Benefits of Cannabis

Proof continues to pour in from all across the globe that cannabis offers a host of benefits for those suffering from a wide range of maladies.

For instance, the latest findings out of Paris, France, show that patients who are suffering from Nail-Patella Syndrome-induced pain are seeing significant improvements in their health-related quality of life following CBD therapy, according to data published in the journal Nature: Scientific Reports.

Nail-Patella Syndrome (NPS) is a rare genetic disease characterized by skeletal malformation and chronic pain.

“French researchers assessed the safety and efficacy of CBD treatment in a cohort of 28 patients diagnosed with NPS,” Washington, DC-based NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) reported. “Study participants ingested pharmaceutical-grade synthetic CBD for three months.”

According to investigators, “Treatment (with a median dose of 900 mg/day) was associated with a significant reduction in pain intensity… Health-related quality of life and other NPS-associated symptoms also improved in most patients. CBD treatment was well-tolerated, and no elevations in liver enzyme levels were reported.”

The study’s authors noted that “Oral treatment with synthetic CBD was associated with a significant reduction in pain in most of the patients with NPS included in our study and led to improvements in most of the NPS-associated symptoms analyzed.”

Emotions: The good news out of Corvallis, OR, is that subjects do not show short-term changes in their ability to regulate emotions following the inhalation of cannabis cigarettes containing greater than 20% THC, according to clinical data published in Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical & Experimental.

“Investigators affiliated with Oregon State University and Washington State University assessed the impact of cannabis smoking on emotional regulation in a cohort of 12 young adults,” NORML reported. “Participants in the study were experienced cannabis consumers who provided their own cannabis. Researchers assessed participants’ mood and their ability to regulate their emotions during periods of sobriety and while under the influence of cannabis.” Said the study’s authors, “The current pilot study assessed whether being under the influence of high-potency cannabis flower affects emotion regulation among a sample of young adults who use cannabis regularly. While participants reported a more positive mood and decreases in anxiety while intoxicated, there was no evidence to suggest that intoxication from high-potency cannabis flower affected emotion regulation.

Future research with larger samples might consider adopting… alternative measures of emotion regulation to assess the acute effects of high-potency cannabis use on emotion regulation and other health outcomes.”

Driving: Those who took part in a study in Granada, Spain, showed “no significant changes” in their driving performance following the use of CBD, according to clinical trial data published in the journal Addiction.

A team of Spanish investigators assessed participants’ simulated driving performance after inhaling CBD or a placebo, NORML said.

“The results of this study suggest that vaporized CBD seems to be a safe substance for visual function and vision-dependent tasks such as driving,” the authors commented. “Further studies are needed to ascertain if higher doses of CBD could pose a risk.”

A 2022 Swiss study similarly reported that the oral administration of up to 1,500 mg of CBD does not induce changes in simulated driving performance, the organization pointed out. “Another study also re ported that subjects who inhale high-CBD/low-THC botanical cannabis do not experience any decrease in their driving abilities.”

IBD: From the United Kingdom comes cutting-edge research showing that patients who have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) saw “sustained improvements” in their health related quality of life following their use of cannabis, according to observational data published in Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

“British researchers assessed the use of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) consisting of either botanicals or oil extracts in 116 IBD patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry,” NORML explained.

“CBMP treatment was associated with improvement in IBD-specific outcomes in patients and general HRQoL (health-related quality of life) over 18-months,” researchers said. The scientific journal Cureus added, “Many IBD patients use cannabis to control disease symptoms, and there is emerging evidence that it may play a role in disease management.”

Alcohol: And from Mannheim, Germany, Nature: Molecular Psychiatry recently published placebo-controlled clinical data indicating that the oral administration of 800 mg. of synthetic CBD significantly reduced subjects’ cravings for alcohol.

According to the investigators, “Individuals receiving CBD… re ported significantly lower alcohol cravings. No adverse events or serious adverse events were reported by the participants of the study during the test session.”

The authors of the study went on to say that the “current RCT (randomized clinical trial) provides evidence for the significant effects of CBD on neurobiological disease mechanisms and symptoms in AUD (alcohol use disorder)… (T)he observed potential of CBD to reduce cue-induced… alcohol craving, together with its good safety profile, supports the potential of CBD to treat individuals with AUD. New pharmacological treatment options that target central neurobiological disease mechanisms and core symptoms of AUD, such as craving, could complement existing treatment options and reduce relapse risk and the enormous disease burden inflicted by AUD.”