Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at a new study on using medical cannabis to improve a patient’s quality of life, a detailed report on what rescheduling cannabis entails and a going away present from Jimmy Buffett. Enjoy.
Medical Cannabis and Quality of Life
The results of a new Australian study of 2,300 individuals indicate patients with chronic health conditions experienced significant improvements in overall quality of life and a reduction in fatigue during the first three months of medical marijuana use.
In addition, the study also found that patients with anxiety, depression, or chronic pain also experienced improvement in those conditions over the first three months of treatment.
That’s the word from Ben Adlin, writing for Marijuana Moment. According to Adlin, the participants’ ages ranged between 18 and 97 years (with a mean of 51). Also, 62 percent were female.
Adlin noted that chronic pain (69 percent) was the most commonly reported condition among participants. Other conditions reported by the participants included insomnia (23 percent), anxiety (22 percent) and anxiety/depression (11 percent). Half of the patients reported more than one condition.
In describing the study, Adlin makes the point that before beginning cannabis therapy, participants completed baseline surveys about health-related quality of life (HRQL), pain, sleep, fatigue, anxiety and depression. They were given follow-up surveys after two weeks of treatment, then once a month for three months.
In terms of the cannabis formulation that was prescribed to the patients, all participants received Little Green Pharma medical cannabis oil, which contains THC and CBD dissolved in a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. The cannabis oil was available in four formulations: a 1:20 THC-to-CBD ratio, a balanced 10:10 ratio, a THC-heavy 20:5 ratio and CBD-only (ratios listed as milligrams of THC and CBD per milliliter of oil).
Researchers found that participants who completed three months of treatment reported improvement in their overall health-related quality of life when compared to what they reported in their pretreatment baseline. Patients who only completed the first follow-up assessment showed less improvement compared to those who continued.
The research team stated that, in general, “Within the first three months of medicinal cannabis therapy, participants reported improvements in their health-related quality of life, fatigue, and health conditions associated with anxiety, depression, and pain.”
The researchers noted that the cannabis treatment appeared to offer the most relief to individuals who reported specific conditions, such as chronic pain and anxiety. Those with insomnia seemed to experience the least relief.
However, despite the broadly positive findings, authors acknowledged that at least some of the reported improvements could be the result of a placebo effect. Adlin also noted in his article that the study “continues to follow patients over 12-months to determine whether improvements in [patient-reported outcomes] are maintained long-term.”
The research team also stated that further subgroup analysis “will be undertaken to determine whether patients with specific conditions have better outcomes compared with others when using validated condition-specific questionnaires.”
The results of the study appeared in the September 6, 2023 issue of the journal Plos One.
To learn more, we urge you to read Ben Adlin’s detailed and insightful reporting on the study. It appeared in the September 7, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
To read the journal article itself, simply click on the link below.
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290549
Spotlight on Rescheduling Cannabis
Much has been made recently over the letter HHS sent to the DEA in which it requested that the DEA reschedule marijuana.
What made the letter significant, according to Chris Roberts, reporting for MJBizDaily, was that it marked, “the federal government’s first official acknowledgment that marijuana has medicinal value.”
Put another way, “This,” writes Roberts, “is the first time the DEA has had to consider a recommendation from health regulators to consider marijuana as legitimate medicine.”
While how long it will take the DEA to respond to the letter remains an open question, Roberts notes that experts say that what the DEA cannot do is reject the HHS recommendation outright, which means marijuana’s days as a Schedule 1 drug are ending.
That’s the opinion of Howard Sklamberg, who once served as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s top enforcement official.
Said Sklamberg, now a partner at Washington DC-based law firm Arnold & Porter, “They (DEA) have to defer to HHS on that. To have that be countermanded by non-public health people would be a mess.”
In his article, Roberts writes that if and when the DEA initiates a rescheduling change, additional hurdles remain:
• A public-comment period will be opened, probably 30-60 days in length.
• The DEA will then be obligated to review those comments and respond before the rule change takes effect.
• Almost inevitably, there will be lawsuits that could delay implementation further.
In addition, as part of the rescheduling process, the DEA must consider—and perhaps eventually renegotiate—U.S. obligations under international drug-control treaties.
However, Roberts makes the point that whatever the DEA suggests, thorny questions will remain. For example, the ongoing conflict between state and federal law will continue for legal marijuana businesses.
Also, there will be regulatory issues to consider. For instance, there is currently no example of a Schedule 3 controlled substance being sold in stores that has not been approved by the FDA without the DEA’s blessing.
So, in the long term, Congress will still be “on the hook” to craft federal regulations of some kind.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by Chris Roberts in the September 12, 2023 issue of MJBizDaily.com. Roberts does an excellent job of unpacking a complicated story and providing some realistic expectations for what has to happen before rescheduling can take place.
mjbizdaily.com/a-look-at-dea-role-in-marijuana-rescheduling-process/?
Medical Cannabis News and Notes
One way to increase access to medical cannabis may be to increase the pool of medical professionals who can prescribe cannabis to address specific medical conditions.
Case in point: According to Christen Smith, reporting for the online publication The Center Square, Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Board has voted in favor of a recommendation to add podiatrists to a list of more than 1,800 medical providers who can prescribe medical cannabis. That list currently consists of psychiatrists, primary care physicians, specialists, anesthesiologists, and oncologists.
The board’s recommendations must be approved by the state legislature.
There is a specific logic behind the proposal. Supporters say podiatry patients often live with neuropathy and intractable pain — two of the 24 conditions approved for medical cannabis use. However, at present, podiatry patients must see another physician for a prescription for cannabis. Allowing podiatrists to prescribe cannabis would make the process less complicated, which would benefit their patients.
Smith notes in her article that as of 2021, more than 1,500 podiatrists were registered in Pennsylvania. Since the state’s medical marijuana program enactment in 2019, lawmakers have made several changes, including expanding the list of qualifying conditions.
Bills pending before the legislature that propose other changes to the state’s program include adding edibles to the market and eliminating annual card renewals and the list of qualifying conditions.
To learn more, we suggest reading Christen Smith’s article in the September 8, 2023 issue of the online publication The Center Square.com. The publication focuses on state- and local-level government and economic reporting in Pennsylvania.
www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_64954c6c-4e73-11ee-a8f1-d788eba32066.html
The Shape of Things to Come
In another example of what some describe as the “normalization of cannabis,” what’s said to be the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service will soon air ads for a cannabis company.
According to a press release that appeared on the Business Wire publication, Cresco Labs Inc., an industry leader in the cannabis sector and the operator of Sunnyside dispensaries, has announced it is the first cannabis company to launch advertisements on Spotify.
The streaming service has more than 551 million users and 220 million subscribers.
Said Cory Rothschild, Cresco Labs’ National Retail President, “Audio streaming services represent a major opportunity for brands to reach large audiences in a targeted manner, and we’re excited to collaborate with Spotify to launch the first-ever cannabis ads from our Sunnyside national retail brand.”
He also made the point that Spotify’s platform will enable the company’s marketing team to target its ads to the company’s core shoppers in Illinois where it has a leading share in retail.
It’s been reported that the ad campaign, which aims to communicate the benefits of shopping at a Sunnyside dispensary, includes 30 second audio and in-app digital banners created to drive consumers to the retailer’s proprietary e-commerce platform.
To learn more about Sunnyside dispensaries, visit www.sunnyside.shop.
To learn more about the new relationship between Cresco Labs and Spotify, simply click on the link below.
Celebrity Cannabis Corner
Singer/songwriter and entrepreneur Jimmy Buffett left mature consumers a present before passing away. He had a new album in the can that includes a timely little ditty titled “My Gummie Just Kicked In.”
Mr. Buffet worked hard at maintaining a slacker/beach bum image when in reality he was perhaps one of the hardest working performers in show business and a first-rate writer of songs, fiction and nonfiction.
With an eye for detail and an ear for the way folks talk, Buffett’s best work conjures up a comment by Elmore Leonard. When asked how he developed such a knack for writing dialogue Leonard said simply,”I listen.” So did Mr. Buffett.
If you click on the link below you’ll find an entertaining article by Steve Bloom that describes how the song came about. (Unfortunately, the headline on the story mangles the title of the song.) The article, which appeared in the September 12, 2023 issue of the online publication Celebrity Stoner.com, also contains a link that shows Buffet recording the song and yes, that’s Sir Paul playing bass. Enjoy.
If you have trouble connecting to the video, here’s a more direct link.
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.
