Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at cannabis and COVID, THC and dogs, New Jersey’s effort to promote the use of cannabis delivery services and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis and COVID
A new study suggests there may be at least one side effect to cannabis use that’s beneficial, particularly for those who are at risk for COVID.
According to TG Branfalt, reporting for Ganjapreneur, the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed CHEST Journal, found that cannabis consumers who contracted COVID-19 had reduced mortality and better outcomes compared to non-consumers.
The research team, lead by Dr. Fasih Sami Siddiqui, a pulmonologist and Saud Bin Abdul Sattar, M.D., resident doctor at Staten Island University, used the National Inpatient Sample Database to review the status of 322,214 COVID patients, 2,603 of whom were cannabis consumers.
In his article, Branfalt notes that among that latter group, the researchers found that cannabis consumers that had contacted COVID-19 had significantly lower rates of intubation (6.8 percent vs 12 percent), acute respiratory distress syndrome, (2.1 percent vs 6 percent), acute respiratory failure (25 percent vs 52.9 percent), severe sepsis with multiorgan failure (5.8 percent vs 12 percent), lower in-hospital cardiac arrest (1.2 percent vs 2.7 percent), and mortality (2.9 percent vs 13.5 percent).
In the journal article, the researchers speculated that, “the beneficial effect of marijuana use may be attributed to its potential to inhibit viral entry into cells and prevent the release of proinflammatory cytokines, thus mitigating cytokine release syndrome.”
According to the webpage of the Cleveland Clinic.org, “Cytokines are signaling proteins that help control inflammation in your body. They allow your immune system to mount a defense if germs or other substances that can make you sick enter your body. Too many cytokines can lead to excess inflammation and conditions like autoimmune diseases.”
Cytokine release syndrome ( CRS ) is a form of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) that can be triggered by a variety of factors such as infections and certain drugs. It’s thought by some that there is a relationship between CRS and the body’s reaction to COVID-19.
We’re not qualified to evaluate the author’s speculation, but the concrete results identified among the cannabis consumers in the study are not theoretical.
Branfalt also makes the point that a study published in August of 2023 came to a similar conclusion. In that case, researchers found that active cannabis consumers diagnosed with COVID-19 had better clinical outcomes than non-cannabis consumers, including the decreased need for ICU admission or mechanical ventilation. However, he acknowledges that those study findings were based on a very small sample size.
To be clear, when it comes to COVID we are not suggesting that smoking a joint or dropping a gummie can take the place of more established preventive measures, such as getting vaccinated. However, if these studies are on target, cannabis consumption may have some beneficial attributes that can perhaps lessen the chances of contracting COVID and reduce the severity of the outcomes should you contract it.
The studies cited above seem to assume the cannabis was consumed by smoking or vaping. Should these findings lead to additional research we hope more effort is made to determine if the method of cannabis consumption makes a difference.
To learn more, we urge you to read TG Branfalt’s article in the October 17, 2023 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
To read the study that appeared in the October 2023 issue of CHEST Journal, simply click on the link that follows.
journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(23)02201-8/fulltext
Cannabis and Canines
As Halloween draws near you can expect to see news stories, some based on fact, others based on political agendas, that claim a significant number of children have had an adverse reaction to cannabis gummies that resembled candy.
If there is a benefit to such cautionary tales, even those that are spurious, it’s that they remind mature consumers and others that they must make sure that gummies and other edibles are kept away from those they could put at risk—and that includes family pets, dogs in particular.
Case in point: Matt Durr, writing for the online publication MLive.com, reported that a Michigan woman was attacked by the family dog that was given a gummy that contained THC.
According to Durr, the director of Otsego County Animal Control, Melissa FitzGerald, told various news sources that the dog was not an aggressive breed and was with the family for four years without any such problem.
Said Fitzgerald, “This dog became very aggressive, and it was a bad scene.” She went on to say that while CBD is usually considered safe for canines—and when given under the guidance of a veterinarian may actually be beneficial for some dogs— THC can have a wide range of effects in dogs, from inactivity and lack of coordination to restlessness and aggression.
Fitzgerald’s organization, Otsego County Animal Control in Michigan, is telling people to keep their marijuana out of reach from pets and to be on the lookout for the side effects. It also plans on working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the state veterinarian to have a warning label placed on THC products. Recreational cannabis is legal in Michigan.
We think her advice is wise, no matter where you live and no matter the time of year. Playing “Polly want a gummy” with Fido can have dangerous consequences.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by Matt Durr in the October 17, 2023 issue of MLive.com.
Cannabis and Public Safety
Greyhound Bus Lines once had a slogan that urged travelers to “leave the driving to us.” In the interest of public safety the state of New Jersey is promoting a similar approach by encouraging adults to leave the driving to someone else and use cannabis delivery services to mitigate the risk of impaired driving.
That’s the word from Kyle Jaeger, reporting for Marijuana Moment. According to Jaeger, the initiative is part of a broader year-long campaign by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) that involves the distribution of educational materials and advertisements on issues such as preventing marijuana use during pregnancy, youth consumption and impaired driving awareness.
Called “Cannabis Smart / Cannabis Safe,” the initiative comes more than a year after New Jersey’s adult-use market opened, with regulators and lawmakers taking various steps to build upon the reform with a focus on social equity and public safety.
In his article, Jaeger points out that one of the more notable aspects of the campaign concerns impaired driving, with the regulatory commission proactively urging consumers to order from delivery services if they’ve used marijuana and cannot responsibly and legally drive.
Said Commissioner Krista Nash, co-chair of the Commission’s Public Engagement and Education Committee, “Launching this campaign demonstrates New Jersey’s dedication to responsible legalization, emphasizing safe use among adults, while protecting our youth and vulnerable populations.”
Nash added that a goal of the campaign is to “prevent impaired driving and encourage people to take advantage of delivery services which are currently permitted by dispensaries and will be more widely available as delivery service licenses are granted.”
The state began accepting applications for delivery service licenses in September, 2023. Regulators are prioritizing applications received from people who have been “disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition enforcement.”
A spokesperson for NJ-CRC told Marijuana Moment that while the state will be putting money toward advertising for other cannabis-related public health and safety issues, there won’t be ads “directly promoting delivery services.”
To learn more about the initiative, we urge you to read Kyle Jaeger’s article in the October 12, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
Medical Cannabis News and Notes
There may be hopeful news for those who suffer from anxiety and PTSD. A new study found that participants with those conditions who were treated with medical marijuana displayed reduced anxiety and reported reductions in their use of anti-anxiety medication, particularly benzodiazepines.
According to an article that appeared in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, the study sample consisted of 108 adults with anxiety or PTSD who were enrolled in a longitudinal study evaluating biopsychosocial outcomes in new medical marijuana patients.
Participants completed an assessment battery at the beginning of the study to establish a baseline and again three months later. The assessment included a measure of anxiety severity and questions about current anxiety medication prescription and desired and actual reductions in medication use.
The research team found that after treatment with medical marijuana 70 percent of participants reported at least a moderate desire to reduce medication use. Overall participants displayed significant reductions in anxiety severity from the beginning of the study to month three.
In addition, 32 percent of participants reported actual reductions in medication use after three months. Those reductions were more likely among patients prescribed benzodiazepines than other drug classes.
Based on their findings, the research team concluded that treatment for anxiety and PTSD that includes medical marijuana may help individuals reduce their use of anti-anxiety medications, which can have significant side effects over time.
The study was conducted by individuals affiliated with the Public Health Management Corporation in Philadelphia, PA and the School of Professional and Applied Psychology, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia PA.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article that appeared in Volume 14 of the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports. The issue has a publication date of December, 2023.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323002093
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“Although some of our estimates are noisy, our findings suggest that the economic benefits of legalization are broadly distributed, while the social costs may be more concentrated among individuals who use marijuana heavily.”—The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
The quote is taken from a paper, “Economic Benefits and Social Costs of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana,” written by Jason P. Brown, Elior Cohen and Alison Felix, and published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in late September of this year.
According to Ben Adlin, who reported on the paper for Marijuana Moment, the authors found that states that legalize marijuana for adults tend to see moderate economic gains after the policy change is implemented. However those states can also experience an increase in social costs that can include substance use disorders, chronic homelessness and arrests, which, as the quote states, “may be more concentrated among individuals who use marijuana heavily.”
As Adlin notes in his article, the signs of economic improvement after cannabis legalization that were identified by the economists included, on average, a 3 percent increase in average state income, a 6 percent rise in housing prices and a 2 percent bump in population.
In terms of social costs, however, substance use disorders climbed by 17 percent, chronic homelessness rose by 35 percent and arrests went up 13 percent in legal states.
What the paper fails to identify is the constellation of economic and social factors that can contribute to what it identifies as the “social costs of legalization” that existed prior to legalization. And as always, both the benefits and the costs have to be measured through the perspective that questions what is causal and what is based on correlation.
What is not up for question is the impact of legalization in the job market and tax revenue. Citing industry sources, the paper states that between 2017 and 2022, the number of jobs directly in the marijuana industry has grown from less than 125,000 to more than 425,000—more than 4 percent of total U.S. employment growth between 2017 and 2022.
Citing a separate publication, Adlin mentions that the U.S. Census Bureau recently published a report showing that legal cannabis states had collected more than $5.7 billion in marijuana tax revenue over an 18-month period.
In his article Adlin also points out that while the Fed’s paper reports an increase in arrests after legalization it does acknowledge that the arrests “occurred without significant increases in crime possibly due to more funding to public safety from marijuana tax revenue.”
To learn more, we urge you to read Ben Adlin’s reporting in the October 17, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
