"The use of Medical Cannabis for Treating Cancer Related Symptoms in Oncology Patients"

Many comorbidities are associated with oncology diseases. In cancer, the associated symptoms include pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia, decreased in quality of life, increased disability and negative effects on sexuality.

These symptoms are some of the most fundamental causes of suffering and disability for oncology patients while undergoing therapies, and some may even lead to worse prognosis.

Traditionally, cancer-related pain is mainly treated by opioid analgesics but a promising substitute for opioid-based medication is Medical Cannabis (MC) and Cannabinoid treatment for cancer-related pain is generally recognized as safe!

Despite the fact that there is a knowledge gap in the study of Cannabis, especially for treating cancer-related pain, a 2020 study showed that most cancer patients requested MC treatment from their oncologist.

The Adverse Effects (AEs) from cannabinoids for cancer treatment are generally well tolerated by the patients and categorized as mild to moderate and the most frequent AEs are memory impairment, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting and xerostomia (dry mouth).

The Study...

This long-term study was conducted between January 2019 and September 2021 in Israel and pulished in Frontiers in Pain Research on 20 May 2022.

The institutional Ethics Committee of Haemek Medical Center and Galil Medical Center also approved the study.

Researchers conducted a multi-center, prospective, 6-month longitudinal study that followed up on the effectiveness and safety parameters of MC treatment for cancer-associated symptoms.

"Grant funds to researchers who are studying cannabis treatment for cancer"

The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to promote research in understanding the mechanisms by which cannabis and cannabinoids affect cancer biology, cancer interception, cancer treatment and resistance, and management of cancer symptoms.

The "National Institutes of Health" (NIH) is prepping to grant funds to researchers who are studying cannabis treatment for cancer and will soon be available to researchers who are working to treat cannabis. 

Within the US, many states have permitted the use of cannabis products, but state policies vary widely regarding the types of products allowed and for what purpose they may be used. Concurrently, the delivery methods of cannabis have diversified and now include edibles, oils, tinctures, topicals and inhaled forms. 

Cancer patients use cannabis and cannabinoids to manage symptoms of cancer and cancer treatment including anorexia, nausea, and pain. Recent survey evidence suggests that a quarter of cancer patients have used cannabis for symptom management. Despite the increase in cannabis and cannabinoid use, research about their health effects, including potential harms and benefits, remain limited.

"HEMP STEEL REBARS... Stronger Than Steel?"

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,confirm that hemp rebar could be a suitable alternative to steel in cement construction.

Dan Walczyk, director of the manufacturing innovation center and Alex Tsamis, associate director of the Architecture Science & Ecology Center, say they have produced an alternative to steel in concrete buildings and various infrastructure projects.

Both scientists agree that hemp-based natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastic rebar has the potential to displace steel as the most preferred reinforcing technology in a few years. These hemp rebars are partially guaranteed to eliminate corrosion challenges, and they are more durable than steel bars.

Rebar is a crucial component in the frameworks of cement buildings. They help construct perfectly standing and durable skeletal frameworks for convention infrastructure projects. On its own, concrete lacks tensile strength, and this is the primary reason why rebars are used—to provide tensile strength.

The Manufacturing Potential of Hemp

About 150 years ago, before the onset of cannabis prohibition and the criminalization of offenders, hemp was used to produce over 75% of the goods consumed by Americans. The manufacturing of hemp-derived goods was scrapped when the government banned the cultivation and usage of the drug based on the threat of abuse. Currently, hemp is at the forefront of manufacturing discussions due to its undeniable potential to serve humans and the global ecosystem.

"Cannabidiol as effective as antipsychotic meds with fewer side effects".

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects a person’s ability to think, feel, and behave clearly. 

It can cause psychotic episodes, and treatment is usually lifelong and involves antipsychotic medications with toxic side effects.

In 2012, researchers published a study in Translational Psychiatry showing that a CBD isolate can treat schizophrenia as effectively as antipsychotic pharmaceuticals — and with far fewer side effects.

In this study, researchers led by Markus Leweke, MD, of the University of Cologne in Germany recruited 39 people with schizophrenia who were hospitalized for a psychotic episode.

"GPR55 The third Cannabinoid Receptor (CB3)"

Finding the CB3 receptor could mean huge medical advancements for cannabis medicine.Originally called GPR55 after the gene that encodes it, the CB3 receptor is an exciting discovery for science. It is now clear this receptor is part of the Endocannabinoid System and interacts with endocannabinoids and phtyocannabinoids like THC and CBD.

Every animal, have an Endocannabinoid System. Cannabinoid receptors are found throughout the body. But where has CB3 been hiding? Well, turns out it hasn’t exactly been hiding. It’s more like researchers didn’t connect it to endocannbinoid activity before now.

Firstly, the two most researched receptors are CB1 and CB2. While CB1 receptors are prominent in the central nervous system, and CB2 receptors typically reside in the immune system. CB3 receptors were incognito, previously identified as GPR55. At first, science didn’t know that this receptor even accepted cannabinoids.

The CB3 receptor stayed hidden from scientists because it’s so unlike the other cannabinoid receptors. It only shares 13% of amino acid identity with them. It simply doesn’t look like it would react with cannabis, so scientists on the hunt for new cannabinoid receptors passed over it for years. This designation means that while the receptor had been found, science doesn’t yet know what activated that receptor.

When CB3 was first discovered in 1999, many doubted it was a cannabis receptor. It wasn’t until real proof came along years later that medical researchers accepted that GPR55 was indeed the 3rd Cannabinoid Receptor.

"SAFE & LEGAL ACCESS TO MEDICAL CANNABIS AND CANNABIDIOL (CBD)"

While not everyone with epilepsy should or would consider medical cannabis or cannabidiol (CBD) as a treatment option, some people living with uncontrolled seizures have reported beneficial effects and reduced seizure activity when using medical cannabis, especially strains rich in CBD. Further research is needed on the effects of medical cannabis on epilepsy, but when recommended by a treating physician, medical cannabis may be the best alternative for some individuals living with drug-resistant epilepsy and uncontrolled seizures.

Access to medical cannabis will support increased research efforts and allow individuals who have failed to gain seizure control an option for treatment.

"Alcohol, Not Cannabis, Associated with Violent Behaviors in Psychotic Patients"

The consumption of alcohol, but not cannabis, is associated with an increased likelihood of impulsiveness and violent behavior among subjects with schizophrenic spectrum disorders, according to data published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

The link between substances of abuse, impulsivity, and violence in psychotic patients remains unclear but a team of Canadian and Italian investigators assessed the relationship between the use of alcohol and cannabis on psychotic, impulsive, and violent behavior in a cohort of subjects diagnosed with either schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders

The term "psychotic disorder" refers to a person's thought dysfunction and is often described as "the patient's loss of contact with reality."

This study aims at unraveling whether cannabis use disorder is associated with violent and/or psychotic behavior in patients who where hospitalized in a high-security hospital.

Endocannabinoid system: Essential and mysterious

Many of us have heard of some of the transmitter systems within our bodies, such as the nervous system, which gives us our fight-or-flight response. Fewer have heard of the more recently discovered endocannabinoid system which is amazing when you consider that the ECS is critical for almost every aspect of our moment-to-moment functioning. 

The ECS regulates and controls many of our most critical bodily functions such as learning and memory, emotional processing, sleep, temperature control, pain control, inflammatory and immune responses, and eating. The ECS is currently at the center of renewed international research and drug development.

What is the ECS?

The ECS comprises a vast network of chemical signals and cellular receptors that are densely packed throughout our brains and bodies. The "cannabinoid" receptors in the brain — the CB1 receptors — outnumber many of the other receptor types on the brain. They act like traffic cops to control the levels and activity of most of the other neurotransmitters. This is how they regulate things: by immediate feedback, turning up or down the activity of whichever system needs to be adjusted, whether that is hunger, temperature, or alertness.

A second type of cannabinoid receptor, the CB2 receptor, exists mostly in our immune tissues and is critical to helping control our immune functioning, and it plays a role in modulating intestinal inflammation, contraction, and pain in inflammatory bowel conditions. CB2 receptors are particularly exciting targets of drug development because they don’t cause the high associated with cannabis that stimulating the CB1 receptors does (which is often an unwanted side effect).

To stimulate these receptors, our bodies produce molecules called endocannabinoids (also called endogenous cannabinoids), which have a structural similarity to molecules in the cannabis plant, the anandamide (AEA) & the 2-arachidonoylglyerol (2-AG)