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by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy DirectorSeptember 25, 2014
The
administration of cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychotropic cannabinoid, is
associated with improved quality of life in patients with Parkinson’s disease,
according clinical trial data published
online ahead of print in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.
Investigators at the University of São Paulo in Brazil
assessed the efficacy of CBD versus placebo in 21 subjects with Parkinson’s.
Authors reported that the administration of 300 mg doses of CBD per day was
associated with “significantly different mean total scores” in subjects’
well-being and quality of life compared to placebo.
Separate assessments of CBD versus placebo reported that the
cannabinoid did not appear to mitigate general symptoms of the disease, nor was
it shown to be neuroprotective.
“This study points to a possible effect of CBD in improving
measures related to the quality of life of PD patients without psychiatric
comorbidities,” investigators concluded. They added, “We found no statistically
significant differences concerning the motor symptoms of PD; however, studies
involving larger samples and with systematic assessment of specific symptoms of
PD are necessary in order to provide stronger conclusions regarding the action
of CBD in PD.”
Clinical
reports have previously indicated that both CBD and/or whole-plant cannabis may
address various symptom’s of Parkinson’s disease, including improvement in motor symptoms, pain reduction, improved sleep, and a reduction in the severity of psychotic episodes.
Survey
data of patients with PD indicates that almost half of all subjects who try
cannabis reportexperiencing subjective relief from the plant.
The
abstract of the study, “Effects of cannabidiol in the treatment of patients
with Parkinson’s disease: An exploratory double-blind trial,” appears online here.
Tags : cannabidiol, CBD, parkinson's
Posted in : SCIENCE
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Posted in : SCIENCE
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7 Responses to
“Study: CBD Administration Associated With Improved Quality Of Life In Patients
With Parkinson’s Disease”
1. TheAntiProhibitionist says:
At this point I can’t feel surprised when I see an article
about the many benefits of Cannabinoids and THC in healthcare applications. I
feel like we don’t have to resort to the dirty tactics the prohibitionists use,
because we use the facts. I think we can directly credit organizations like
NORML and the MPP with our recent gains in cannabis law reform.
2. Galileo
Galilei says:
The range of maladies the noble weed proves effective
against continues to amaze me. It’s great to have marijuana returned to
humanity’s pharmacopoeia.
3. Fireweed says:
because this substance acts on the body in a bidirectional
homeostatic manner. which is why there is no lethal dosage. It also has an
anti-inflammatory effect, which is the underlying problem with maladies of
aging. Which is why individuals like Willie Nelson can look so good and
function so well at age 81. (Had to do a double take when I saw his age.)
4. Fireweed says:
the obvious hypothesis then is that cannabis is good not
only for these chronic inflammatory related diseases, but good for all of us.
Now put that in your pipe and smoke it.
5. Joel
Anglin says:
Maybe the federal government in the U.S. could do some tests
with medical marijuana and Parkinson’s disease.
6. Julian says:
Thank you NORML for bringing up the subject of quality of
life. It astounds me every time I tell my own sisters that non psychoactive
CBDs can help with their son’s epilepsy or chrone’s disease that I hear scared
answers like, “yeah, but it won’t cure it.” Well who said anything about cure?
I watched my Godmother puke her life away on Chemo, both of us knowing I could give her some weed and even with the psychoactive THC, make the nausea go away… But I didn’t give her any and she wouldn’t accept any because we both knew her daughter would be too angry about giving her an illegal substance and not following the doctor’s orders. But cancer patients just want to die with dignity and control their own pain and share their last moments on earth with the people they love. That’s pretty hard to do when you’re puking every bit of nutrient out of your body.
My grandfather died of Parkinson’s disease. He went from a tall, strong doctor to be confined to a wheel chair. I think about how much he suffered unable to control his hands and head and the way my grandmother suffered when grandpa would go crawl up out of his wheel chair and fall out of a deer blind because he was determined to die the way he had lived.
My grandfather had begun his medical career, graduating from Harvard medical school when discussion of cannabinoids was prohibited. He was a field medic in Normandy and became president of the lower Missouri medical society. Throughout his career, doctors would be threatened with losing their license if caught prescribing or even studying marijuana without a permit the DEA would scarcely issue. When he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I wonder if marijuana even crossed his mind? He died in 1995; the year before the truth about the human endocannabinoid system was finally allowed to be published by doctors inside the United States.
Since the C.S.Act of 1970, the Office of Drug Control Policy uses our tax dollars to deny the medical benefits of marijuana so it cannot be descheduled for medical research. To put this into perspective in the cost of human life, imagine if your auto mechanic was prohibited from studying the wiring diagram or sensors to your brand new 2014 Chevy Cruze. A sudden recall determines your Chevy Cruze has Parkinson’s disease and will no longer deploy its airbags and occasionally, the ignition might shut you down right in the middle of traffic. So your mechanic prescribes an expensive array of dealership check ups, designed to check everything but the problem your car has, because he’s not aloud to use the wiring diagram without risking prosecution or sell you any sensors for risk of patent fraud loss of license and incarceration. That would be pretty stupid wouldn’t it? That is, unless you’re selling sensors on the dangerous black market… Where you could get mugged and hey, while you’re there they try to sell you some heroin and a stolen DVD player. Oh yeah, there are about 20 different “strains” of sensors and you need to find out which one cures your car. No textbooks. No mechanics. No diagrams. Good luck.
That’s what our government has been prohibiting from human beings for three quarters of a century now; the human endocannabinoid system; the diagram of life and a vast network of vital human hormonal traffic has been prohibited from practice or study. And since my grandfathers death cannabinoids have even been patented by our own Department of Health and Human Services patent 6630507.
It is nearly impossible to calculate the harm and suffering that prohibition continues to cause within American society and abroad. We can only be encouraged by the advance in quality and reduction in cost our medical care will achieve from the now inevitable descheduling of cannabis from the unconstitutional Controlled Substance Act, thanks to institutions like NORML and the increased access to the internet to working class American consumers and voters with less income or education.
This is why it is more important than ever to donate to NORML PAC, write your Congressman , get educated about your candidate and vote this November, or in Octobers early elections. This is the opportunity we have to stop the suffering, and begin a new era of medical enlightenment; a Green Age of sustainability where real affordable education, energy and health care is tangible and possible, and decided by doctors, patients and representatives elected by commercially taxed marijuana.
I watched my Godmother puke her life away on Chemo, both of us knowing I could give her some weed and even with the psychoactive THC, make the nausea go away… But I didn’t give her any and she wouldn’t accept any because we both knew her daughter would be too angry about giving her an illegal substance and not following the doctor’s orders. But cancer patients just want to die with dignity and control their own pain and share their last moments on earth with the people they love. That’s pretty hard to do when you’re puking every bit of nutrient out of your body.
My grandfather died of Parkinson’s disease. He went from a tall, strong doctor to be confined to a wheel chair. I think about how much he suffered unable to control his hands and head and the way my grandmother suffered when grandpa would go crawl up out of his wheel chair and fall out of a deer blind because he was determined to die the way he had lived.
My grandfather had begun his medical career, graduating from Harvard medical school when discussion of cannabinoids was prohibited. He was a field medic in Normandy and became president of the lower Missouri medical society. Throughout his career, doctors would be threatened with losing their license if caught prescribing or even studying marijuana without a permit the DEA would scarcely issue. When he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I wonder if marijuana even crossed his mind? He died in 1995; the year before the truth about the human endocannabinoid system was finally allowed to be published by doctors inside the United States.
Since the C.S.Act of 1970, the Office of Drug Control Policy uses our tax dollars to deny the medical benefits of marijuana so it cannot be descheduled for medical research. To put this into perspective in the cost of human life, imagine if your auto mechanic was prohibited from studying the wiring diagram or sensors to your brand new 2014 Chevy Cruze. A sudden recall determines your Chevy Cruze has Parkinson’s disease and will no longer deploy its airbags and occasionally, the ignition might shut you down right in the middle of traffic. So your mechanic prescribes an expensive array of dealership check ups, designed to check everything but the problem your car has, because he’s not aloud to use the wiring diagram without risking prosecution or sell you any sensors for risk of patent fraud loss of license and incarceration. That would be pretty stupid wouldn’t it? That is, unless you’re selling sensors on the dangerous black market… Where you could get mugged and hey, while you’re there they try to sell you some heroin and a stolen DVD player. Oh yeah, there are about 20 different “strains” of sensors and you need to find out which one cures your car. No textbooks. No mechanics. No diagrams. Good luck.
That’s what our government has been prohibiting from human beings for three quarters of a century now; the human endocannabinoid system; the diagram of life and a vast network of vital human hormonal traffic has been prohibited from practice or study. And since my grandfathers death cannabinoids have even been patented by our own Department of Health and Human Services patent 6630507.
It is nearly impossible to calculate the harm and suffering that prohibition continues to cause within American society and abroad. We can only be encouraged by the advance in quality and reduction in cost our medical care will achieve from the now inevitable descheduling of cannabis from the unconstitutional Controlled Substance Act, thanks to institutions like NORML and the increased access to the internet to working class American consumers and voters with less income or education.
This is why it is more important than ever to donate to NORML PAC, write your Congressman , get educated about your candidate and vote this November, or in Octobers early elections. This is the opportunity we have to stop the suffering, and begin a new era of medical enlightenment; a Green Age of sustainability where real affordable education, energy and health care is tangible and possible, and decided by doctors, patients and representatives elected by commercially taxed marijuana.
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