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Cannabis as Medicine? Overview

It is utterly mind-blowing that people have no idea that Cannabis has been part of the medical prescription landscape for over 20 years. That’s right T. G. A (Therapeutic Goods Administration) trialled and approved cannabis based medicines have been available as an option to alleviate, if only in small ways, some of the symptoms of a couple of diseases or help with recovery from treatment. However, the claims of this plant being a ‘miracle cure’ for just about everything, have existed for of 100 years… yet in no credible and advanced research has any of the properties of the Cannabis plant ‘cured’ anything, ever!

There is no argument that some components of this incredibly complex plant can have some therapeutic benefit, be it ever so small, but deriving such from the plant with out co-opting some of the more detrimental components has proven incredibly difficult. On top of that, the evidence emerging from latest science, sees that some of these therapies, do more harm than good, with the temporary alleviating of a symptom on one hand, and incurring along term genetic harm on the other!

Again if facts and evidence matter to your best-practice health care, then this is the space for you. Make informed decisions based on science, and not quackery!

The current article from the American Heart Association critically reviews the use of medicinal and recreational marijuana from a clinical, policy, and public health standpoint. While medical marijuana may play a therapeutic role in certain disease…data to date do not support its use as a therapy for cardiovascular disease. In fact, cannabis has been associated with adverse cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction (especially in younger patients), arrhythmias, strokes, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality. While it has been postulated that some components of marijuana may be cardioprotective (cannabidiol, or CBD), the THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) component stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and is associated with endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress... There is an urgent need for well-designed prospective studies to examine the effect of both the acute and long-term effects of marijuana on the cardiovascular system, especially since current forms of marijuana have higher doses of THC than in the past.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE

The authors of this American Heart Association scientific statement review the use of medicinal and recreational cannabis both for medicinal and recreational purposes, which has expanded over the last 2 decades. Cannabis has little benefit for the cardiovascular system but many of the adverse effects include cardiovascular disease. The authors review the safety and efficacy of cannabis for a variety of indications as well as for recreation while also considering the policy and public health perspective.

Further research is urgently needed to provide high-quality evidence regarding the risks and benefits of cannabis to inform both members of the public and policy.

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