American Academy of Pediatrics Calls For Rescheduling Cannabis

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Washington, DC: An updated policy statement issued this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) calls for federally rescheduling cannabis in order to better facilitate clinical trial research and to promote its pharmaceutical development.
The new position statement resolves: "The AAP strongly supports research and development of pharmaceutical cannabinoids and supports a review of policies promoting research on the medical use of these compounds. The AAP recommends changing marijuana from a Drug Enforcement Administration Schedule I (controlled substance) to a Schedule II drug to facilitate this (clinical) research."
By definition, Schedule I controlled substances are defined as possessing no "accepted medical use." Clinical protocols involving cannabis are strictly controlled and require authorization from various federal agencies, including DEA, FDA, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) - the latter of which is designated under federal law as the sole provider of cannabis and/or organic cannabinoids for research purposes.
"A Schedule I listing means there's no medical use or helpful indications, but we know that's not true because there has been limited evidence showing [marijuana] may be helpful for certain conditions in adults," said Dr. Seth Ammerman, who co-authored the amended policy statement.
The updated AAP resolution also acknowledges that certain types of cannabinoid-therapy may provide benefits to adolescents, particularly those with treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy and chronic seizures. It states, "The AAP recognizes that marijuana may currently be an option for cannabinoid administration for children with life-limiting or severely debilitating conditions and for whom current therapies are inadequate."
Last year the Epilepsy Foundation of America issued a similar resolution, citing preclinical data and observational reports of the potential therapeutic benefit of the cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) in pediatric patients and calling for "an end to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) restrictions that limit clinical trials and research into medical marijuana for epilepsy."
Separate language in the AAP's position statement also addresses the social use of the plant, affirming, "AAP strongly supports the decriminalization of marijuana use for both minors and young adults and encourages pediatricians to advocate for laws that prevent harsh criminal penalties for possession or use of marijuana." By contrast, the statement acknowledges the group's continued opposition to the legalization of marijuana, a policy change that it alleges poses "potential harm to children."
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the Academy's policy statement is available online at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2015/01/20/peds.2014-4146.full.pdf+html.

Michigan: Voters Prefer Regulating Marijuana To Increase Tax Revenue

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Flint, MI: The majority of Michigan voters prefer regulating and taxing marijuana commerce to pay for roads and schools as opposed to raising the state's sales tax one percent, according to polling data released last week by Survey USA.
Sixty-four percent of respondents endorsed regulating cannabis like alcohol in order to raise state tax revenue. By comparison, only 43 percent of respondents favored raising the state's sales tax to pay for necessary road and school construction.
"Voters are suspicious of more taxes imposed upon the general population," said Tim Beck, Chair of the Safer Michigan Coalition, which coordinated a series of municipal marijuana legalization measures this past November. "There are other, more creative ways to generate revenue to fund roads and schools. Regulation and taxation of marijuana is an alternative voters seem to prefer."
The Survey USA poll possesses a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent.
For more information, please visit: http://safermichigancoalition.com/.

New Study Finds Daily Marijuana Use Is Not Associated With Brain Abnormalities

January 29, 2015 | by Justine Alford

 Photo credit: Luis Carlos Jimenez del rio 

Several recent studies have suggested that smoking marijuana is associated with physical changes in certain regions of the brain, both in terms of shape and volume, although they could not establish cause and effect. Now, new research which set out to replicate these investigations using a more robust experimental design has produced conflicting results. According to the study, daily marijuana use, in both adults and adolescents, is not associated with any significant differences in either the shape or volume of the regions investigated. The work has been published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Given the current changing trends towards the acceptance and use of marijuana, it’s important to thoroughly investigate the possible risks associated with the drug so that decisions regarding legalization and classification can be based on scientific evidence. Numerous studies have therefore looked into the potential effects of marijuana use, and several have concluded that smoking marijuana is associated with changes in the brain. One investigation even concluded that frequent marijuana use was associated with cognitive decline and a decrease in IQ. However, results have not been consistent throughout different studies.
Some investigations, for example, found that marijuana use is linked to a decrease in the size of certain areas of the brain, whereas others concluded that marijuana is associated with an increase in volume of the same areas. While the studies were interesting, it’s important to note that, because of the way they were designed, it was not possible to establish cause and effect. Furthermore, the studies may not have adequately controlled for alcohol use, which is a particularly important issue given that it is well established that alcohol abuse can have a detrimental effect on brain structure as well as volume and mental ability.
In order to address this issue and hopefully provide some clarity, scientists designed a well-controlled study that set out to investigate the potential effects of daily marijuana use on both adults and adolescents. In particular, they wanted to compare the brains of users and non-users by examining the morphology of numerous different regions which were the focus of previous studies: the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum.
For the study, 29 adult daily marijuana users were enrolled, alongside 29 adult non-users. A group of 50 adolescent daily users were also recruited, once again alongside a sample of 50 adolescent non-users. Importantly, the researchers closely matched the groups on many possible confounding variables, such as depression, age, tobacco use and gender. Furthermore, they were matched on alcohol use to a much greater extent than previous studies.
After carrying out MRI scans on the participants and conducting statistical analyses, the researchers failed to find any differences in the volumes of any of the brain regions investigated. According to the researchers, this could suggest that previously observed differences might be due to inadequate control for alcohol use, given the fact that even modest alcohol abuse has been linked to changes in the brain.
Although this study was more robust in terms of matching groups, it is necessary to note that it still has some important limitations. For example, it still cannot establish causality, and did not take into account socioeconomic factors or the history of marijuana use, such as when they began using the drug.
[Via The Journal of Neuroscience]