) affect follicular endocannabinoid signalling and the epigenome in the surrounding granulosa cells (GCs)? SUMMARY ANSWER Exposure to PCs increases the expression of endocannabinoid receptors and reduces DNA methylation enzyme expression and global DNA methylation in naïve GCs. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Cannabis plant derivatives, known as PCs, are used for medicinal and recreational purposes. The main PC, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is the third most commonly used substance by women of childbearing age, hence knowledge of the effect it has on reproduction is of utmost importance. THC exerts its effects via receptors of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and can interfere...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Cannabis use is associated with a number of psychiatric disorders; however, the causal nature of these associations has been difficult to establish. Mendelian randomization (MR) offers a way to infer causality between exposures with known genetic predictors (genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]) and outcomes of interest. MR has previously been applied to investigate the relationship between lifetime cannabis use (having ever used cannabis) and schizophrenia, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but not bipolar disorder, representing a gap in the literature. We conducted a two-sample bidirectional MR study on the relationship between bipolar...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Background Cannabis is a plant with a rich history of medical, recreational, industrial and spiritual uses. This paper aims to explore drug use rituals as methods of community-controlled use that help maintain a self-regulated and healthy relation to the substance in questions. Furthermore, it explores how cannabis is used in developing spirituality and a sense of community. The ritual use of cannabis is discussed in the context of drug policy. Methods Ethnographic research methods, such as fieldwork, participant observation, in-depth interviews, and qualitative analysis, were used to research a phenomenological community in rural Catalonia, where...

Abstract Medical cannabis represents a potential route of pesticide exposure to susceptible populations. We compared the qualifying conditions for medical use and pesticide testing requirements of cannabis in 33 states and Washington, D.C. Movement disorders were the most common neurological category of qualifying conditions, including epilepsy, certain symptoms of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and any cause of symptoms leading to seizures or spasticity. Different approaches of pesticide regulation were implemented in cannabis and cannabis-derived products. Six states imposed the strictest U.S. EPA tolerances (i.e. maximum residue levels) for food commodities on up to 400 pesticidal active ingredients in cannabis, while pesticide testing was optional in three...

Abstract Introduction Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States, and nearly 1 in 4 young adults are current cannabis users. Chronic cannabis use is associated with changes in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in the default mode network (DMN) in adolescents and young adults; results are somewhat inconsistent across studies, potentially due to methodological differences. The aims of the present study were to examine potential differences in DMN RSFC between cannabis users and controls, and to examine, as an exploratory analysis, if gender moderated any findings. We further examined whether differences in RSFC related to differences in performance on...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of recreational cannabis use in women with pelvic pain, and to examine the influence of cannabis legalization on these parameters. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a prospective registry of women with self-reported moderate-to-severe pelvic pain referred to a tertiary care clinic in Vancouver, Canada, 2013–2019. We excluded patients aged 18 years or younger and those with unknown data on cannabis use. Demographic, clinical, and validated questionnaire data were extracted for two main analyses: 1) comparison of current cannabis users with current nonusers, and 2) comparison of...