Marijuana and Cannabinoids: A Neuroscience Research Summit is being convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will focus on the neurological and psychiatric effects of marijuana, other cannabinoids, and the endocannabinoid system. Both the adverse and the potential therapeutic effects of the cannabinoid system will be discussed. The goal of this summit is to ensure evidence-based information is available to inform practice and policy, particularly important at this time given the rapidly shifting landscape regarding the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana.

THE Cork boy who had to learn to walk and talk again after an epileptic seizure will travel to the US tomorrow for a year of treatment.
Little Tristan Forde, who will turn two years old on St Stephen’s Day and who suffers 20 seizures a day, will watch his big brother Oscar open his Santa presents on Christmas Day on Facetime. And mum Yvonne, who is heading to Colorado with him, says Tristan will also use social media to share his birthday on St Stephen’s morning with three-year-old Oscar and dad John. Last night, the family hosted a gathering in the Parkway Hotel in Dunmanway for everyone who have helped the family raise funds for the trip before Tristan and his mum depart from Cork airport early tomorrow.

The world is quickly coming to realize that there is way more to weed than just the munchies.

Marijuana enthusiasts certainly enjoy the heightened sense of taste and smell, which we explored in Cannabis Before Food Equals Taste Bud Bliss.

But, more important, the science behind how pot stimulates our appetites is pointing towards a colossal shift in how we might remedy some of healthcare’s biggest nutrition-related issues.

Those issues are:

Early Alzheimer’s disease patients who engage in light or moderate drinking have been shown to have fewer chances of dying in a new study. The research was conducted at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Moderate Drinking Can Have A Protective Effect on Cardiovascular Disease

The team, lead by Dr. Sine Bernsten, took data from a previous 12-month study that looked into a psychosocial counseling and support program for people with Alzheimer’s in early stages. This study had 321 participants, with details of lifestyle habits. 10% of the people didn’t drink at all, and 70% had about 10ml of pure alcohol per day. This would be about 1/3 of a pint of beer or half a glass of wine per day.

GW-Pharma Epidiolex

Cannabis extract Epidiolex slashes seizures, a new study confirms. (Photo by GW Pharmaceuticals)

A batch of studies further confirms medical cannabis patients are right to try cannabidiol-rich marijuana products to treat intractable seizure disorders.

Three studies presented at the American Epilepsy Society’s 69th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia Dec. 7th found a marijuana-derived extract slashed pediatric seizures in half, and completely stopped seizures in nine percent of cases.

Sixteen clinics in the U.S. — including one in San Francisco — are giving a marijuana extract rich in the molecule cannabidiol (called Epidiolex) to a total of 261 people — mostly children with incurable epilepsy, a sometimes deadly seizure disorder.

The group representing Canada's pediatricians is warning parents against using medical marijuana to treat their children's health conditions, saying there is not enough evidence that the drug is either safe or effective.

The Canadian Paediatric Society said in a statement Monday that while cannabis is increasingly being used to treat certain kids' illnesses, "evidence is lacking about the overall effect on children."

Some parents have been turning to cannabis oil and other forms of marijuana to treat conditions that have failed to respond to conventional medicine. Those conditions include epilepsy, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, chronic pain management and even autism.

Dr. Michael Rieder speaks to CTV's Canada AM, Dec. 14, 2015.

Arizona is the only state where medical-marijuana patients can face felony charges if they use or possess it on a college campus

An Arizona State University student is asking an appeals court to overturn the law that makes it illegal for him to have physician-recommended medical marijuana in his dorm room.

Andre Maestas, 20, an ASU junior and medical-marijuana cardholder, was arrested in 2014 and charged with a felony for having 0.6 grams of weed in his room on campus, roughly the equivalent of one joint.

He is the first to challenge a 2012 statute banning medical marijuana on state university campuses, which the Legislature passed two years after Arizona voters approved a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana.

Canadian researchers have recently published a study that shows the potential cannabis has for preventing and treating obesity. Mice fed a high-fat diet with daily THC administration gained significantly less weight than those without THC. Cannabis may have some protective effect against high levels of intestinal microbes associated with obesity.

Cannabis spray provides welcome relief in fight against debilitating disease.

Medicinal cannabis has provided a breakthrough for a teen battling a rare brain illness, but the cost of the unregistered, unfunded drug could prevent the youngster getting long-term treatment.  

Carterton's Grace Yeats, 13, was an active, playful youngster until May 2012, when she was hit by severe basal ganglia necrosis, a brain disease that left her cognitively unimpaired, but unable to walk or talk, and wracked by painful spasms.

But she found some much-needed relief when she was approved last month for medicinal cannabis spray Sativex, the only cannabis-based treatment legally available in New Zealand.

ALBANY – New York health officials and the manufacturers say they are on track to start providing medical marijuana to critically ill patients next month.

Questions remain, however, over whether doctors and patients will be enrolled in the system quickly enough to make the drug available by the Jan. 5 target date.

"There's no sign of a system in place yet for patients. That's a major concern," said Julie Netherland, deputy state director for the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group. "We get calls from patients every day wanting to sign up, and we have to tell them we don't know yet."