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12-31-2016, 10:01 AM
<span>Year in weed: The five most important medical marijuana research studies of 2016</span>
Science is proving how cannabis helps with epilepsy, migraines and more
Dec 30, 2016
By <span><a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/author/rbaca/" title="External link">Ricardo Baca</a>, The Cannabist Staff</span>
In legalization-speak, 2016 will always be remembered as the year cannabis broke wide open.
While pot prohibition officially ended in 2012, when voters in Colorado and Washington said yes to legalizing and regulating recreational marijuana, that was only the beginning. Adult-use cannabis steady trickle continued in the 2014 election, when Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. all joined the 420-friendly ranks.
But this year the legalization gates sprang open as eight of the nine states with marijuana measures on their ballots voted to legalize it four on the retail side, four on the medical side.
As these states begin to write and implement their marijuana regulations, and as their predecessors continue to sell billions of dollars of heavily taxed legal cannabis annually, theyre doing so in something of a public health vacuum. What does legal marijuana mean for the long-term health of our communities?
In these still-early days, theres still more we dont know about cannabis and its components complicated relationship with our bodies and minds than what we do know. With other recreational substances, alcohol and tobacco included, we have reams of top-level public health research studies that dissected the habits of tens of thousands of Americans, giving scientists an accurate, big-picture focus on those drugs impacts on our health.
With weed, that research has yet to be conducted. In fact, not a lot of research has been done to determine the medical efficacy of cannabis primarily because of federal prohibition.
But thats starting to change.
In 2016, we saw some important cannabis research published in top medical journals research that flips the script on previously held beliefs and research that backs up what weve already seen anecdotally with medical cannabis.
And so here are some of the years most important scientific studies on cannabis.
Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Prescription Medication Use In Medicare Part D, published in Health Affairs
As Kaiser Health News<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/07/07/medical-marijuana-lower-prescription-drug-use/57732/" title="External link"> reported:</a>
New research found that states that legalized medical marijuana which is sometimes recommended for symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety or depression saw declines in the number of Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat those conditions and a dip in spending by Medicare Part D, which covers the cost on prescription medications
The researchers found that in states with medical marijuana laws on the books, the number of drug prescriptions dropped for treating anxiety, depression, nausea, pain, psychosis, seizures, sleep disorders and spasticity. Those are all conditions for which marijuana is sometimes recommended. Prescriptions for other drugs treating other conditions, meanwhile, did not decline.
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/35/7/1230.abstract" title="External link">Check out actual the research.</a>
Pot-Smokers Harm Gums; Other Physical Effects Slight, published in Duke Today
As The Washington Post <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/06/02/chronic-marijuana-use-gum-disease/55418/" title="External link">reported</a>:
Long-term marijuana use is not associated with a raft of physical health problems, according to a new study, with one surprising exception: gum disease.
Researchers led by Madeline Meier of Arizona State University tracked the marijuana habits of 1,037 New Zealanders from birth to middle age to see what effect those habits have on some common measures of physical health, including lung function, systemic inflammation, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body weight, blood sugar and dental health.
What they found was surprising: After controlling for other factors known to affect health, especially tobacco use and socioeconomic status, marijuana use had no negative effect on any measure of health, except for dental health. People who smoked more weed had a higher incidence of gum disease.
<a class="bbc_url" href="https://today.duke.edu/2016/05/cannhealth" title="External link">Check out the actual research.</a>
Effects of Medical Marijuana on Migraine Headache Frequency in an Adult Population, published in Pharmacotherapy
As 7News <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/01/22/marijuana-migraines-colorado-research-cu-anschutz/47052/" title="External link">reported</a>:
Migraines can really hamper productivity when they strike but for the first time, Colorado researchers have proof that medical marijuana can help ease that dreadful pain.
We were not expecting the decrease in frequency in migraine that we saw. It was pretty dramatic, said Dr. Sarah Anderson with Skaggs School of Pharmacy at CU Anschutz.
Researchers at CU Anschutz looked at dozens of charts from patients treated at Gedde Whole Health, a private Colorado clinic that prescribes medical marijuana for a variety of ailments.
Of the 121 patients studied, 103 reported a decrease in their monthly migraines. To put it another way, the frequency of migraines dropped from about ten per month to less than five.
<a class="bbc_url" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26749285" title="External link">Check out the actual research.</a>
Subjective Aggression During Alcohol and Cannabis Intoxication Before and After Aggression Exposure, published in Psychopharmacology
As The Washington Post <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/07/20/alcohol-vs-marijuana-emotions-aggression/58844/" title="External link">reported</a>:
What about a link between marijuana use and aggression? Most pot smokers will tell you that marijuana helps them relax......
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/12/30/marijuana-research-of-2016/69971/" title="External link">http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/12/30/marijuana-research-of-2016/69971/</a>
Science is proving how cannabis helps with epilepsy, migraines and more
Dec 30, 2016
By <span><a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/author/rbaca/" title="External link">Ricardo Baca</a>, The Cannabist Staff</span>
In legalization-speak, 2016 will always be remembered as the year cannabis broke wide open.
While pot prohibition officially ended in 2012, when voters in Colorado and Washington said yes to legalizing and regulating recreational marijuana, that was only the beginning. Adult-use cannabis steady trickle continued in the 2014 election, when Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. all joined the 420-friendly ranks.
But this year the legalization gates sprang open as eight of the nine states with marijuana measures on their ballots voted to legalize it four on the retail side, four on the medical side.
As these states begin to write and implement their marijuana regulations, and as their predecessors continue to sell billions of dollars of heavily taxed legal cannabis annually, theyre doing so in something of a public health vacuum. What does legal marijuana mean for the long-term health of our communities?
In these still-early days, theres still more we dont know about cannabis and its components complicated relationship with our bodies and minds than what we do know. With other recreational substances, alcohol and tobacco included, we have reams of top-level public health research studies that dissected the habits of tens of thousands of Americans, giving scientists an accurate, big-picture focus on those drugs impacts on our health.
With weed, that research has yet to be conducted. In fact, not a lot of research has been done to determine the medical efficacy of cannabis primarily because of federal prohibition.
But thats starting to change.
In 2016, we saw some important cannabis research published in top medical journals research that flips the script on previously held beliefs and research that backs up what weve already seen anecdotally with medical cannabis.
And so here are some of the years most important scientific studies on cannabis.
Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Prescription Medication Use In Medicare Part D, published in Health Affairs
As Kaiser Health News<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/07/07/medical-marijuana-lower-prescription-drug-use/57732/" title="External link"> reported:</a>
New research found that states that legalized medical marijuana which is sometimes recommended for symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety or depression saw declines in the number of Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat those conditions and a dip in spending by Medicare Part D, which covers the cost on prescription medications
The researchers found that in states with medical marijuana laws on the books, the number of drug prescriptions dropped for treating anxiety, depression, nausea, pain, psychosis, seizures, sleep disorders and spasticity. Those are all conditions for which marijuana is sometimes recommended. Prescriptions for other drugs treating other conditions, meanwhile, did not decline.
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/35/7/1230.abstract" title="External link">Check out actual the research.</a>
Pot-Smokers Harm Gums; Other Physical Effects Slight, published in Duke Today
As The Washington Post <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/06/02/chronic-marijuana-use-gum-disease/55418/" title="External link">reported</a>:
Long-term marijuana use is not associated with a raft of physical health problems, according to a new study, with one surprising exception: gum disease.
Researchers led by Madeline Meier of Arizona State University tracked the marijuana habits of 1,037 New Zealanders from birth to middle age to see what effect those habits have on some common measures of physical health, including lung function, systemic inflammation, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body weight, blood sugar and dental health.
What they found was surprising: After controlling for other factors known to affect health, especially tobacco use and socioeconomic status, marijuana use had no negative effect on any measure of health, except for dental health. People who smoked more weed had a higher incidence of gum disease.
<a class="bbc_url" href="https://today.duke.edu/2016/05/cannhealth" title="External link">Check out the actual research.</a>
Effects of Medical Marijuana on Migraine Headache Frequency in an Adult Population, published in Pharmacotherapy
As 7News <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/01/22/marijuana-migraines-colorado-research-cu-anschutz/47052/" title="External link">reported</a>:
Migraines can really hamper productivity when they strike but for the first time, Colorado researchers have proof that medical marijuana can help ease that dreadful pain.
We were not expecting the decrease in frequency in migraine that we saw. It was pretty dramatic, said Dr. Sarah Anderson with Skaggs School of Pharmacy at CU Anschutz.
Researchers at CU Anschutz looked at dozens of charts from patients treated at Gedde Whole Health, a private Colorado clinic that prescribes medical marijuana for a variety of ailments.
Of the 121 patients studied, 103 reported a decrease in their monthly migraines. To put it another way, the frequency of migraines dropped from about ten per month to less than five.
<a class="bbc_url" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26749285" title="External link">Check out the actual research.</a>
Subjective Aggression During Alcohol and Cannabis Intoxication Before and After Aggression Exposure, published in Psychopharmacology
As The Washington Post <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/07/20/alcohol-vs-marijuana-emotions-aggression/58844/" title="External link">reported</a>:
What about a link between marijuana use and aggression? Most pot smokers will tell you that marijuana helps them relax......
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/12/30/marijuana-research-of-2016/69971/" title="External link">http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/12/30/marijuana-research-of-2016/69971/</a>