The future of cannabinoid use?
New elections are approaching and with them new promises about regulating the availability of cannabis cannabinoids for therapeutic purposes. Will things really change for the better in this area – or will they continue to suppress the use of this sacred plant? We'll see what the excuses will be this time. If they revolve around the (un)safety and (in)effectiveness of cannabis use, we offer you some facts for your information.
Largest Slovenian study supports the use of cannabis for self-medication
As many as 97 percent of survey participants believe that self-medication with cannabinoids should be accessible to everyone in Slovenia, because it helps and heals, and is also natural and effective. Because it is a basic right and because cannabinoids have no side effects.
In February 2021, Dušan Stopar, M.A. int. health sciences, author of the master's thesis Use of cannabinoids for self-medication in Slovenia, revealed the results of one of the largest studies in Slovenia in this field. Among other things, we learn that the most commonly used cannabinoid preparations are THC/CBD from cannabis buds (inhaled or smoked) or from resin (consumed). Among the 80 percent of the most common diseases for which people use cannabinoids are sleep disorders, depression, back pain, general malaise, anxiety, pain due to injury or accident, migraine/headache, anxiety disorder, anger attacks, chronic pain, allergies, cancer, loss of appetite and weight, fibromyalgia, gastritis, gastric/duodenal ulcers and hyperactivity (ADHD).
The average estimated efficacy rate for THC was 73 percent, while for CBD it was 68 percent. The most common side effects were dry mouth (41 %), drowsiness (24 %), and changes in appetite (22 %). Of note for heart patients, rapid heartbeat (19 %) and changes in blood pressure (5 %) may occur. 37 percent of study participants experienced no side effects.
The conclusion of the research is that the public is informed, among other things: "The legislation must be changed so that cannabis is exempted from the prohibition framework, made available for health and medical purposes and for self-treatment, self-care with cannabis is allowed, and treatment with it is included in basic health insurance and primary health care. We must know that people will consciously decide to self-medicate with cannabinoids and that despite legalization, they want to remain independent in self-care, procurement, and self-treatment."
WHO supports the use of cannabinoids
Dr. Borut Gosar, agronomist, biotechnologist, entrepreneurinventor and innovator, is critical to bureaucratic measures at the EU level regarding the regulation of the CBD market. In 2019, the World Health Organization assessed cannabinoids as safe substances! The WHO believes that CBD preparations with less than 0.2 percent THC do not have adverse health effects, so it proposed to the United Nations to exempt them from international control.
In the same year that we would have expected the liberalization and greater availability of cannabinoids on the market, the European CommissionThe European Commission has changed the entry in the Novel Food catalogue relating to cannabinoids. All extracts from industrial hemp (CBD) or products containing them have been defined as novel foods, which require approval before entering the market. This designation includes products that were not used as food or a food supplement before May 15, 1997, or for which there is no proven history of safe food use. The handbrake has been pulled again on the market for such preparations in Slovenia and elsewhere in the EU. Only a few providers remain who have managed to meet the new conditions.
Many Slovenian doctors and scientists support the use of cannabinoids
Icanna Institute in a document sent to the Ministry of Health (Suggestions and comments on the Drugs Action Plan 2019-2020) states, among other things, that an informed and increasingly numerous civil society has been warning for many years about the radically necessary and comprehensive changes to the legislation. Among them are an increasing number of doctors and scientists.
In 2018–2019, more than a hundred doctors and scientists participated in the project Declarations of Principles for the Regulation of Cannabis in Slovenia advocated for evidence-based reform of cannabis policy and legislation (Cannabis sativa L.), which will be based on science, respect for human rights and harm reduction.
The signatories of the declaration support research and appropriate regulation of cannabis for medical purposes, support preventive education with a focus on young people, and regulation for adults and the economy.
The declaration was created in response to the harmfulness, ineffectiveness, and unnecessaryness of banning the cannabis plant, which has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years.
The declaration states, among other things, that the majority of surveyed doctors in Slovenia believe that cannabis is a medicinal plant and that they support the introduction of cannabis for treatment.
Among other things, the declaration is clear that the use of cannabis as a medicine reduces the consumption of synthetic drugs, which we know are not without a host of side effects, which can even be fatal. In countries where access to cannabis for medical purposes is legal, there has been a confirmed decrease in the prescription of drugs for pain, anxiety, nausea, psychosis, seizures, insomnia and depression, and a more than 25% reduction in deaths from opioid overdose.
Experts wrote in the declaration that the health risks of harmful use of cannabis are even lower than the risks of alcohol and tobacco, which, as we know, are legal drugs for adults.
They also believe that there is no evidence of a causal link between cannabis use and subsequent use of other drugs.
Of course, they warn that cannabis use is not without risks, but for most adults, responsible use of cannabis for personal purposes does not cause harmful consequences.
The signatories of the declaration agree that the prohibition of cannabis may lead to the emergence of a much more psychoactive and, due to possible contamination, dangerous cannabis on the illicit drug market. Cannabis is a plant that purifies the environment in which it grows, which means that it binds to toxic substances that can enter our bodies through the use of cannabis. The sale of dangerous synthetic cannabinoids is also expanding on the black market.
Therefore, instead of prohibition and stigmatization, more and more countries are paying attention to the proper regulation of the use of cannabis for medical and personal purposes.
Text: Adriana Dolinar, Ph.D.Vet.Med., the president Associations for the Awakening of the Whole Man and an external employee of the information center - Zadravje.net.
Source: https://www.zazdravje.net/zdrava-medicina/prihodnost-uporabe-kanabinoidov/
Read more:
