Despite a twisted history, marijuana is proving itself over and over again in the medical/health arena, the latest gets down to the bone.
Via Quartz:
Marijuana has increasingly been used for its medicinal properties, but until now, the drug has mostly been associated with alleviating symptoms — such as nausea and decreased appetite.
A recent study shows that there may be a use that actually enhances healing — of broken bones.
The findings are off rat bones, but seems a lot of good shit start with rats.
(Illustration found here).
The study, published in May in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (paywall), used another pot ingredient, cannabidiol (CBD) — one of the non-psychoactive components of marijuana — which appeared to quicken the healing of bone fractures. Research indicated the CBD not only aided in the healing process, it also enhanced bone growth, ‘making them stronger and less likely to break in the future.’
More info from the Times of Israel:
Dr. Yankel Gabet of Tel Aviv’s Bone Research Laboratory and the late Prof. Itai Bab of Hebrew University’s Bone Laboratory discovered the connection between our bodies’ cannabinoid receptors and the stimulation of bone growth, which may be used for future research into the use of marijuana to treat not only broken bones but also osteoporosis and other skeletal diseases.
“The clinical potential of cannabinoid-related compounds is simply undeniable at this point,” Gabet said.
“While there is still a lot of work to be done to develop appropriate therapies, it is clear that it is possible to detach a clinical therapy objective from the psychoactivity of cannabis.
“CBD, the principal agent in our study, is primarily anti-inflammatory and has no psychoactivity.”
…
“We found CBD alone to be sufficiently effective in enhancing fracture healing,” Gabet said.
“Other studies have also shown CBD to be a safe agent, which leads us to believe we should continue this line of study in clinical trials to assess its usefulness in improving human fracture healing.”
Not only does marijuana encourage the healing process, it also prevents future injury, researchers found.
“After being treated with CBD, the healed bone will be harder to break in the future,” Gabet explained.
And some medical marijuana background — from today’s New York Times:
A recent systematic review published in The Journal of the American Medical Association looked at all randomized controlled trials of cannabis or cannabinoids to treat medical conditions.
They found 79 trials involving more than 6,400 participants. A lot of the trials did show some improvements in symptoms, but most of those did not achieve statistical significance. Some did, however.
Medical marijuana was associated with some pretty impressive improvements in complete resolution of nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy (47 percent of those using it versus 20 percent of controls).
It also increased the number of people who had resolution of pain (37 percent up from 31 percent).
It was shown to reduce pain ratings by about half a point on a 10-point scale, and to reduce spasticity in multiple sclerosis or paraplegia in a similar manner.
Those aren’t insignificant results and they are supported by other studies that have confirmed that marijuana and cannabinoids can help with refractory pain.
But most researchers stress that they should be considered only when other therapies have failed.
Although the Times mentions some reviews not succeeding in medical value — the problem is getting research done:
Or course, arguing that no evidence currently exists is not the same as arguing that no evidence could be found.
For too long, the federal government has made studying the use of marijuana nearly impossible.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that it has no medical value and a high potential for abuse.
Even if researchers jumped through the many hoops to get research approved, it was almost impossible for them to obtain the drug.
Hence, the entanglement…bone the weed, which has so much of offer..