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Study: Cannabis Associated with Improved Sleep in Adults with Post-Traumatic Stress

Haifa, Israel: The use of cannabis prior to bedtime is associated with perceived improvements in sleep in subjects diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to data published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

Israeli researchers assessed the impact of cannabis on sleep in a cohort of 77 PTSD patients. Study participants kept a daily journal where they recorded numerous sleep measures each morning.

Investigators acknowledged that the use of cannabis was associated with self-reported improvements in sleep onset and a reduction in the frequency of nightmares. Subjects who consumed products higher in CBD were less likely to report early awakenings.

"Our data suggest that MC [medical cannabis] may help reduce nightmares and [that] CBD in particular may be important for preventing early awakenings," they wrote. "This provides a strong basis for further hypotheses testing, potentially through clinical trials, of the sleep-inducing effects of MC and for testing CBD in particular."

Authors concluded, "Given the high comorbidity of PTSD symptoms and sleep disturbances and the potential for MC to have effects on both, a greater understanding of how patients experience the effects of MC on overall PTSD symptoms and sleep disturbances is warranted."

Prior studies have similarly reported that cannabis products may be associated with improved sleep duration and with improvements in insomnia. The enactment of adult-use marijuana legalization has also been correlated with a decrease in the sale of over-the-counter sleep aid medications.

Full text of the study, "Post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep, and medical cannabis treatment: A daily diary study," appears in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

Analysis: Marijuana Excise Taxes Yield Nearly $3 Billion in Revenue in Fiscal Year 2022

Washington, DC: Legal cannabis markets generated an estimated $2.8 billion in excise taxes in fiscal year 2022 (July 2021 to June 2022), according to an analysis provided by The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Regulators in California collected the largest amount of excise tax revenue ($774 million) while regulators in Alaska collected the least ($30 million).

In the two states with the most mature adult-use cannabis markets - Colorado and Washington - cannabis excise tax revenues outpaced those collected on the sale of alcohol and tobacco. "Broadly speaking, the experience of Colorado and Washington demonstrate that a state can collect a significant amount of revenue from marijuana taxes and that collection should mostly increase over time," the report's authors wrote.

The Center's analysis did not tabulate additional revenues generated from state sales taxes and/or locally imposed taxes on cannabis products.

An analysis provided in April by the Marijuana Policy Project estimated that total tax revenues derived from the licensed retail sale of state-legal, adult-use cannabis products grew by more than 30 percent between 2020 and 2021, totaling over $3.7 billion last year.

The full text of the report is available online here.

Study: Marijuana Use Poses No Elevated Risk for Liver Transplant Patients

Birmingham, AL: Those with a history of marijuana use are no more likely than non-users to suffer from any adverse complications following liver transplantation, according to data published in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.

A team of investigators affiliated with the University of Alabama at Birmingham compared post-liver transplant outcomes in a cohort of cannabis consumers and matched controls. Researchers assessed post-surgery data for a period of one-year.

Authors reported: "There was no statistical difference in post-LT [liver transplant] outcomes between marijuana and non-marijuana users, including incidence of cardiac, respiratory, renal, psychiatric, or neurological complications, as well as readmission rates post-surgery. There were no statistically significant associations between marijuana use with post-transplant bacterial or fungal infections, medication non-compliance, or continued substance use."

They concluded: "Our data indicates that marijuana is not associated with increased risk of postoperative noncompliance, other organ complications, infections, or death. As a single factor, marijuana may not need to be a contraindication for LT."

The researchers' findings are consistent with those of several other studies which also concluded that marijuana use is not contraindicated in patients receiving organ transplants. Nonetheless, in several states - including some states that permit medical cannabis access - those with a history of marijuana use may be ineligible to receive organ transplants.

Full text of the study, "Marijuana use and post-transplant complications and non-compliance in liver transplant patients," appears in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.

Analysis: History of Cannabis Use Not Associated with More Severe Symptoms of Psychosis

Christchurch, NZ: Those with a history of cannabis consumption do not exhibit more severe symptoms of psychosis than do those with no history of regular use, according to longitudinal data published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

A team of New Zealand researchers assessed the relationship between marijuana use and the severity of psychotic symptomology in a cohort of over 1,200 subjects born in 1977. Investigators compared the symptom profile of cannabis consumers and non-consumers at age 18, 21, and at age 25.

Researchers reported that cannabis-consuming subjects were more likely than non-users to report experiencing a greater variety of psychotic symptoms overall. However, investigators acknowledged that consumers were not more likely to report experiencing severe symptoms.

Authors reported: "The present analyses sought to determine whether there was a qualitative difference in the kind of symptoms being reported by the two groups. ... Both groups tended to report common, low-level symptoms (such as "having ideas or beliefs that others do not share"), and neither group was likely to report what would be considered as more severe positive symptoms of psychosis."

They concluded: "Collectively, the results suggest that while those who were regular cannabis users reported a significantly greater number of symptoms than non-users, the symptom profile between the two groups did not differ, showing that there was no evidence of greater ‘severity' among regular cannabis users."

Although the use of cannabis and other controlled substances is more common among those with psychotic illnesses, studies indicate that lifetime incidences of marijuana-induced psychosis are relatively rare among those who do not already have a prior diagnosis of a psychiatric disease.

Full text of the study, "Cannabis use and patterns of psychotic symptomology in a longitudinal birth cohort," appears in the New Zealand Medical Journal.