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Anxiety
Published in Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau, Beyond Menopause, 2023
Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau
CBD has been gaining in popularity for many conditions, and early research is promising regarding its ability to help relieve anxiety. CBD can be derived from both hemp and marijuana plants. Hemp has been cultivated for many years and used to make clothing and various fiber products. However, because hemp and marijuana both come from cannabis plants, there is much confusion about the difference between the two compounds. So, what are the facts? The cannabis plant has several varieties, which contain different compounds called cannabinoids. CBD is a cannabinoid, as is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).THC is a psychoactive compound—it is the stuff that gets you high.CBD products derived from hemp are a particular variety of the cannabis plant. They contain less than 0.3% THC and do not have any psychoactive effects. They are legal federally, but still illegal under some state laws.Marijuana is derived from varieties of the cannabis plant that contain much higher and varying amounts of THC. Marijuana is illegal federally, but legal under some state laws.
Substance Abuse during Pregnancy
Published in “Bert” Bertis Britt Little, Drugs and Pregnancy, 2022
More than 22 million people in the USA use marijuana or its derivatives [hash, hash oil, Thai sticks, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)] regularly. Fifty percent or more of users are women of reproductive age. An estimated 3 percent of the population uses marijuana daily and as many as 10–15 percent of Americans use the drug on a monthly basis (CDC, 2017). Estimated prevalence rates of cannabinoid use during pregnancy from 41 studies indicates a wide range, from 0.24 to 22.6 percent of gravidas (Singh et al., 2020).
Endogenous Cannabinoid Receptors and Medical Cannabis
Published in Sahar Swidan, Matthew Bennett, Advanced Therapeutics in Pain Medicine, 2020
Δ-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been the focus of considerable inquiry that has produced indications of its efficacy for managing nausea, appetite loss, and, of particular interest, pain. Like anandamide, THC is a partial agonist of cannabinoid receptors. The collective effect of several cannabinoids, terpenes, and other chemicals in the whole cannabis plant has been consistently shown to produce superior perceived effects when compared with cannabinoid isolates such as THC or synthetic cannabinoids, both in terms of maximizing efficacy and minimizing side effects. This is often referred to as an “entourage effect,” but that term can be a bit misleading in that it implies that THC is the star or leader and the other chemicals contributing are “hangers on.” A more accurate way to refer to this chemical synergy might be as an “ensemble effect,” as the whole plant’s constituents work in concert, often without THC itself coordinating the full balanced orchestration. This presents significant clinical difficulty in that the total components of this ensemble have yet to be uniformly researched, and the FDA requires drug makers to follow good manufacturing practices to deliver a reliably consistent, known dose of bioactive chemicals. Whole-plant “botanical” cannabis products that contain many chemicals are exponentially more challenging to study than medicines that contain known amounts of only one or two cannabinoids.
Blood cannabinoid molar metabolite ratios are superior to blood THC as an indicator of recent cannabis smoking
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2023
Michael J. Kosnett, Ming Ma, Gregory Dooley, George Sam Wang, Kyle Friedman, Timothy Brown, Thomas K. Henthorn, Ashley Brooks-Russell
These post-incident testing approaches have well-established limitations in their ability to accurately assess either recent cannabis use or cannabis-induced impairment. Acute cannabis-induced decrements in psychomotor or neurocognitive performance, which may occur in some but not all users, typically resolve within 6 h of cannabis smoking or vaping or within 8 h of cannabis ingestion [3]. By comparison, urine drug tests, which rely on the detection of the inactive THC metabolite, 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, may be positive for days to weeks after last cannabis use, particularly in frequent users [4]. Blood concentrations of THC, a highly lipophilic drug that partitions into adipose tissue and equilibrates with the bloodstream, may also remain elevated for days to weeks after the last consumption in daily or near-daily users [5].
Expert guidance on the management and challenges of long-COVID syndrome: a systematic review
Published in Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2023
Josuel Ora, Luigino Calzetta, Chiara Frugoni, Ermanno Puxeddu, Paola Rogliani
The main non-psychoactive compound in cannabis is cannabidiol (CBD) and has a common anabolic pathway with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the main psychotropic agent in cannabis. Recently, it has been shown that CBD and its metabolite 7-OH-CBD, but not THC, inhibit the viral gene expression of SARS-CoV-2, hindering its replication at the pulmonary level. For this reason, it has been increasingly used in the treatment of long COVID even if the first studies are not positive [50,51]. In addition, some molecular data suggest the effectiveness of CBD in reducing inflammation due to SARS-CoV-2 infection [50]. Considering this preliminary evidence, CBD could be effective in the treatment of long-COVID. The primary aim of the NCT04997395 open label, phase 2 clinical trial is to assess the feasibility, safety, and tolerability of a CBD-dominated medicinal cannabis for the treatment of long-COVID. The secondary aim is to determine the effect of CBD-dominated medicinal cannabis on symptoms associated with long-COVID. This study is still not recruiting subjects.
A primer on sleeping, dreaming, and psychoactive agents
Published in Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 2023
The endocannabinoid system is a complicated biological system involved in regulating movement, mood, memory, appetite, fertility, pain, and physiological homeostasis. It consists of cannabinoid receptors and cannabinoid receptor proteins that are active throughout both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Two endogenous molecules that activate the endocannabinoid system have been found. The first, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), occurs in peripheral tissues, while anandamide (Sanskrit for ‘supreme joy’) is a neurotransmitter. The psychoactive component of cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), mimics the actions of anandamide, whereas the main therapeutic component of cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), mimics 2-AG (Mechoulan & Parker, 2013). Data from the past 20 years indicates that the endocannabinoid system plays a role in modulating the human sleep-wake cycle and can play a part in the decrease in sleep disturbance or insomnia through the restoration of sleeping and dreaming through the regulation of how this occurs is not yet fully understood (Kesner & Lovinger, 2020; Prospéro-García et al., 2016).