Extroverting

Category: MMJ

  • LSU Plans to Start Cloning Cannabis for Medical Use

    The Louisiana state Agriculture Commissioner said on Monday that the LSU AgCenter expects to start cloning cannabis from larger “mother” plants in June to create medical marijuana.

    Dr. Mike Strain, who heads the agriculture and forestry department, said his agency had received $80,000 from an LSU vendor to begin harvesting tissue for the state’s medical marijuana operation, according to the Daily Advertiser.

    Medical marijuana is not funded in next year’s state budget, which starts on July 1, so the department will ask for a $1.5 million loan to provide software and facilities related to the operation.

    Strain’s agency is responsible for overseeing the medical marijuana industry within the state, “everything from when the clone tissue of the marijuana goes in the front door till the compound leaves the back door for distribution to the pharmacy,” he said.

    Read the full story.

  • The New Chill Pill: Why Cannabis Is Coming for Sleeping Pill Poppers

    Last year, Sonoma winemaker Hadley Larson’s mother had a stroke, a relative attempted suicide twice, and the Wine Country fires forced her to evacuate with her son while her husband stayed to guard their home.

    Months of anxiety and nights of five hours of sleep led to outbursts of “random rage,” panic attacks and suicidal thoughts, she said, according to Green State.

    A psychiatrist in November recommended anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs, but when Larson, wary of side effects, asked him about using cannabis instead, his answer surprised her. “I will tell you,” she recalled him saying, “that that is where the research is headed.”

    Within days of ditching the prescriptions in favor of a tincture of cannabidiol, or CBD, at bedtime, she was a new woman. The non-psychoactive cannabis substance helped to calm her racing thoughts, allowing her to nod off within 45 minutes, rather than ruminating for hours, and her anxiety subsided, too.

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  • Medical Cannabis for Pain May Reduce Need for Opioids

    The use of appropriate dosing of medical cannabis and following key treatment regimen recommendations can lead to “remarkable” improvements in pain and a reduced need for opioids in both adults and children, two pain specialists suggest.

    Describing his experience in treating pain with medical cannabis over the past 4 to 5 years, Mark S Wallace, MD, professor of clinical anesthesiology at the University of California, San Diego, said he starts with some basic criteria, including that patients have not responded to efforts for pain relief with standard therapy, according to Medscape.

    “Our approach in recommending medical cannabis for pain is that patients have failed to respond to conservative therapies first. However, this should be considered before chronic opioids,” Wallace said during a presentation at the American Pain Society (APS) 2018 meeting.

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  • Woman Given Six Weeks to Live Claims Cannabis Oil Cured Her

    A woman claims cannabis oil has 'cured' her terminal cancer.

    Joy Smith, 52, from Coventry, England, was given just six weeks to live after being diagnosed with inoperable stomach and bowel cancer in August 2016, according to the Daily Mail.

    Desperate for a solution, Ms Smith reluctantly took cannabis-based tablets, alongside chemotherapy, after reading about a cancer patient in the US who went into remission after producing her own marijuana oil.

    Nearly two years on, doctors, who described Ms Smith as 'the luckiest woman in the world', are baffled as her scans show just a small amount of the disease is left in her stomach, which she is confident will disappear with continued cannabis use.

    As well as approaching a miracle remission, Ms Smith has also recently won £84,000 after entering a TV competition while 'under the influence' of cannabis oil.

    Read the full story.

  • Cannabis and Schizophrenia: Do THC and CBD Affect It Differently?

    In the push for cannabis legalization, the link between cannabis and schizophrenia sometimes enters the discussion.

    Many fear that cannabis increases risk for developing schizophrenia, while others declare its value in helping relieve symptoms of the condition, according to Leafly. But what does the research say about the role of cannabis in developing—and potentially treating—schizophrenia? 

    Traditional pharmaceutical treatments, though, do little to treat negative symptoms such as a flat emotional state, a struggle to feel pleasure, and a lack of motivation to engage socially. They also fail to improve cognitive deficits, often leaving patients with impaired attention, memory, and problem-solving abilities.

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  • Study: Cannabis Effective at Treating Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

    Cannabis therapy mitigates symptoms of the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia and is associated with a reduction in the use of other prescription drugs, according to clinical data published online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology.

    An estimated 3 to 6 million Americans are afflicted by fibromyalgia, which is often poorly controlled by standard pain medications, according to NORML.

    Israeli investigators assessed the safety and efficacy of inhaled cannabis in a cohort of 26 patients with fibromyalgia. They reported that medical cannabis treatment “was associated with significant favorable outcomes in every item evaluated,” such as reductions in pain and increases in energy.

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  • Cannabis Cocktails for Beginners

    Cannabis Cocktails for Beginners

    Now that Prop. 64 has begotten a recreational marketplace for marijuana, many are rolling their eyes at advertisements for cannabis-infused tea, chocolate and barbecue sauce. 

    But while legalization opens the gate for long overdue research on the medical efficacy of cannabis, Prop. 64 also grants more Californians the opportunity to experiment for themselves with the potential benefits of cannabis, according to the North Coast Journal.

    Two local women, Gillian Levy and Susan Cleverdon, have built a business on the need for a safe way to explore using cannabis for health and wellness. 

    "We see cannabis as a super food or nutritional support, rather than a drug," explains Levy, stressing that the tinctures are formulated to promote optimal wellness.

    Read the full story.

  • Cannabis: Brain Alterations May Spur Feelings of Alienation

    Cannabis: Brain Alterations May Spur Feelings of Alienation

    New research has revealed altered brain activity in young adults with cannabis addiction.

    The findings suggest a mechanism that may explain why the risk of depression and other mental health issues is higher among those who use the drug, according to Medical News Today.

    The study was carried out by Dr. Peter Manza, Dr. Dardo Tomasi, and Dr. Nora Volkow, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, MD.

    The findings have been published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.

    Read the full story. 

  • High Cost of Medical Marijuana Causes Pain in Vermont

    High Cost of Medical Marijuana Causes Pain in Vermont

    Recent scientific reviews have found substantial evidence that marijuana can be useful in easing at least some types of chronic pain. Yet even for the majority of Americans who live in states that have legalized medical marijuana, choosing opioids can be much cheaper.

    "I can get a bottle of opioids for a dollar on my state insurance," says MaryJane Sarvis, a textile artist in Shaftsbury, Vt. Instead, Sarvis says, she spends around $200 each month on medical marijuana, according to NPR.

    Sarvis has permanent nerve pain from a childhood spine surgery. At 12, a doctor fused 10 of her vertebrae together in what she says was then a state-of-the-art effort to treat scoliosis. Thirty years later, the disks started breaking down. Her doctors told her she'd be on opioids for the rest of her life.

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  • Medical Refugee Family Calls for Legal Medical Cannabis in Kansas

    Medical Refugee Family Calls for Legal Medical Cannabis in Kansas

    The first time Gavin had a seizure, he had just turned 3. It was a grand mal seizure, the kind where people convulse uncontrollably due to irregular activity in the brain.

    Melissa Ragsdale, Gavin’s mother, had never seen a seizure before. Little did she know, she would witness her son have thousands of seizures over the next five years, according to the Garden City Telegram.

    Gavin is 8 now. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., with his mother, and he is a medical refugee. He and his mother, who previously lived in Fairway in Johnson County, were able to settle in Colorado thanks to the generosity of another medical refugee family and many others woven together through a tight-knit network of patient advocacy groups calling for nationwide legalization of medical cannabis at the state and federal levels.

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