Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we take another look at using cannabis to fight COVID, legalizing cannabis and job creation, treating Parkinson’s Disease with cannabis products and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“We’re a long way from saying cannabis can prevent COVID. This was a preclinical in-vitro trial, meaning these cells were tested in a test tube, not in humans.”—Physician and cannabis clinician Dr. Leigh Vinocur.
Dr. Vinocur’ comment is taken from an article by Elissa Esher that appeared in SFGate. In the article, Esher did an excellent job describing the gap between a cannabis compound preventing infection in a lab and dispensary cannabis products protecting humans from COVID-19.
While a recent experiment conducted at Oregon State received a lot of coverage in the press because it suggested that cannabis may one day be used to treat COVID, one factor that received little mention was the potential cost of translating that experiment into a method of treatment.
As Dr. Vinocur explained to Esher, “While the compounds tested in this study are on the market, they are generally expensive. This is because CBGA and CBDA are the precursors to CBD and CBG in the cannabis plant, which means they are very unstable. A slight change in environmental conditions can trigger a chemical reaction that will transition them into CBD or CBG very quickly, so it’s difficult to grow and extract these compounds.”
Vinocur added that the concentrations (of the cannabinoids) used in the study are so high, it may just be impossible to ask people to consume that much of the compound orally.
Said Vinocur, “One thing you have to establish is medication for anything is dosing, and if you can never get a human to consume that much CBGA or CBDA, it won’t work.”
Elissa Esher does an excellent job of unpacking a rather complicated story and shining a light on just how difficult it can be to translate cannabis research to the real world. We urge you to read her article. It appeared in the January 28, 2022 issue of SFGate.com, a publication of the San Francisco Chronicle.
www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/Can-cannabis-prevent-COVID-19-We-asked-experts-16813025.php
Cannabis and Employment
While the economic benefit of legalizing cannabis is often measured in terms of tax dollars, another way to assess the economic impact of legalization is by taking a look at job creation.
One current example of how legalization has led to job growth can be found in Missouri. According to Nicolas Jose Rodriguez, reporting for Benzinga, nearly one out of every 10 jobs that were created in Missouri last year came from the state’s medical marijuana industry.
Rodriguez notes that according to an analysis of state labor data released by the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association (MoCannTrade), the cannabis sector added almost 7,000 new jobs in 2021. That’s about 10 percent of the 77,600 jobs that the Missouri Department of Labor tracked for last year.
Said Andrew Mullins, executive director of MoCannTrade, “Missouri’s medical cannabis industry is delivering on its promise of not only providing safe, affordable, and convenient access for patients but also helping to infuse the state’s economy with sizable investment and millions in new tax revenue.”
Mature job seekers who are looking for a career change or a part-time job in retirement will find the cannabis sector can offer a wide variety of opportunities—from customer service jobs to transportation or cultivation and more.
For example, as Rodriguez points out, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has approved 322 facilities, including 185 dispensaries, 63 infused product manufacturers, and 46 marijuana cultivation facilities. In addition, the Department has licensed and certified a total of 386 facilities to cultivate, manufacture, test, transport, and dispense medical marijuana to Missouri patients.
To learn more, you can read Nicolas Jose Rodriguez‘s article in the February 2, 2022 issue of Benzinga.
Stats of the Week
While not actually a statistic, this week there is a magic number to which attention should be paid, particularly as we draw closer to Super Bowl Weekend. That number is a cool $100 million. That’s how much the National Football League (NFL) is spending on research efforts that will explore the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids in the treatment and prevention of concussions and as an alternative to opioid painkillers.
According to Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment, the NFL has decided to fund two cannabinoid-related studies—one conducted by researchers at the University of California San Diego and one at the University of Regina in Canada.
Jaeger notes in his article that the NFL is primarily interested in three areas of research:
- the effects of cannabinoids on pain in elite football players (post-surgical and/or in daily pain management)
- the effects of non-pharmacologic treatments on pain in elite football players (postsurgical and/or in daily pain management) and
- the effects of cannabis or cannabinoids on athletic performance (e.g., psychomotor, reaction time, cardiorespiratory function) in elite football players.
Said NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills, “As with the league’s broader approach to health and safety, we want to ensure that our players are receiving care that reflects the most up-to-date medical consensus. While the burden of proof is high for NFL players who want to understand the impact of any medical decision on their performance, we are grateful that we have the opportunity to fund these scientifically-sound studies on the use of cannabinoids that may lead to the discovery of data-based evidence that could impact the pain management of our players.”
The study at the Center for Pain Medicine at UC San Diego Health will focus on pain management while the one at the University of Regina will focus on the prevention and treatment of concussions.
Patrick Neary, an exercise physiologist and professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina, said, “Our interdisciplinary research team believes that different cannabinoid formulations found in medical cannabis have the potential to benefit athletes suffering from the acute and long-term chronic effects of concussions. Our research will also work to show that cannabinoids can be used as an alternative to opioids for pain management.”
It’s expected it will take three years to complete the two studies.
To learn more, we suggest you read Kyle Jaeger’s article in the February 1, 2022 issue of Marijuana Moment. As usual, his reporting is first rate.
Political News and Notes
It wasn’t that long ago that a candidate for office who admitted he or she regularly used cannabis could expect to see their career go up in smoke. That may be changing.
According to Kyle Jaeger, reporting for Marijuana Moment, a new poll has revealed that a majority of Americans said they wouldn’t have an issue voting for someone who occasionally smokes marijuana.
Interviews with 4,096 adults conducted by YouGov, found that 58 percent of Americans would be “willing” to vote for a candidate who they agree with on most issues “who occasionally smokes marijuana in their free time.”
Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they wouldn’t be willing to support such candidates.
In a pair of survey findings that Jaeger described as “another sign of the normalization of cannabis, 68 percent of Democrats said they’d be “open to voting for someone who partakes,” while nearly half of Republicans—47 percent—said they’d be willing to vote for a marijuana consumer if they felt that candidate held positions on other issues that were aligned with their positions.
To learn more about the survey and how candidates are addressing the issue of cannabis consumption, we urge you to read Kyle Jaeger’s article in the January 27, 2022 issue of Marijuana Moment.
Cannabis and Parkinson’s Disease
The results of a new survey offer some insights on the experiences of those who use cannabis to address the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.
The survey—sponsored by The Michael J. Fox Foundation— was conducted by Samantha Holden, MD, MS, and her colleagues at the University of Colorado in Aurora, Colorado. The researchers asked nearly 1,900 people with Parkinson’s Disease what type of cannabis they take, including the amounts of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). They also inquired about the frequency of cannabis use, how long the respondents had been taking it, which symptoms improved and which side effects they experienced.
Highlights of the survey’s finding included the following:
- More than 70 percent of those queried reported that they use cannabis. The most common way they reported taking it was by mouth, once a day.
- While a small percentage of survey participants—about 13 percent—said they did not know what type of cannabis they were taking, among those who did know, nearly half took higher CBD formulations and 15 percent took similar amounts of CBD and THC.
- “Many” participants said they experienced small improvements in pain, anxiety, agitation or sleep as a result of taking cannabis.
- The most common side effects reported by those surveyed included dry mouth, dizziness, and changes in memory. The researchers reported those taking forms of cannabis with higher THC content reported more side effects but also more benefits.
- Thirty percent of people did not inform their doctor about cannabis use.
Commenting on the study, Katherine Leaver, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Division of Movement Disorders at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York, New York, said, “Medical marijuana doesn’t help everyone with Parkinson’s or every symptom of Parkinson’s. But it is a useful tool in the toolbox of treatments for the disease. And, as in this study, I’ve seen benefits for sleep, pain, anxiety and, sometimes, for motor symptoms.”
In addition to calling for more research on the use of cannabis by those who have Parkinson’s Disease, the researchers suggested it is important for those with the disease to discuss their cannabis use with their doctor.
To learn more, you can read the post on the website of The Michael J. Fox Foundation that describes the survey. Simply click on the link that follows.
www.michaeljfox.org/news/mjff-survey-results-people-parkinsons-share-experiences-cannabis
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 3247-5128-8753.
