Study: Endometriosis Patients Report Successfully Managing Symptoms with Cannabis
Sydney, Australia: Patients with endometriosis report effectively managing their pain and other symptoms with cannabis, according to data published in the journal PLoS One.
A team of Australian researchers assessed the self-reported efficacy of cannabis in a cohort of 252 Canadian subjects with endometriosis. Study participants self-administered legally obtained cannabis products at home and reported symptom changes in real time on a mobile software application. Investigators analyzed reports from over 16,000 cannabis-use sessions recorded over a nearly three-year period.
Study participants reported that their use of cannabis was effective at mitigating endometriosis-related pain and gastrointestinal issues. Respondents also reported improvements in mood following marijuana consumption.
‘With emerging evidence internationally demonstrating that women are utilizing illicit cannabis as a self-management strategy for the pain and the associated symptoms of endometriosis, this paper demonstrates that Canadian women are also utilizing legally obtained and quality-assured products to manage endometriosis symptoms across domains such as pelvic pain, gastrointestinal symptoms and mood,” authors concluded. ‘Clinical trials investigating the tolerability and effectiveness of cannabis for endometriosis pain and associated symptoms are urgently required.”
Survey data has previously reported that endometriosis patients find relief from medical cannabis use and that they often substitute it in place of other medications, particularly opioid-based analgesics.
Full text of the study, ‘Effects of cannabis ingestion on endometriosis-associated pelvic pain and related symptoms,” appears in PLoS ONE.
Analysis: Indica, Sativa Labels ‘Poorly” Reflect Variations Between Cannabis Plants
Nova Scotia, Canada: The nomenclature ‘indica’ and ‘sativa’ poorly capture genetic variations between cannabis plants, according to data published in the journal Nature Plants.
A team of scientists from Canada and from the Netherlands analyzed the composition of 297 cannabis plant samples. Consistent with prior studies, they identified few genomic differences between samples explicitly labeled ‘indica’ or ‘sativa.’
‘Our results demonstrate that the ‘sativa–indica’ scale currently used to label cannabis poorly captures overall genomic and metabolomic variation,” authors concluded. ‘Cannabis labelling is instead probably driven primarily by a small number of key terpenes whose concentrations contribute to the characteristic aromas commonly associated with ‘sativa’ and ‘indica.'”
Other analyses have similarly reported few distinctions in cannabis plants labeled either ‘indica’ or ‘sativa’ – reporting, ‘Ubiquitous interbreeding and hybridization renders [these] distinctions meaningless.”
Full text of the study, ‘Cannabis labelling is associated with genetic variation in terpene synthase genes,” appears in Nature Plants.
Study: Medical Cannabis Improves Quality of Life in Older Adults with Chronic Pain
Gainesville, FL: The use of medical cannabis by older adults with a chronic pain condition is associated with improvements in their quality of life, according to data published in the journal Cannabis.
Investigators with the University of Florida at Gainesville assessed the use of medical cannabis over a three-month period in a cohort of 46 middle-aged and older adults diagnosed with chronic pain.
They reported that subjects experienced significantly lower levels of pain following the use of medical cannabis, as well as improvements in sleep, anxiety/depression, and in overall quality of life.
The findings are consistent with numerous other studies documenting that the use of cannabis is associated with sustained improvements in chronic pain patients and that it is linked with enhanced quality of life outcomes in older adults.
Full text of the study, ‘Health outcomes among adults initiating medical cannabis for chronic pain: A 3-month prospective study incorporating ecological momentary assessment,” appears in Cannabis.
New York: Statewide Regulations Limit Discriminatory Actions Against Employees Who Consume Cannabis While Away from Work
New York, NY: Employers may no longer sanction workers for their off-hours marijuana use absent evidence of ‘articulable symptoms of cannabis impairment,” according to newly issued guidelines provided by the New York Department of Labor.
The new rules only permit employers to take disciplinary action if there exists ‘objectively observable indications that [an] employee’s performance of the essential duties or tasks of their position are decreased or lessened.” A positive drug screen for past cannabis exposure is not considered to be evidence of impaired performance in the workplace. The odor of cannabis is also not considered to be evidence of marijuana-induced impairment.
Employees that are drug tested for cannabis under federally mandated rules will still be subject to sanctions if they test positive for the past use of marijuana. Under the new guidelines, employers can take disciplinary action against employees who consume cannabis while on the job, but they are not required to do so.
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano praised the policy change. He said: ‘Suspicionless marijuana testing in the workplace is not now, nor has it ever been, an evidence-based policy. Rather, this discriminatory practice is a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 1980s ‘war on drugs.’ But times have changed; attitudes have changed, and in many places, the marijuana laws have changed. It is time for workplace policies to adapt to this new reality and to cease punishing employees for activities they engage in during their off-hours that pose no workplace safety threat.”
In recent months, several states and municipalities have enacted legislation limiting employers’ ability to take punitive actions against workers, or those seeking to be hired, who test positive for marijuana on a drug test.
Full text of the Department’s new rules are online. Additional information is available from NORML’s fact sheet, ‘Marijuana Legalization and Impact on the Workplace.’
New York: Officials Move to Vacate Over 400,000 Marijuana Convictions
New York, NY: State officials have sealed nearly 200,000 marijuana-related criminal convictions and are in the process of expunging several hundred thousand more, according to data provided by the New York State Office of Cannabis Management.
According to an update provided by the agency at its most recent meeting: ‘Approximately 203,000 marijuana related charges are presently being suppressed from background searches and in process to be sealed or expunged. … This will add to the approximately 198,000 sealing accomplished as part of the first round of marijuana expungements for the 2019 expungement legislation.”
For decades, New York State – and New York City specifically – led the nation in the criminal prosecution of low-level marijuana offenders. In 2019, lawmakers amended marijuana possession penalties and established a system to facilitate the review and expungement of cannabis-specific criminal records. State lawmakers then legalized adult-use cannabis possession and retail sales this year.
New York is among several states in recent months to take steps to either vacate or seal marijuana-specific criminal records. In Illinois, officials have moved to expunge an estimated 500,000 marijuana-related records. California officials have cleared nearly 200,000 records, and New Jersey courts have expunged over 362,000 records. Last week, officials in Virginia announced that they have sealed some 330,000 low-level marijuana possession convictions and another 64,000 misdemeanor distribution convictions.
More than a dozen states have enacted legislation explicitly permitting or facilitating the process of having past marijuana convictions expunged, vacated, otherwise set aside, or sealed from public view.
Florida: Survey of State-Legal Medical Marijuana Patients Finds That Most Reduce Their Use of Prescriptions, Over-the-Counter Drugs
Fort Myers, FL: The majority of patients registered with the state of Florida to access medical cannabis products report reducing their consumption of other medications over time, according to data published in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
A team of researchers affiliated with Florida Gulf Coast University surveyed 157 state-registered medical cannabis patients. Sixty-five percent of respondents said that they had either reduced or eliminated their use of at least one prescription or over-the-counter medication following their initiation of medical cannabis. Patients were most likely to report discontinuing their use of opioids (18 percent), anxiolytics (18 percent), or antidepressants (15 percent). Some patients also reported substituting medical cannabis for NSAIDS and sleep aids, among other medications.
The finding is similar to dozens of other studies similarly reporting patients’ decreased use of prescription medications, particularly opioids, following their use of medical cannabis.
Similar to other studies, respondents perceived cannabis to be ‘very effective” at providing symptom relief, particularly for pain and anxiety. Respondents were more likely to report consuming cannabis flowers than edible products – a finding that is also consistent with prior research.
Full text of the study, ‘Demographics, perceptions, and use of medical marijuana among patients in Florida,” appears in Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
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