Fireside check in with Flute 06/15/2022

Magical greetings everyone!,Welcome to the first Fireside Check In with Flute, it's great to see you 💖.

Before I get started, a gtky question.

Q: What's your favorite way to relax?

A: sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons!

For my first check in I thought I'd like to talk about something that is slightly controversial,

Marijuana!,yes!, you read that right, marijuana, or more specifically its key ingredient THC, (ill also talk about CBD as well) and what it does or can do for people who have suffered trauma. Before I jump into talking about THC and CBD I wanted to share a little history on medicinal plants.

The oldest written evidence of medicinal plants’ usage for preparation of drugs has been found on a Sumerian clay slab from Nagpur, approximately 5,000 years old. It comprised 12 recipes for drug preparation referring to over 250 various plants, some of them alkaloid such as poppy, henbane, and mandrake. Healing with medicinal plants is as old as mankind itself. It is likely that humans have used plants as medicine for as long as we have existed. During the course of drug development, a typical compound is found to have some medical benefit and then extensive tests are undertaken to determine its safety and proper dosage. Clinical studies of marijuana are difficult to conduct. Researchers interested in clinical studies of marijuana face a series of barriers, research funds are limited, and there is a daunting thicket of regulations to be negotiated at the federal level (those of the Food and Drug Administration, FDA, and the Drug Enforcement Agency, DEA) and state levels.

Despite the reports from PTSD patients that cannabis helps with their PTSD, and research showing the mechanisms behind how cannabis might help with PTSD, the question of whether it really does help has remained a matter of controversy. Many patients struggle to find adequate symptom relief from conventional treatments for trauma including antidepressant or antipsychotic medications and psychological treatments such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Since the current treatments don’t always work, doctors and researchers are continually on the lookout for more effective options. One of those options is medical cannabis

For many years, the best indication of marijuana’s efficacy for trauma treatment was anecdotal, with sufferers describing benefits such as anxiety reduction and insomnia relief. Now, new studies seek to quantify evidence that supports these assertions and shed light on the ways in which the various compounds found within marijuana provide relief.

Two recent studies point to the way that cannabinoids may help treat PTSD. One study,[1] from researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, led by Christine Rabinak, an assistant professor in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences looked at how cannabis use impacts the amygdala - a part of the brain associated with fear responses to threats. Meanwhile, another suggests that the plant's cannabinoids could play a role in extinguishing traumatic memories.

Phytocannabinoids are the cannabinoids found within the cannabis plant. Our bodies naturally produce molecules called endogenous cannabinoids that fit into special cannabinoid receptors throughout the brain and body. This endocannabinoid system is involved in stabilizing bodily processes, including regulating many functions of the brain that tend to be affected after traumatic experiences, such as fear, memory and sleep. Certain components of the cannabis plant, including the well-known molecules tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the component of cannabis that produces the high) and cannabidiol (CBD, the component of cannabis that won’t get you high, but has potential for treating epilepsy, inflammation, nausea and anxiety) are also cannabinoids because of their structural similarity to endogenous cannabinoids. Even though THC and CBD aren’t naturally produced in our bodies, they can interact with the endocannabinoid system to influence a number of biological processes so both mental and physical symptoms can be altered with medical marijuana treatment.

Studies have shown that medical marijuana ycan help treat PTSD symptoms even in treatment-resistant cases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved THC-based medications, dronabinol (Marinol®) and nabilone (Cesamet®), prescribed in pill form for the treatment of nausea in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy and to stimulate appetite in patients with wasting syndrome due to AIDS

Cannabis might yet displace salicylic acid as the most prolific cure-all. The marijuana plant and its derivatives have been used to diminish treatment-resistant epilepsy and to reduce chronic pain, even before it was understood that the active components of the cannabis plant, tetrahydocannabinol (THC) and canabidiol (CBD), contributed to these outcomes. Cannabis is also touted to be effective in attenuating a wide range of conditions, including asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, menstrual cramps, AIDS, nausea and cancer. Beyond these effects on physical conditions, cannabis has been reported to improve neurocognitive and psychiatric conditions, such as Alzheimer disease, Anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder.

In addition, several other marijuana-based medications have been approved or are undergoing clinical trials. Nabiximols (Sativex®), a mouth spray that is currently available in the United Kingdom, Canada, and several European countries for treating the spasticity and neuropathic pain that may accompany multiple sclerosis, combines THC with another chemical found in marijuana called cannabidiol (CBD).

The FDA also approved a CBD-based liquid medication called Epidiolex® for the treatment of two forms of severe childhood epilepsy, Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. It’s being delivered to patients in a reliable dosage form and through a reproducible route of delivery to ensure that patients derive the anticipated benefits.

A team of investigators affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, John Hopkins University, and the University of Colorado School of Medicine compared PTSD symptoms in cannabis-using patients relative to non-users over a one-year period. Researchers reported participants who used primarily THC-dominant cannabis reported a greater reduction in PTSD symptom severity over time compared to controls. Cannabis users also showed a greater than two-fold rate of remission from their PTSD diagnosis (defined by no longer meeting criteria for a PTSD diagnosis on the CAPS-5) compared to controls by the 1-year follow-up assessment. They concluded: “This study provides evidence that the types of cannabis available in recreational and medical cannabis dispensaries might hold promise as an alternative treatment for PTSD. This study’s primary outcome supports the theory that cannabis should be tested in clinical trials as a potential therapeutic for PTSD.”

Researchers at Brazil’s Federal University of Parana, explored another potential way that cannabis could help those with PTSD - extinguishing the intensity associated with memories of their trauma. This mode of treating PTSD was first hypothesized by Yale associate professor of psychiatry R. Andrew Sewell who suggested that cannabis may be able to help PTSD patients “overwrite” traumatic memories with new memories in a process called "extinction learning".

Throughout the world, the cannabis plant is gaining in popularity and legitimacy as a medical treatment for a broad range of illnesses. as the coronavirus pandemic engulfed the country in March 2020, medical marijuana businesses were declared essential, allowing them to remain open along with pharmacies and grocery stores.

Medicinal marijuana has already been legalized in over 23 states with more considering legalization. As of February 3, 2022, 37 states, four territories and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of cannabis products.

Thank you for reading my first check in, I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it, I look forward to seeing you at the next Fireside Check In with Flute! Rember We're all in this together, have a magical journey, your friend and forum supporter Flute.

A few links for your consideration.

Pharmaceutical Drugs Based on Cannabis

Map of marijuana laws by state

Study: Long-Term Cannabis Use Associated with Reduced Symptoms in Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress

Brazil’s Federal University of Parana study effects of tetrahydrocannabinol on aversive memories and anxiety: a review from human studies can be found here

PTSD symptom reports of patients evaluated for the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program

Cited article [1] Rabinak CA, Blanchette A, Zabik NL, Peters C, Marusak HA, Iadipaolo A, Elrahal F. Cannabinoid modulation of corticolimbic activation to threat in trauma-exposed adults: a preliminary study. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2020 Jun;237(6):1813-1826. doi: 10.1007/s00213-020-05499-8. Epub 2020 Mar 11. PMID: 32162103; PMCID: PMC7244361.

This check in is for informational purposes only, I am not advocating marijuana use. Please consult a medical professional before using.

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