The World Health Organization this month issued its\u00a0long-awaited statement on cannabidiol, or CBD, following a review of its medical uses and potential risks that was launched last year.\u2028\u2028The \u201ccritical review\u201d was turned in at the\u00a040th meeting\u00a0of the WHO\u2019s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, in June.<\/p>\n
The two conclusions reached at that\u00a0meeting<\/a>\u00a0were issued in August in a WHO\u00a0fact-sheet<\/a>. First, the\u00a0ECDD<\/a>\u00a0recommended that \u201cpreparations considered to be pure\u00a0CBD<\/a>\u00a0not be placed under international drug control as the substance was not found to have psychoactive properties, and presents no potential for abuse or dependence.\u201d Secondly, it found \u201csufficient evidence to proceed to a critical review of cannabis and related substances,\u201d including\u00a0THC<\/a>. A \u201cpre-review\u201d of THC had determined that it should now follow CBD to the next stage.\u00a0The critical review of THC is scheduled to turn in results at the next ECDD meeting in November.<\/p>\n With the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) now\u00a0reviewing CBD\u2019s status<\/a>\u00a0as a Schedule I controlled substance, the ECDD recommendation increases the pressure to reschedule or deschedule CBD. A similar ECDD finding on THC would place greater pressure on the DEA \u2014 especially given the puritanical taboo about the THC \u201chigh\u201d that still persists even as nine U.S. states have now legalized cannabis.<\/p>\n Mounting Medical Evidence<\/b><\/p>\n Overshadowed by the hoopla about CBD, a growing body of evidence points to the efficacy of THC to treat a spectrum of disorders.<\/p>\n Cannabis Now reported<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month on research at Toronto\u2019s\u00a0Hospital for Sick Children<\/a>\u00a0which found that use of cannabis oil containing both CBD and THC is effective in preventing seizures in sufferers of Dravet Syndrome \u2014 and is \u201csafe and tolerable\u201d for patients. CBD alone had already been demonstrated efficacious in this capacity, but researchers determined that adding a \u201cconservative\u201d amount of THC strengthened the results.<\/p>\n This was but the most recent of such findings in past years. A study from a team at UC San Diego, released in December 2013, evaluated \u201cthe analgesic efficacy of vaporized cannabis in subjects.\u201d Published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI),\u00a0the study<\/a>\u00a0looked at patients who were \u201cexperiencing neuropathic pain despite traditional treatment.\u201d Use of traditional cannabis strains containing THC produced \u201ca clinically significant outcome.\u201d The study concluded: \u201cLow-dose vaporized cannabis significantly improves neuropathic pain.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0NCBI\u00a0in 1998 published\u00a0findings<\/a>\u00a0of a team at the\u00a0National Institutes of Mental Health\u00a0in Bethesda, Maryland, finding that CBD and THC are neuroprotective antioxidants. Using methodology that would have appalled animal rights advocates, they first introduced agents that cause neurological damage in rats, then studied the efficacy of the cannabinoids in correcting or preventing it.\u00a0\u2028\u2028THC\u2019s neuroprotective properties have been demonstrated since then. In October 2014,\u00a0Reuters Health\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0on a study finding that the death rate following traumatic brain injury was lower among patients who tested positive for THC at one California hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cThis data fits with previous data showing that (THC) may be neuroprotective,\u201d said Dr. David Plurad of UCLA, one of the study\u2019s authors.<\/p>\n The team reviewed data on 446 adults treated at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California, for traumatic brain injuries. About 2.4 percent of those who tested positive for THC died of their injuries, compared to about 11.5 percent of those with negative THC test returns. \u2028\u2028Post-traumatic stress is another area where THC seems effective.\u00a0The\u00a0journal\u00a0Clinical Drug Investigation\u00a0in August 2014 published\u00a0findings<\/a>\u00a0of a team led by Raphael Mechoulam, the legendary Israeli scientist who\u00a0first isolated<\/a>\u00a0THC and CBD in the 1960s. It noted: \u201cMarijuana is often used as compassion add-on therapy for treatment-resistant PTSD.\u201d Reviewing its effects on a study group, the team found: \u201cOrally absorbable \u03949-THC was safe and well tolerated by patients.\u201d<\/p>\n As\u00a0Cannabis Now has noted<\/a>, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services actually secured a patent in 2003 for the use of cannabiniods as antioxidants and neuroprotectants. The Department recently granted license to develop these patents to NY-based\u00a0KannaLife Sciences<\/a>. And while it is CBD treatments that are now under development, the patent \u2014 number\u00a06630507<\/a> \u2014\u00a0 is also for THC. \u2028\u2028The\u00a0absurd contradiction<\/a>\u00a0of federal policy is well illustrated by the fact that just three years after Health & Human Services secured this patent, a U.S. Food & Drug Administration memorandum paradoxically reiterated the official position that cannabis has \u201cno medical value<\/a>.\u201d\u2028\u2028 But the pressure is growing on the U.S. federal bureaucracy and the WHO\u2019s findings on THC may considerably heighten the contradiction.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>,\u00a0have you experienced medical benefits from THC?<\/p>\n The post The Health Benefits of THC Are Overlooked in CBD Mania<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization this month issued its\u00a0long-awaited statement on cannabidiol, or CBD, following a review of its medical uses and potential risks that was launched last year.\u2028\u2028The \u201ccritical review\u201d was turned in at the\u00a040th meeting\u00a0of the WHO\u2019s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), which was held in Geneva, Switzerland,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5559,713,605,50,2069,136,4720,5560,5561,5562,53,415,139,5563,5248,5564,420,5565,1173],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28811,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28810\/revisions\/28811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: The Health Benefits of THC Are Overlooked in CBD Mania<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"