Most Significant Cannabis Studies of 2017

  • For proponents of medicinal cannabis and supporters of legalization, whether complete or only for medical purposes, 2017 was full of significant, breakthrough points.
  • New findings and understanding of the multifaceted effects of this remarkable plant now serve legalization advocates as new argumentative "weapons", as many studies on both animal and human subjects irrefutably confirm that medical marijuana is truly capable of helping with a wide range of health conditions.

Today we'll look at the most significant studies, from epilepsy to autism and beyond. In the first part, we'll focus mainly on new findings concerning the effect of CBD on human health.

1. CBD Substance Passed Third Round of Clinical Tests for Childhood Epilepsy Treatment

Source: nejm.org

Successful confirmation of CBD's positive effects in the third round of clinical trials is a very significant success for cannabis.

One of the most common negative arguments directed at cannabis effects is that its effectiveness has not yet been confirmed in a sufficient number of official, double-blind studies, which are the standard of clinical research. However, this argument was significantly weakened due to the success of CBD and its positive effects for treating childhood epilepsy in the third round of clinical studies.

"CBD reduced the number of monthly seizures in children suffering from epilepsy by a full 39%, compared to just 13% in those given a placebo."

Dravet Syndrome

In this specific study, scientists focused on treating Dravet syndrome (using a cannabis-based drug called Epidiolex). The symptoms of Dravet syndrome, as you might correctly guess, are frequent, uncontrollable seizures caused by a genetic mutation of the nervous system. Traditional anti-epileptic drugs are often ineffective and unable to prevent a large portion of seizures. However, with the spread of medical cannabis, stories of parents healing their children using various cannabis preparations began to spread.

For this reason, scientists focused on cannabis, especially CBD. During the tests, patients were given CBD in oil form for fourteen days. The average result was a 39% reduction in epileptic seizures.

Due to minimal effects of CBD on human mental and physical state, the results were achieved without undesirable side effects. The only problem was a rare occurrence of dizziness and nausea. Even though some of these side effects may seem problematic, compared to traditional pharmaceutical treatment, this represents minimal risk.

CBD as Complementary Treatment

Another critique of this study is the fact that in most cases cannabis oils were used as complementary treatment for 14 days and did not result in complete discontinuation of original medications. Nevertheless, the thorough study design using placebo (double-blind study) and large number of participants (61 received cannabis and 59 placebo) is a significant improvement over previous attempts where both patients and scientists were aware of CBD usage, which could potentially blur the final judgment.

This study is currently the most significant research on Dravet syndrome treatment using medical cannabis and might possibly convince enough doctors to consider cannabis as a treatment option where traditional methods fail.

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2. Autism Treatment Using CBD Extract

Source: pnas.org

Autism is the result of the brain's inability to filter a large amount of stimuli, which among other things leads to increased sensitivity to light, sounds, touch, and smell, ultimately resulting in abnormal behavior of those affected. Autism occurs across a spectrum of severity, and in some cases, epilepsy also develops. Scientists are therefore sometimes able to study potential treatment for both conditions simultaneously.

Shortly after CBD's effectiveness for reducing seizures in children with epilepsy was demonstrated, the University of Washington became interested in medical cannabis as an autism treatment, modeling studies on mouse subjects.

As mentioned earlier, a limitation of the Dravet syndrome study was that patients were ethically treated with their previous medications alongside cannabis. This leads skeptics to conclude that cannabis doesn't actually cure but merely complements traditional therapy methods. To clarify this limitation, scientists in the following study attempted to model treatment cases using pure CBD, with the difference being modeled cases on mice.

"CBD among other things improved social behavior in mice – autistic mice experienced reduced social anxiety symptoms and greater inclination towards contact with other mice."

During testing, it was discovered that CBD extract alone, without added pharmaceuticals, can help alleviate symptoms in mice. It was further revealed that CBD can reduce autism symptoms by blocking the brain's GRP55 receptor. Now, after promising results of using CBD as a standalone treatment, scientists are looking to conduct new clinical studies to truly demonstrate CBD's potential to help epilepsy patients on its own.

The promising effects do not end with epilepsy. Autism is quite often associated with epilepsy in children. In the previous study, scientists could only focus on epilepsy patients, but in this study, they were able to observe the effect on both conditions simultaneously. A very interesting result was the observation of reduced social anxiety symptoms in mice – treated mice showed far greater interest in social interaction. A critical finding was that improvement occurred in both older and younger mice.

Interestingly, this was the first observation of CBD's effects on improving autism's social symptoms. The observations of CBD's therapeutic capabilities by Washington University researchers laid the groundwork for the current clinical research by Israeli doctors, who are examining CBD's effects on 120 patients.

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3. Drug Test Fear: Is It Possible That CBD Transforms into THC in the Blood?

Source: journals.elsevier.com

In 2016, a report claimed that after CBD consumption, a transformation occurs in the body and the user will have a positive THC content in their blood, which of course raised a wave of uncertainty and distrust from recreational users and patients. CBD had been on the rise for some time by 2016, and its health effects began to interest parents of sick children and patients seeking an effective, alternative treatment form.

However, if CBD transforms into THC in the blood, it could lead to negative effects on perception (reduced attention) or disrupt children's cognitive development.

Immediately after the report's publication, users and observers began to ask: "If CBD truly transforms into THC in the blood, wouldn't there logically also be psychoactive effects associated with THC intoxication?" However, these effects do not occur in anyone after consuming pure CBD.

A group of Italian researchers eagerly took on the task of clarifying this rumor and began administering high doses of CBD to experimental mice. After measuring cannabinoid content in the mice's blood, no THC was detected in any case.

In the second part, we'll look at studies addressing the fight against the opioid epidemic, effects of small THC doses on slowing brain cell aging, treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, or even improving sexual appetite. Stay tuned for the next part coming soon.

Source:
Kaplan, Josh. "The Top CBD Cannabis Studies of 2017." Leafly, 19 Jan. 2018, www.leafly.com/news/health/top-cbd-cannabis-research-2017.

Author:
Josh Kaplan

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