A cautionary note. Some readers may find the content of this posting disturbing particularly in its promotion of smoking cannabis. Others will just find any discussion about cannabis, or marijuana, to be inappropriate for a blog focused on science, technology and the 21st century. But the science of cannabis is only now finally beginning to be explored. The lack of understanding of the plant’s chemical constituents and the potential benefits already being derived from some of them, is just the beginning of cannabis science and discovery. Up until now the public has been ill-served when it comes to cannabis. Instead of learning about its potential in treating medical conditions, we have been warned about its addictive nature, about becoming “potheads,” and about it being the first step down a road to harder drugs.
As a cannabis oil user, CBD oil to be exact, I can vouch for the efficacy and medical benefits that the plant’s chemistry provides. I take a twice-daily small oral dose sublingually to treat my advanced arthritis and what it has done for me is to keep me from using stronger pain killers, and maybe saved me from opioids and their high potential for addiction. So I welcome Bojana’s candid description of cannabis, warts and all, and invite readers to comment.
Thanks to scientific research and through the dissemination of information to the public. the stigma about cannabis may disappear in time. Hardly has any plant been more beneficial for people’s health, and yet so much persecuted, prosecuted, and demonized worldwide.
The war on hard drugs because of the involvement of undesirable and violent cartels and gangs has wrongfully encompassed cannabis making it a handy target for governments. But cannabis is far safer than the prescribed opioids that have created a medical crisis in many countries, and has none of the addictive properties associated with cocaine and heroin.
In fact, this is a plant with so many positives going for it, it remains a wonder that it is still seen and treated as a pariah by the federal government in the United States, and in other countries.
In Canada, where recreational cannabis was made recently made legal, has been licensing medical cannabis and widely prescribing its products, while a retail market of smokables, food, and drink, oils, and topicals, is rapidly growing.
So how are we consuming cannabis today?
Combustion of cannabis, followed by inhalation, is the oldest, simplest, and most wide-spread method for consuming cannabis. It doesn’t require a lot of equipment, the effects are almost immediate, and the method of consumption is simple. Cannabis can be smoked using the pure-dried plant milled to fine granules (joints), can be combined with tobacco (spliffs or blunts), or can be inhaled using a vaping device (pipes and bongs).
[Editor’s note: The American Lung Association states on its website that “smoke is harmful to lung health. Whether from burning wood, tobacco or marijuana, toxins and carcinogens are released from the combustion of materials. Smoke from marijuana combustion has been shown to contain many of the same toxins, irritants and carcinogens as tobacco smoke. Beyond just what’s in the smoke alone, marijuana is typically smoked differently than tobacco. Marijuana smokers tend to inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than cigarette smokers, which leads to a greater exposure per breath to tar. Secondhand marijuana smoke contains many of the same toxins and carcinogens found in directly-inhaled marijuana smoke, in similar amounts if not more. While there is no data on the health consequences of breathing secondhand marijuana smoke, there is concern that it could cause harmful health effects, especially among vulnerable children in the home. Additional research on the health effects of secondhand marijuana smoke is needed.”]
About 13.1% of consumed marijuana products are cannabis-infused foods, while 3.7% are beverages. Edibles take the cake (excuse the pun) as the most enjoyable way of consumption because food and drink can be given enhanced flavor.
Thousands upon thousands of people today receive the benefits of cannabis through sublingual delivery (a few drops under the tongue). Organic CBD oils are being prescribed as analgesics and sedative-relaxants to mitigate the symptoms of many health conditions from anxiety, to irritable-bowel-syndrome, epilepsy, and arthritis.
Cannabis-infused ointments are being used today for cosmetic purposes. Still, at the early stage of this market, slightly more than 1% of cannabis products today are sold as topicals.
Pros of Topicals
There are plenty of other ways to make use of cannabis and its chemistry. These include capsules, tinctures, and vaping. You are encouraged to do further research about this evergrowing industry and what the future of consumption will bring. The road to legalization continues with more countries recognizing that there should be no stigma associated with such a beneficial plant. No cannabis user should have to abandon their product which could be used for pain management or dealing with seizures and other medical conditions when crossing a border as currently occurs between the United States and Canada because of different legal statuses in these jurisdictions.
]]>CBD oil is a compound containing cannabidiol which constitutes 40% of marijuana’s chemistry. It is not the psychotropic component of the plant, THC, which stands for tetrahydrocannabinol. It is THC that is associated with the smoker’s high that comes from using marijuana. The prescription recommended to me contained 98% CBD and 2% THC. Initially, I started taking about 0.6 CCs daily and worked my way up to 1.0 CC. Since I started using CBD oil my reliance on strong painkillers has greatly diminished. It has only been when I have had to travel away from Canada that I have not been able to use my medically prescribed CBD oil.
Why is that? Because marijuana use in Canada is legal for recreational purposes, and is grown for medical purposes and dispensed through government-regulated operators. When my wife and I went to a wedding in California I was unable to bring my prescription CBD oil. Instead, I found a dispensary in Santa Cruz, California, which matched my prescription so that I could continue to use it while in the United States. And before returning to Canada through Vancouver, I had to throw out the CBD oil from California to avoid the potential of being arrested for crossing back into Canada with a U.S. sourced marijuana product. It was two days before we returned to Toronto in which I had to rely on much stronger painkillers to bridge the gap. The absurdity of the regulatory environment for marijuana cannot be overstated.
When I recently spoke with my family physician about the treatment of my osteoarthritis I mentioned I was taking CBD oil daily. She responded that there was nothing in the scientific literature to validate it as a treatment. And yet I continue to run into many people who are using CBD oil to alleviate a number of conditions from osteoarthritis, to epileptic seizures, to anxiety, and PTSD.
The most commonly prescribed painkillers are extracts from plants. Coca leaves contain benzoylmethylecgonine, a natural mood elevator. Poppies contain morphine (the strongest painkiller and the principal cause of opioid addiction around the planet today). And marijuana or cannabis contains 120 chemicals known as phytocannabinoids which interact with different neural receptors in our brains to create a variety of reactions.
The problem with CBD as a medically accepted treatment today for so many different medical problems is the lack of serious research and clinical trials. But CBD oil has been reported anecdotally to be effective in treating arthritis, heart disease, Type 1 diabetes, graft-versus-host disease, and psychosis. Why the medical profession has chosen to largely ignore marijuana is a bit of a puzzle. Maybe it is because of its recreational smoking association as a substance associated with getting high.
The first human clinical trial was done in 1980 to validate CBD oil for use in treating epileptic seizures. A double-blind study using 8 volunteers who received CBD, and 8 who were given a placebo, was administered for 4-1/2 months. All 16 tolerated the CBD with no serious side effects. Of the 8 receiving CBD, 4 were almost seizure-free, 3 showed partial improvement, and 1 demonstrated no effect. The placebo patients results showed no change in 7 and 1 with improvements.
Despite these promising results, no further human clinical trials were conducted until 2015. Since then trials using compounds from marijuana have been a confusing hodgepodge of CBD or CBD-THC treatments with little understanding of what combination of various compounds contained within the plant should be part of any test.
The ongoing prejudice against the plant because of its association with criminality has blinded the profession to its potential uses in treating so many maladies. One hopes that recreational legalization will lead to medical marijuana and CBD and CBD-THC compounds becoming mainstream. For me, I am more than convinced that the benefits I have observed from taking CBD oil are not a placebo effect.
