From NORML.org:
Cannabis Beneficial To Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Prescription Drug Efavirenz Yields False Positive Test Results For THC, Study Says
Hospice Health Professionals Support Legalization Of Cannabis For Therapeutic Use
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Cannabis Beneficial To Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
“Inhaled cannabis improves quality of life measurements, disease activity index, and causes weight gain”
Tel Aviv, Israel: The inhalation of cannabis increases quality of life, mitigates disease activity, and promotes weight gain in subjects with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to clinical trial data published online in the scientific journal Digestion.
Investigators at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel assessed the efficacy of inhaled prescription cannabis in patients with long-standing IBD, such as Crohn’s disease.
Researchers reported: “After three months’ treatment, patients reported improvement in general health perception, social functioning, ability to work, physical pain and depression. A schematic scale of health perception showed an improved score. … Patients had … weight gain … during treatment and an average rise in BMI (body mass index).”
They concluded, “Three months’ treatment with inhaled cannabis improves quality of life measurements, disease activity index, and causes weight gain and rise in BMI in long-standing IBD patients.”
An estimated 6,000 Israelis are supplied with locally grown cannabis for therapeutic purposes as part of a limited government program.
Survey data published in August in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology reported that an estimated one-third of patients with colitis and one-half of subjects with Crohn’s acknowledge having used cannabis to mitigate their disease symptoms.
Most recently, clinical trial data published in September in the Journal of the Israeli Medical Association reported that the use of cannabis is associated with a reduction in Crohn’s disease activity and disease-related surgeries.
Researchers at the Meir Medical Center in Israel are presently evaluating the safety and efficacy of inhaled cannabis for patients with Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, according to a summary of the US federal government website clinicaltrials.gov.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “Impact of Cannabis Treatment on the Quality of Life, Weight and Clinical Disease Activity in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: A Pilot Prospective Study,” appears in Digestion.
Prescription Drug Efavirenz Yields False Positive Test Results For THC, Study Says
Pretoria, South Africa: Prescription doses of the antiretroviral prescription drug efavirenz (EFV) cross-reacts in urine immunoassay tests for the carboxy THC metabolite, according to clinical data published online in the journal Annals of Clinical Biochemistry.
Investigators at the University of Pretoria in South Africa analyzed random urine samples from 30 patients on EFV therapy for THC metabolites by two near-testing devices (THC One Step Marijuana and Rapid Response(®) Drugs of Abuse Test Strips) and two automated immunoassays (Roche Diagnostics Cannabinoids II and Beckman Coulter SYNCHRON(®) Systems THC2). THC confirmatory testing was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
Authors reported: “GC-MS failed to detect THC metabolites in any of the samples, as did three of the four immunoassays. However, the Rapid Response(®) test strips yielded positive results in 28 out of 30 samples.”
Separate studies have previously documented that efavirenz may yield so-called ‘false positive’ test results for the carboxy THC metabolite on various types of presumptive immunoassay urine tests.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “Efavirenz interference in urine screening immunoassays for tetrahydrocannabinol,” appears in Annals of Clinical Biochemistry.
Hospice Health Professionals Support Legalization Of Cannabis For Therapeutic Use
Philadelphia, PA: A majority of hospice health professionals favor allowing the legally regulated use of cannabis for terminally ill patients, according to survey data published online in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.
Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania utilized a 16-item questionnaire to assess the knowledge, experience, and views of hospice professionals regarding the use of marijuana in terminally ill patients.
Authors concluded, “The study results revealed that, like the general public, hospice health care providers are generally in favor of legalization of marijuana and, if legalized, would support its use in symptom management for their terminally ill patients.”
Various health professional organizations, including the American Nurses Association and the American Public Health Association, have enacted resolutions in support of allowing patients the legal alternative to use cannabis therapy.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “Assessment of hospice health professional knowledge, views, and experience with medical marijuana,” appears in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.
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