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‘It was my salvation’

Research into effect of cannabis oil on cancer patients: ‘It was my salvation’ April 24, 2021 11:00 AMKankerpatiënt en oprichter van Embrace Life Olga van HarmelenFor years, stories have been circulating about the beneficial effect of cannabis oil on cancer patients. But no scientific research has ever been done on patients. Until now, because the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) is starting a study into the effect of this oil on tumors in untreated liver cancer patients.

“Two cancer patients started using cannabis oil on their own initiative. We saw that the tumor became smaller and smaller and eventually disappeared”, Maarten Nijkamp, ​​surgeon at the UMCG, tells EditieNL. The patients’ blood values ​​also improved. “Two and five years after diagnosis, the patients were declared cancer-free. They actually had a life expectancy of less than one year.”

It sometimes happens that the cancer disappears in a patient, but it is extremely rare. “The fact that they both used that oil is reason for us to investigate.”

Research on patients
Previous studies have shown that cannabis can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. “But never before has the research been carried out on patients. So that’s what we’re going to do.”

Investigate the effect of cannabis oil in untreated liver cancer patients
Twenty patients can participate in the study – which will take three years to complete. “The first step is to determine the correct dose of cannabis oil that will be administered per patient. This will give them an amount that will give them just no side effects. Then every three months it is examined what the effect is on the tumors in the liver.”

In order to participate in the study, patients must not have serious liver damage. “That is important, because the liver breaks down the drug. If the liver function is no longer good, then the chance of side effects is high and additional damage to the liver can occur.”

Shared experience
This research is desperately needed, says Olga van Harmelen. She has been a cancer patient since 2015 and was told by doctors that she could have a life expectancy of up to five years if she received treatment. “Of course I did. I had three younger children at the time and wanted to survive,” she tells EditieNL.

During her journey, a friend of Olga’s recommended that she try cannabis oil. “That turned out to be my salvation, because since I use it several times a day, my tumor is stable and has stopped growing.” Thanks to Olga, other patients are now also using the oil. “Almost everyone experiences the same effect as with me.”

Embrace Life
Because there is no scientific evidence for the effectiveness of the oil, it is not reimbursed as a medicine. “And not everyone can pay 300 euros a month.” For this reason, Olga has set up the Embrace Life foundation. “With the greatest mission that cannabis oil becomes an official medicine for cancer patients and is therefore also reimbursed by health insurance.”

KWF response
KWF Kankerbestrijd emphasizes that there is still no scientific evidence for the cancer-healing effect of cannabis oil. “We do welcome the fact that more research is now being done on this.”

source:

https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/editienl/artikel/5227092/umcg-onderzoek-effect-van-cannabisolie-op-kankerpatienten?fbclid=IwAR3_TGk-p_OiRxjXwkme9QX5uj2sJnrtSGYEzorMRc6Rr9SgmY04f14Bv4M

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Rapinoe among athletes touting CBD’s benefits for pain

Long before she struck that iconic victory pose to become the face of women’s soccer, Megan Rapinoe endured her share of setbacks to play the game she loves: Notably, a series of knee surgeries stretching back to her college days.

She tore her left ACL as a sophomore at the University of Portland, then tore it again in her second game back the next season. Following the 2015 World Cup she tore the ACL in her right knee and then in 2017 she had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in her left.

Rapinoe said she’s found help in managing the pain and recovery from her injuries: CBD Her twin sister Rachael, also convinced of the healing powers, helped launch a CBD products company, Mendi, which is aimed at athletes

“When it’s taken after a hard training and before bed, I feel it gives me a better night’s sleep and I feel like I’m able to relax a little bit easier,” Megan Rapinoe said. “So, I kind of just have it in my daily routine, like I would eat healthy and take natural products and drink a lot of water and take CBD and get as much sleep. It’s kind of the secret sauce.”

Mendi is just one company capitalizing on the ongoing interest in CBD. CBD, or cannabidiol, is found in cannabis. But CBD products like Mendi’s are derived from hemp and contain no THC the chemical in marijuana that produces a high. Hemp fiber and seeds are also used to produce textiles, rope, paper, cosmetics and fuel.

The 2018 federal Farm Bill listed industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity and removed it from the Controlled Substances Act — paving the way for an influx of CBD-infused products currently on the market and, in some cases, available at the local grocery store.

While there are claims CBD can help treat a variety of conditions, from insomnia to anxiety to pain, there’s little research yet to back those claims.

Nevertheless, it has become a burgeoning industry. The CBD market is expected to harness $20 billion in sales by 2024, according to a study by BDS Analytics, a firm that tracks cannabis industry trends.

Many athletes like Rapinoe swear by it, pointing out that it is a natural alternative to opioid treatments.

Tampa Bay tight end Rob Gronkowski promotes CBDMedic’s line of CBD-infused topical creams. Riley Cote, former player for the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, founded BodyChek Wellness, which sells a line of premium hemp products, in 2017.

Social CBD became a sponsor the of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Portland Thorns last fall, while the company AthletiCBD sponsors the Washington Spirit. NWSL policy allows athletes to use cannabinoids, although the league does not formally endorse use. Mendi has partnered with the Utah Royals and N.C. Courage.

USA Triathalon has a sponsorship deal with with CBD company Pure Spectrum, becoming the first governing body to do so.

Floyd Landis, who had his 2006 Tour de France title stripped for doping, owns Floyd’s of Leadville, which sells CBD products. Landis also has an interest in marijuana dispensaries in Colorado and Oregon. And yes, he sees the irony: “The jokes just write themselves,” he said.

“It’s changing, but people thought that the whole medical marijuana thing was just kind of an end-run around the law and people just wanted to get high. But there’s a real medicinal value in cannabis, and CBD’s responsible for a lot of that, it just wasn’t well understood,” Landis said. “And even to this day, there’s still a lot of hype around it that’s confusing and difficult to figure out.”

CBD certainly isn’t a cure-all. Former NFL player Kyle Turley, who struggled with addiction to pain killers, was warned by the Food and Drug Administration after claiming it could help treat COVID-19.

Like her famous sister, Rachael Rapinoe played for the Portland Pilots and won a national title with the team in 2005. She also struggled with injuries, with four separate knee surgeries that ultimately ended her soccer career. She went on to get a master’s degree in health and exercise and has served as a strength and conditioning consultant for college teams.

She said when she was introduced to CBD products several years ago by fellow athletes, the first time she had seen cannabis used outside of “stoner culture.”

“When I first started using it, and when I started seeing other athletes use it, the first thing I noticed is that they were bouncing around from brand to brand and there was no real trusted sports brand in this space. So that’s when I saw an opportunity to build something that athletes could really trust and that really spoke to athletes,” she said.

Mendi was launched last year during the Women’s World Cup and it has already surpassed expectations.

There is no uniform policy among the major sports leagues when it comes to CDB. Although, as it becomes more widely available and cannabis is legalized in many states, restrictions appear to be loosening.

The NFL’s Pain Management Committee held a forum on the use of CBD to treat pain earlier this year. The league’s new collective bargaining agreement says players won’t be suspended for a positive marijuana test, and levels of allowable THC were increased.

The NHL has no specific CBD policy, but the league does test for cannabis. Players who test positive are not fined or suspended, but rather referred to a behavioral health program.

Major League Baseball removed marijuana from its list of drugs of abuse in December.

The NBA and WNBA have the strictest rule, with marijuana and its “byproducts″ banned. Players must enter a league program after the first offense, while subsequent offenses result in fines and possible suspension.

Both the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency allow athletes to use CBD products but caution that users be aware of the THC levels in those products.

Last year freestyle skiier Devin Logan, a 2014 Olympic silver medalist, served a three-month suspension for using CBD oil that had higher concentrations of THC than was divulged.

No CBD products are as yet NSF certified, a measure athletes generally use when looking at whether supplements contain banned substances.

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This Is Your Body On CBD

This Is Your Body On CBD

Happinezz Ibiza Oil

Experts explain the ways the product physically and mentally affects you and when you should be cautious.

If it seems like everyone’s selling CBD (short for cannabidiol, a chemical compound from the cannabis plant), that’s because they probably are.

Unfortunately, most of these sources are unregulated, said Dr. Jordan Tishler, member of the medical advisory board at cannabisMD and president of the Association of Cannabis Specialists. This means that if you’re not careful about where you’re buying CBD from, you may actually be buying a product that contains little or no CBD at all.

“Many over-the-counter CBD products contain no CBD, or worse, may have dangerous ingredients in them like heavy metals or opiates,” Tishler said.

And it’s these easy access options, such as online retailers and even gas stations, touting CBD products that often leave people skeptical of it. But that shouldn’t necessarily be the case either, said Dr. Ethan Russo, director of research and development at the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute.

“It’s easy to say because of the profusion of [CBD on the market] that it’s all witchcraft or snake oil, but that’s not the case,” Russo said. “CBD is a very versatile medicine that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves over the decades.”

The other tricky part is that there haven’t been enough clinical studies conducted with CBD yet. And while there are plenty of anecdotal studies out there, this can make it difficult for physicians to educate both themselves and patients about CBD.

So, what does CBD actually do? Here, experts break down what they know for sure, including its role in your body, how much you need to feel its effects and what you should know before buying it.

You may experience less inflammation.

According to Dr. Rahul Khare, founder of Innovative Express Care in Chicago, CBD attaches indirectly to cannabinoid receptors in the body (these are responsible for a variety of functions throughout the body such as appetite, pain sensation, mood and memory). This process can also help decrease inflammation. In turn, CBD may help reduce chronic pain for some people.

“CBD won’t completely take the pain away like a morphine would,” Khare said, “but it may decrease it to a point where it makes the pain more tolerable.”

A review published in the journal Molecules found that medications containing CBD from a cannabis plant may be able to enhance a patient’s drug treatment for chronic pain and inflammation conditions. But note: They may work as a complement rather than a replacement to treatment, and one that is very dependent on the preparation, dosage and formulation.

You may feel less anxiety.

“People talk about CBD as being non-psychoactive, which isn’t quite true in the sense that if CBD were helping you with anxiety, then it would be psychoactive as it’s acting on your emotional well-being,” Tishler said.

In this instance, psychoactive doesn’t mean intoxicating, as is often associated with THC. Research published in the journal Neurotherapeutics found that CBD may help short-term in cases of generalized anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.

It’s also worth noting that cannabis with a higher CBD-to-THC ratio were used, and researchers found lower anxiety levels in THC-induced anxiety (a common side effect of THC) when administered together as opposed to using CBD alone.

separate study from The University of Montana found that CBD may attach itself to a serotonin 1A receptor in the brain, which has been a found mediator of anxiety, Russo said.

You might experience fewer gastrointestinal issues.

Though more research is needed, CBD may be able to help gastrointestinal issues caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). A review published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research found that cannabinoid receptor antagonists (AKA parts of CBD that bind to those cannabinoid receptors in your body discussed earlier) decreased relaxation in the lower esophageal sphincter. When the lower esophageal sphincter relaxes too much, it can often lead to acid reflux, and thus CBD may be able to limit the occurrence of acid reflux and other GERD-related symptoms.

It could negatively interact with other medications.

“At truly high doses, CBD ― more than any other of the cannabinoids ― can interact with conventional medications and can potentially be dangerous,” Tishler said. “Particularly for someone who is older or has multiple medical conditions and is taking multiple medications.

One instance where CBD and prescription medication do not mix depending on the dosage is the case of warfarin, which is used to treat and prevent blood clots. One case study published in Epilepsy & Behavior Case Reports found CBD is a strong inhibitor of the CYP450 enzymes, essentially increasing how much warfarin your body absorbs, which could be dangerous and lead to complications like excessive bleeding or hemorrhage.

CBD could affect sleep — but maybe not in the way you think.

If you’re taking CBD to help with anxiousness or pain and it works, that in itself may help you get more rest.

“Many will say CBD lets them sleep at night because it’s decreasing anxiety and anxiety is the cause of that insomnia,” Khare said.

Using CBD purely to fall asleep won’t do much, however. “At extreme doses, CBD may be sleep-inducing, but it’s a misconception that it does that at low or moderate doses,” Russo said. “Some preparations of CBD are often associated with high levels of another compound called myrcene and that is sedating, but this creates a misconception that CBD is sedating.”

Those who are taking really high amounts of pure CBD with no THC, the component in marijuana that gets you high, may find they even have trouble falling asleep. (Tishler doesn’t recommend doing this, by the way, and classifies a high amount as 600 to 1,200 milligrams of CBD per day.)

“What we know is that based on the studies that we have, which are mostly in rodents, you need to take a really large amount of CBD for it to do anything [beneficial], and at those levels you’re more likely to experience jitteriness and wakefulness,” Tishler said.

Depending on your use, you might experience nausea.

Along with jitteriness, high amounts of CBD can also make you nauseous. According to Harvard Health, CBD mechanically acts similar to another natural substance if mixed with certain medications — grapefruit. Both prevent certain chemicals in the intestine from breaking down certain drugs in the body (like the aforementioned warfarin). So not only are you getting a higher dose of your prescription, that altered dose may be making you nauseous. The problem with CBD, in particular, is that it’s hard to know exactly what the appropriate dose is for you (more on that in a moment). That makes it easier to experience these unpleasant side effects.

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Cannabis makes it less susceptible to corona

Canadian researchers: “Cannabis makes it less susceptible to corona”
MAY 11, 2020
RESEARCH
Researchers from the University of Lethbridge in Canada are investigating weed as a preventative against corona and therapy in COVID-19. Their preliminary results are very hopeful.

It appears that certain cannabis extracts make people more resistant to the new corona virus. That is what Igor Kovalchuk, research leader of a team of scientists in Alberta, Canada, claims.

After scouring 400 cannabis strains, the Lethbridge University team is now focusing on some promising varieties. The scientists mainly see that the number of virus receptors decreases under the influence of these cannabis strains. This reduces the chance that someone gets sick.

73% fewer virus receptors
“Some cannabis strains have reduced the amount of (virus) receptors by 73 percent, so the chance of the virus entering is much smaller,” Kovalchuk told Canadian media. “If we can reduce the number of receptors, the chance of infection is much smaller.”

The researcher, who has looked at different cannabis strains over the past three months, said the effective balance between THC and CBD is still unclear. They hope to find an answer to this in the near future.

“It will take a long time to figure out what the most active combination is – there can be many,” says Kovalchuk. “But it is generally the anti-inflammatory properties of a high CBD level that seem most promising,” he adds.

ALSO READ:

This is how the anti-inflammatory property of CBD works
Coronavirus • This is what medicinal weed and CBD can do for you
Doctor tells you everything you want to know about weed and COVID-19
Clinical testing becomes difficult

Drs. Igor Kovalchuk from the University of Lethbridge in Canada conducts groundbreaking research on medicinal weed. [Image: Uleth]

The study was licensed by Health Canada and uses artificial human 3D tissue models. The aim is to find ways to prevent the highly contagious coronavirus from finding a new host in people’s lungs, intestines and oral cavity.

If successful, the researchers can test further on humans. Then they can work on a medicine. The team is now thinking of a mouthwash with which people can gargle, inhalants or softgel capsules.

Kovalchuk says that it will be difficult to test clinically. Finances are a particular problem. Medical cannabis, as crazy as it may sound, is still in its infancy and has yet to garner a lot of clinical credits in the medical world. Kovalchuk also does not expect tons of money from the cannabis industry itself. The industry there is currently going through a financial downturn.

“We have clinicians who want to work with us, but for many companies in the cannabis industry, it’s a significant amount they can’t afford,” he says.

No vaccine, but treatment
The scientist emphasizes that the findings will not lead to a vaccine. Rather, Kovalchuk is thinking of a possible weapon against COVID-19, the disease that causes the coronavirus.

“The extracts from our most successful and new CBD C sativa lines, pending further research, may become a useful and safe addition to the treatment of COVID-19 as an adjunct therapy,” said Kovalchuk.

“Given the current nasty and rapidly evolving epidemiological situation, every possible opportunity and possibility should be considered.” Hopefully others will see this and the research will find financial support soon.

 

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New Cannabis Laws Free Prisoners

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