Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we have comments on cannabis by the new head of the DEA, a study of cannabis and pain management, a ruling on gun ownership by cannabis users and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis Quote of the Week
“Even more disturbingly, all too often, people are unaware that marijuana, especially when it contains more THC, is a risk factor for psychosis and schizophrenia, as well as the fact that it stunts brain growth, sometimes includes lead and mercury, and can alter male sperm DNA linked to autism.”—Terrance C. Cole
Mr. Cole is President Trump’s pick to head the DEA, which means he would be the point person on any discussion concerning rescheduling. He worked at the DEA for 21 years and currently serves as Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security (PSHS), where part of his responsibility is to oversee the state Cannabis Control Authority (CCA).
Cole’s comment on cannabis is taken from a longer statement he posted on the DEA’s website in 2024. He also posted the following on LinkedIn, “Everybody knows my stance on marijuana after 30 plus years in law enforcement, so don’t even ask!”
Here’s a pencil. Draw your own conclusions on where rescheduling is probably headed.
To learn more, we suggest reading Kyle Jaeger’s reporting in the February 11, 2025 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/trumps-new-dea-leader-has-a-just-say-no-stance-on-marijuana-linking-cannabis-use-to-suicide-risk-and-schizophrenia/?
Cannabis and Pain Management
There’s hopeful news for those who struggle with chronic pain. A new study, published in the journal Pain, found that “The use of medical marijuana for chronic pain under medical supervision is at least as effective and potentially more effective in relationship to patients with chronic pain treated by prescription medications (non opioid or opioid).”
The study, conducted by researchers affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, Harvard Medical School and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), compared patient-reported outcomes and electronic medical record data from 440 medical marijuana patients and 8,114 people who received conventional medications.
Specifically, among medical marijuana patients, 39 percent had a “meaningful treatment response after three months, compared to 35 percent of people on traditional medications. Authors noted that the “rates are in line with many randomized controlled trial (RCT) results of medicinal cannabis for pain.”
Wrote the authors in their study, “In sum, using a causal inference approach, we found that medical marijuana was comparatively more effective than prescription medication treatment for chronic pain, with the odds of responding being 2.6 times higher in the medical marijuana group, and having twice the predicted probability of a positive response.”
They added that they believe a conservative interpretation of their results, “is that medical marijuana is at least as effective as prescription medications for chronic pain.” Plus, the positive response among medical cannabis patients was also “maintained at 6 months.” The research team contends that this speaks to the durability of relief that cannabis can provide.
In addition, among the 157 medical marijuana patients who also had been prescribed opioids, authors observed a 39 percent reduction in prescribed morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs)—a standard measure of opioid dosage—over six months of treatment. The authors believe this indicates that cannabis might be of some benefit when weaning patients off of opioids.
According to Ben Adlin, who reported on the story for Marijuana Moment, the research team acknowledged some limitations to the study, including that the types of cannabis products and dosage amounts—including THC and CBD levels, for example—were unknown, “which precludes the determination of any dose–response relationship to medical marijuana outcomes.”
To read an abstract of the study, which appeared in the January 24, 2025 edition of PAIN, the journal of the international association for the study of pain, click on the following link.
https://journals.lww.com/pain/abstract/9900/the_comparative_effectiveness_of_medicinal.807.aspx
Ben Adlin’s reporting on the study appears in the February 7, 2025 issue of Marijuana Moment.net. To read his article, click on the following link.
Cannabis and Crohn’s Disease
Treatment with cannabis-based medicine may offer some relief for those suffering from Crohn’s disease (CD). That’s a key takeaway from a recent study conducted by a team of researchers affiliated with the Department of Medicine, Karachi Medical and Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan.
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. It can cause inflammation and damage to the lining of the digestive system, leading to various symptoms.
It’s believed the condition is caused by a combination of factors, including genetics, immune system dysfunction and environmental factors. Symptoms may include abdominal pain and cramping, diarrhea, weight loss and joint pain.
In the study, the research team conducted a literature search encompassing PubMed, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library to identify relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing cannabis to placebo or standard therapy in CD patients.
The team’s meta-analysis of the existing data revealed what they believed were significant findings regarding the impact of cannabis on the management of Crohn’s disease (CD). Specifically, the cannabis group of patients in the random trials studied exhibited significantly higher clinical remission rates at 8 weeks compared to the control group.
Based on their research, the team concluded, in an article published in the January 17, 2025 issue of the Irish Journal of Medical Science, that cannabis shows promise as a therapeutic option for the treatment of CD, demonstrating higher remission rates and potential benefits for disease management.
To read an abstract of the study, simply click on the link that follows.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11845-024-03844-w
Notable Numbers
This week’s notable number is 2 billion, as in 2 billion dollars. According to data from the Illinois Department of Revenue, cannabis dispensaries in the state sold more than $2 billion worth of cannabis in 2024. That figure includes $1.722 billion in adult-use sales and more than $285 million in medical cannabis sales.
Graham Abbott, writing for Ganjapreneur, reports that this marks the fourth consecutive record-setting year in annual cannabis sales. Based on these sales the state collected more than $490 million in cannabis tax revenue for the year.
Said Governor JB Pritzker, “The numbers are clear: five years after we legalized adult use cannabis in Illinois, we’re seeing the economic impact of a thriving cannabis industry. With $2 billion in record-setting sales and $490 million generated in tax revenue, our first-in-the-nation equity-focused cannabis industry is the result of my administration’s policies, which prioritized repairing the damage done by the failed War on Drugs, creating more good-paying jobs, and building a safe, equitable, and prosperous business sector — making Illinois by far the national leader in diverse ownership for this industry.”
In his article, Abbott noted that health officials recently added four new conditions to the state’s list of qualifying conditions for the medical cannabis program, including endometriosis, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and female orgasmic disorder.
To learn more, we suggest reading Graham Abbott’s article in the February 7, 2025 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
https://www.ganjapreneur.com/illinois-cannabis-sales-exceeded-2b-in-2024/?
Cannabis and Guns
A federal appeals court panel has ruled that the federal law that prohibits gun ownership by drug users is justified only in certain circumstances, and even then, not always.
So says Ben Adlin, reporting for Marijuana Moment. According to Adlin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said in its opinion that while not all disarmament of drug users violates the Second Amendment, it nevertheless sometimes can.
In recent years, the federal criminal statute known as 922(g)(3)—which prevents anyone who is an “unlawful user” of an illegal drug from buying or possessing firearms—has come under fire in a number of federal courts.
Said the judges in their ruling, “Nothing in our tradition allows disarmament simply because [the defendant] belongs to a category of people, drug users, that Congress has categorically deemed dangerous.”
Adlin noted in his article that the case arose after police found a Glock pistol in the car of the defendant, who acknowledged at trial that he smoked marijuana three to four times per week, including two days before the traffic stop. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa found him guilty and subsequently sentenced him to 37 months behind bars.
According to Adlin, when considering whether the government’s actions were constitutional, judges looked for historical analogues to the prohibition on gun ownership by drug users. While government lawyers argued that the ban is justified because of past laws against gun ownership by people with mental illness, the appellate panel noted that those laws typically required that a person be deemed both mentally ill and dangerous—and even then, prohibitions were considered on a case-by-case basis.
Wrote the court, “For disarmament of drug users and addicts to be comparably ‘justifi[ed],’ it must be limited to those who ‘pose a danger to others,’” the panel wrote, quoting prior court decisions. “The analogy is complete, in other words, for someone whose ‘regular use of … PCP … induce[s] violence,’ but not for a ‘frail and elderly grandmother’ who ‘uses marijuana for a chronic medical condition.’”
The judges returned the matter to a lower court to determine whether the law as applied in the current case is constitutional, noting that further fact-finding is likely necessary and that “the district court is in the best position to take the first crack at it.”
Adlin’s reporting is first rate and includes a look at several other recent rulings on the issue. To learn more, visit Ben Adlin’s article in the February 10, 2025 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
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.
