Research Corner

COLLECTED BY SARAH MOSS

While attending the Cannabis Science Conference in Baltimore, there were two presentations that stood out to us. First was on “Treating Geriatric Conditions,” and the second was “Why Lab Testing Matters.”

“TREATING GERIATRIC CONDITIONS”

Dr. Dustin Sulak presented the research done by Abuhasira, Schleider, et al. on their published research from the European Journal of Internal Medicine: “Epidemiological characteristics, safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in the elderly”

The results from the study gave evidence that 93.7% of the study population reported an improvement in their condition after just six months of cannabis use to treat their conditions.

In this study they found evidence to suggest that the therapeutic use of cannabis is safe and efficacious in the elderly population.

At the beginning of the study 79.3% defined their quality of life as either bad or very bad, and by the end of the study a remarkable 58.6% defined their quality of life as either good or very good!

The majority of the population in this study used cannabis to treat chronic pain, cancer related pain, parkinson’s disease, irritable bowel disease, etc.

“WHY LAB TESTING MATTERS FROM A PHYSICIAN’S PERSPECTIVE”

The talk “Why lab testing matters from a physician’s perspective” by Andrew Rosenstein, the CEO of Steep Hill Maryland, gave knowledgeable insight to the risks that certain populations of medical marijuana users have.

For example the elderly, immunocompromised, and children are at risk if we do not have rigorous standards for medical cannabis.

Lab testing on your medical cannabis is so important, especially in medical states, due to the majority of patients being immunocompromised in one way or another.

The effects of terpenes are so beneficial. Therefore, if we are testing for terpenes, we will know the medicinal effects each terpene have.

Drugs you get from the pharmacy are FDA regulated; your medical cannabis should be too.

Microbial testing matters. If your medicine is contaminated with mold, microbial, mycotoxins (toxins excreted by fungus), or fungi, you can have not only the symptoms you were trying to treat before but also secondary symptoms as a result of the exposure to contaminated cannabis products.

If medical cannabis patients are using products that are not lab tested for mycotoxins the chances for negative outcomes from medical marijuana use increase.

https://www.ejinme.com/article/S0953-6205(18)30019-0/fulltext