Now home to more than 500 marijuana stores, Colorado has produced over $50 million in tax revenue and lowered unemployment rates and growth statewide. However, there remain large hurdles for business owners who are pioneers in this burgeoning new segment of the economy.
‘”Marijuana tourism” is creating significant discord between Colorado and its neighboring states. In fact, Nebraska and Oklahoma are suing Colorado in the US Supreme Court, arguing they’ve suffered “direct and significant harm” from pot’s crossing the borders.’
“You might think legalization would have put an end to underground pot sales in Colorado, but actually the opposite is true — the black market is booming. In Colorado, 40 percent of marijuana is still grown and sold illegally, and recent signs suggest the same may be true for Washington State.”
“American marijuana businesses are forced to deal only in cash because banks refuse to bankroll them, in fear of the repercussions from federal drug trafficking laws.”
“You can be fired for testing positive for cannabis, even if medical marijuana is legal in your state … On June 15, 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Dish Network was perfectly within its right to fire a call center employee for using medical marijuana (and testing positive on a drug test), because pot remains illegal under federal law.”
‘It can sometimes be challenging finding accurate, science-based information about cannabis … “The reason why it’s difficult is that the preponderance of research funds have been to show harm related to cannabis, as a drug of abuse…” According to Dr. Margaret Gedde, MD, PhD, owner and founder of Gedde Whole Health and the Clinicians’ Institute of Cannabis Medicine ‘ Soon enough, other states will have to face the same challenges regarding policies against medical cannabis. These problems are likely to grow unless Congress takes action by changing the federal and drug-trafficking laws.
“In this large cross-sectional adult survey with high prevalence of both substance use and obesity, cannabis use in the past year was associated with lower BMI, lower percentage fat mass, lower fasting insulin, and HOMA-IR (insulin resistance). As a result, cannabinoids from cannabis may be viewed as an interesting avenue for research on obesity and associated conditions.”
Along with the medical treatments that benefit from medical marijuana, research has shown that obesity and cannabis are positively associated with each other. Studies from the Conference of Quebec University Health Centers, American Journal of Medicine, and the American Journal of Epidemiology reported that cannabis users were less likely to be obese obtaining lower body mass indices (BMI) and lower fasting insulin.
“Specifically, researchers reported that cannabis users possessed an average BMI of 26.8 compared to an index of 28.6 for non-users, after controlling for age, gender and other factors. Those subjects who reported using cannabis but never having used tobacco, or who were former users of tobacco, possessed on average the lowest BMI.”
“Cross-sectional data published in 2011 in the American Journal of Epidemiology similarly reported that the prevalence of obesity in the general population is sharply lower among marijuana consumers than it is among nonusers.”
Cannabis can indeed lower obesity rates and prevent the risk of diabetes among marijuana users.
Do you ever get blamed for being forgetful? Long-term cannabis use has been associated with poor short-term memory. Why is that? Let’s go through some fast facts about the mechanisms.
What are the receptors in the endocannabinoid system? There are three endocannabinoid receptors that have been discovered so far – CB1, CB2, and CB3. The CB1 receptors are located mainly in the central nervous system with a small number in other areas on cells’ surfaces. CB1 receptors are associated with learning, sleep, coordination, and pain sensation. CB2 receptors are different, located throughout the body and associated with immune function. Though only three receptors have been discovered, cannabis researchers believe there may be as many as 10!
When one of the cannabinoid compounds in cannabis called ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) binds to and activates the CB1 receptors it was thought that this binding would give cannabis users the memory deficit effect. However, researchers from a recent study found that serotonin 5-HT2A receptors (5-HT2AR) are instead the ones to blame.
Because both CB1 and 5-HT2A receptors are neighbors, when THC binds to CB1R, it signals 5-HT2A by forming a heteromer. To prove this, research experiments were done on mice. When THC binds to CB1R, both the pain-relieving effects and psychoactive effects such as memory loss were observed in normal mice with normal CB1R and 5-HT2AR. However, when blocking the CB1-5-HT2A receptors’ \heteromer, the mice had no psychoactive effects, but no change in pain relieving effects. The same happened to a genetically modified mice which had the 5-HT2AR mice removed; the mice showed no change in pain relieving effects. Similarly, they found that the GM-mice had no signs of memory deficit. This concluded that CB1R was responsible for the anxiety and pain feelings and 5-HT2AR was responsible for the relaxation and memory loss effects.
This is a major find for medical cannabis users to avoid the adverse consequences from using medical cannabis treatments. Now you know there is a way to prevent further memory deficit from using cannabis. However, more studies are needed to put the observation into practice.
In the ideal world, patients think physicians are magicians. Once they pay a visit to the doctor and take the prescribed medication, conditions would improve. Our health care system expects physicians to know patients by a short period of time, but this is not possible with every patient, especially those who have chronic or severe conditions with long medical history or complications.
Patients who suffered from severe illness or illnesses who do not really have very effective treatment such as nausea, chronic pain, and epilepsy therefore start to look into alternative help such as medical marijuana.
As a matter of fact, a lot of patients are capable of taking care of their own medical issues. There are some tricks that healthcare professionals might not know that patients do know because they are the frontline fighters of that specific condition. Patients can help each other by sharing their knowledge of that illness and supporting those with similar conditions. Clinic staff can also provide more time and detailed information to patients such as cannabis strains education. It is actually very surprising to see how positive a marijuana clinic or dispensary can be.
Patients should be more proactive and take initiative in their treatment plan. It is only rational to do so since a majority of the patients are not financially able to hire a doctor who is available 24/7.
“Giving patients more control doesn’t mean handing over a blank prescription pad. Patients can gain more control — safely — if they understand a drug’s effects and duration, and if they have some leeway in when and how to use it. For instance, when I (David Casarett, MD) prescribe as-needed pain medication, I’ll give my patients permission to figure out for themselves how much to take and when. “
The health care system seems to lack this knowledge that the marijuana industry has already learned years ago.
Bones frame our bodies, providing protection to our organs. Bone density and strength decrease as we grow older, frequently resulting in broken bones. Cannabis to the rescue — at least in rats!
Bones are made up of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, other minerals, and collagen found In a According to a May 2015 study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, cannabidiol (CBD) can help to accelerate the healing process of fractured bones. Dr Yankel Gabet of Tel Aviv University and Itai Bab of Hebrew University co-led researchers to test the theory on two sets of rats. One set of rats was given CBD alone and another set was given a mixture of CBD and ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). CBD was found to stimulate the reproduction of bone cells by an enzyme to speed up collagen maturation (crosslinking as well as stabilizing). This, in turn, enables broken bones to heal faster and stronger.
“We found that CBD alone makes bones stronger during healing, enhancing the maturation of the collagenous matrix, which provides the basis for new mineralization of bone tissue. After being treated with CBD, the healed bone will be harder to break in the future.”
This is exciting news for patients who have osteoporosis and other bone conditions. Many current medicines have adverse effects (including severe bone, joint, and muscle pain and gastrointestinal problems), while CBD from cannabis does not. Because of the safety profile of CDB, clinical trials would help to ascertain the complete medical value of CBD to improve human bone health and fracture healing.
Many brain functions are still a mystery. Thanks to scientific studies, we know that medicinal cannabis can help regenerate our neurological cells, not kill brain cells!
“The medicinal benefits of cannabis and cannabinoids are immense, and it’s time everyone is allowed full access to this amazing healing herb.”
Cannabinoids, compounds found in cannabis, incite brain cells to grow by neurogenesis and can alleviate depression, anxiety, and stress.
Low dose THC helps to protect brain cells from damage, such as stroke and head trauma, and may preserve cognitive function.
Traumatic head injured patients who have some THC in their blood are more likely to survive.
CBD and THC in cannabis (in mixture or independently) can help kill cancer cells and shrink brain tumors in concert with chemotherapy.
Low levels of THC act as an antioxidant, which can protect neuro cells by lowering beta-amyloid level. Beta-amyloid, which is present in high amounts in people with Alzheimer’s, is a protein in the brain that can clump together to form plagues. Plaques may activate the immune system to trigger inflammation.
Most of the cannabis studies referred to above utilized low doses of cannabinoids. Keep in mind that optimal dosage is key!
