Researchers at the University of New Mexico claim to have \u201csolved a major gap in scientific literature\u201d about the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids. How have they managed this grandiose-sounding feat? By employing new \u201cmobile software technology to measure the real-time effects of actual cannabis-based products used by millions of people every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new study, titled \u201cThe Association Between Cannabis Product Characteristics and Symptom Relief,\u201d<\/a> was published Feb. 26 in the journal\u00a0Scientific Reports<\/a>, authored by UNM researchers Sarah See Stith, assistant professor in the Department of Economics, and Jacob Miguel Vigil, associate professor in the Psychology Department. They examined data\u00a0from roughly 20,000 \u201cuser sessions\u201d against 27 \u201csymptom categories\u201d ranging from depression to seizures.<\/p>\n The results showed an overall \u201cimmediate symptom improvement\u201d of 3.5 points on a 0-10 scale. Dried flower was the most commonly used product and was generally associated with greater symptom improvement than other types of cannabis products.<\/p>\n By comparing results from products containing either\u00a0THC<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0CBD<\/a>, the authors were able to \u201canalyze the relative importance of these cannabinoids for symptom relief and side effect prevalence.\u201d One of the most \u201cstriking patterns\u201d in the results is that THC was associated with \u201ca more intense user experience,\u201d which they measured through symptom relief and the prevalence of \u201cboth positive and negative side effects.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0reports: \u201cContrary to popular media-reports and scientific dogma, the psychoactive chemical, tetrahydrocannabinol or \u2018THC,\u2019 showed the strongest correlation with therapeutic relief and far less evidence for the benefits of relying on the more socially acceptable chemical, cannabidiol or \u2018CBD.’\u201d<\/p>\n Co-author Vigil elaborated: \u201cDespite the conventional wisdom, both in the popular press and much of the scientific community that only CBD has medical benefits while THC merely makes one high, our results suggest that THC may be more important than CBD in generating therapeutic benefits. In our study, CBD appears to have little effect at all, while THC generates measurable improvements in symptom relief.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThese findings justify the immediate de-scheduling of all types of cannabis, in addition to hemp, so that cannabis with THC can be more widely accessible for pharmaceutical use by the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n The findings were based on what the study calls \u201cthe largest database of real-time measurements of the effects of cannabis in the United States,\u201d collected with a commercially developed mobile phone application called\u00a0ReleafApp<\/a>. The app\u2019s creators, Franco Brockelman, Keenan Keeling and Branden Hall, are actually listed as co-authors of the study.<\/p>\n Released in 2016, ReleafApp is designed to help patients track the products they\u2019re using, the methods they are using to consuming those products and what results they feel.<\/p>\n A\u00a0video<\/a>\u00a0on the ReleafApp website says the app \u201cremembers how different types of cannabis made you feel, and which worked best to relieve symptoms.\u201d Details on strains are pre-loaded by the app\u2019s \u201cpartner dispensaries.\u201d The user can set a \u201cstarting level\u201d of symptom severity and record how use of the cannabis product produced an effect, with options for \u201crelaxed,\u201d \u201canxious,\u201d \u201cfocused,\u201d \u201creflective\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n Reached for comment by Cannabis Now, Vigil said that using data from the app was \u201cthe most ideal means of capturing real-time effects of cannabis usage and identifying associations between products and their effects in naturalistic circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCannabis research has been largely prohibited, and the funding for it hasn\u2019t been available,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the limited research that is permitted, you have to get cannabis from government entities that have an agenda that is anti-cannabis to begin with. So, we\u2019re in a situation where cannabis is being used by millions daily despite the lack of formal information on its effects.\u201d<\/p>\n Vigil also says that using data from the app allowed the researchers to get real-world information: \u201cExperiments don\u2019t tell us a lot about people not in the experiment, so they may not generalize to anybody. The types of cannabis provided by the government for these studies are not representative of the vast varieties of cannabis that patients are exposed to. This app provides a\u00a0running electronic diary of cannabis use and its effects so people can have a record of what works for them.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the study\u2019s conclusions, Vigil summarizes: \u201cCBD doesn\u2019t seem to predict real-time effects in patients compared to THC, which was the sole independent characteristic that predictably produced effects on the outcomes we were measuring. CBD does seem to have a strong predictive potential, but by and large, across a variety of health conditions, THC is clearly driving the relief that people are reporting in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n Vigil believes this is why \u201cas people navigate through the cannabis experience, they tend to be drawn toward the flower that people have been using forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Partially to get around strictures on federal expenditures for such studies, Vigil co-founded the UNM\u00a0Medical Cannabis Research Fund\u00a0as \u201ca means for private donors to support our work.\u201d He is quick to add that the\u00a0costs for the new study were \u201creally low\u201d due to its reliance on the app. He also noted that ReleafApp is not among the contributors to the research fund.<\/p>\n Reliance on a single app may raise eyebrows for some, and the press release reveals a perhaps too-eager glee in bursting the CBD bubble.<\/p>\n Use of the term\u00a0\u201cscientific dogma\u201d may set off alarm bells. It can be seen as something of a contradiction in terms, as science is based on empiricism, not faith.<\/p>\n It also is questionable whether fidgeting with a cell phone during your cannabis self-medication may not itself alter the experience. The ReleafApp video suggests inputting \u201cevery time you take a puff, dose or application\u201d of your cannabis product. Looking at a screen may be\u00a0contributing to your anxiety<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 as opposed to looking at, say, the clouds overhead, or the interplay of shadow and sunshine on a grassy hill. Use of your cell phone may also be\u00a0fueling addictive tendencies<\/a>\u00a0far more than your use of cannabis.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, the study will be vindicating for those who fear that the health benefits of THC are being\u00a0overlooked<\/a>\u00a0in the current CBD craze.<\/p>\n THC\u2019s partisans were looking hopefully to the World Health Organization\u2019s recently released recommendation on cannabis scheduling. But while the WHO called for descheduling CBD entirely, it\u00a0recommended<\/a>\u00a0keeping THC in Schedule I. The stigma that attaches to the THC \u201chigh\u201d appears to be very much alive, in spite of all the recent progress in cannabis normalization.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, do you prefer cannabis products with a THC tilt or a higher CBD concentration?<\/p>\n The post App-Based Study Finds THC Has More Therapeutic Benefit Than CBD<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Researchers at the University of New Mexico claim to have \u201csolved a major gap in scientific literature\u201d about the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids. How have they managed this grandiose-sounding feat? By employing new \u201cmobile software technology to measure the real-time effects of actual cannabis-based products used by millions of peopleContinue 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":[605,50,136,53,139,8747,1947,420,8748,1173],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33321"}],"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=33321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33322,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33321\/revisions\/33322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How Do You Spell Relief? T-H-C.<\/h4>\n
The Arrival of App-Based Cannabis Science?<\/h4>\n
Getting Around the Federal Strictures<\/h4>\n
\u2028Caveats Called For?<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: App-Based Study Finds THC Has More Therapeutic Benefit Than CBD<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"