16 August 2009
IACM Conference 2009
Please do not forget to make your reservation for your overnight
stays for the IACM conference on 2 to 3 October before the 4
September cut-off date. The IACM has booked a block of rooms
at the conference hotel (Holiday Inn), which is valid until 4 weeks
before the conference. Please visit:
http://www.iacm2009.org and click on “Service”
1. IACM: Survey on the modes of delivery of cannabis and
cannabinoids
The IACM has initiated a survey on the advantages and
disadvantages of different modes of delivery of cannabis-based
drugs and substances. The questionnaire is available in several
languages on the website. Anyone who uses cannabis or other
cannabinoids for medicinal purposes and has experience with two
or more of the following substances or modes of delivery is invited
to participate:
smoking of cannabis,
inhalation of cannabis with a vaporizer,
oral use of cannabis as a tea,
oral use of cannabis in baked goods/cannabis tincture,
oral use of dronabinol/Marinol (THC),
oral use of nabilone/Cesamet,
inhalation of dronabinol (THC) with a vaporizer,
Sativex,
other use.
Participants remain anonymous. The survey was approved by the
Ethics Committee of the Medical School of Hannover and is
headed by the chairwoman of the IACM, Dr. Kirsten Mueller-
Vahl, Professor at the Medical School of Hannover (Germany), in
cooperation with Dr. Arno Hazekamp of the University of Leiden
(The Netherlands), Dr. Donald Abrams, Professor at the
University of California San Francisco (USA), Dr. Ethan Russo,
Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Montana
(USA), Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen of the nova-Institut (Germany),
Dr. Mark Ware, Assistant Professor at the McGill University,
Montreal (Canada), Dr. Ricardo Navarrete-Varo, Malaga (Spain),
and Dr. Rudolf Brenneisen, Professor at the University of Bern
(Switzerland).
The questionnaire is available at:http://www.cannabis-med.org
2. IACM: Articles of the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics now
freely available
The entire contents of articles published in the Journal of
Cannabis Therapeutics are now freely available on the new
designed web site of the IACM. Previously, these were only
accessible to members of the IACM with a personal password, or
by paying a fee. The articles provide an extensive review on the
therapeutic use of cannabis products and possible side-effects.
Some of the most important articles were also published as books.
The new web site offers a convenient search function and an
improved overview, which facilitates location of desired
information. For example, the programme of the upcoming IACM
Conference on 2 to 3 October 2009 in Cologne is linked to the
first site. In addition, the headlines of the last articles of the
IACM-Bulletin are presented on the main page.
3. Economy: Prominent US healthcare fund subscribes for
significant equity stake in GW Pharmaceuticals
GW Pharmaceuticals won a significant endorsement for its
cannabis-based medicines on 6 August as US investor Great Point
Partners bought a multi-million pound stake in the company,
sending GW shares sharply higher. The British company, which
grows cannabis plants in secret locations for producing its
cannabis extract Sativex, said other institutional investors were
likely to follow Great Point in taking a stake in the company.
“Apparently Great Point are … often seen as a fundraising leader
so people look at what these guys are doing and end up following,”
analyst Paul Cuddon told Reuters. Earlier GW said it had raised
11.2 million US Dollars (about 7.9 million Euros) by selling new
shares to M&G Investment Management, already its largest
institutional shareholder. Great Point, which made an unsolicited
request to take a significant stake in GW, is to subscribe for 7.6
million new shares at 78 pence per share (about 6.8 million Euros,
about 9.7 million US Dollars). David Kroin, a founder of Great
Point, said in a statement: “Great Point has been following GW for
some time and has identified it as a compelling investment
opportunity, particularly following the recent strong clinical data on
Sativex.”
(Sources: Reuters of 6 August 2009, [press release by GW
Pharmaceuticals of 6 August 2009->http://www.gwpharm.com])
4. Science: Weight reduction and stress may influence detection of
cannabis use
According to an article in the New Scientist stress or weight
reduction might trigger a new increase of THC metabolites in
blood, resulting in a positive drug test long after last use of
cannabis. THC, once in the body is soon absorbed into fatty
tissues. Over the next few days it slowly diffuses back into the
blood. Since THC is taken up by fat more readily than it diffuses
out, continual intake may result in storage of THC in fat. It has
been suggested that stored THC can be released at a later date in
situations where the body’s fat is rapidly broken down.
Dr. Jonathon Arnold at the University of Sydney, Australia, cites
the example of an athlete who swore he hadn’t smoked cannabis
since months but who had rapidly lost 4 kilograms just before a
positive drug test. To investigate whether rapid breakdown of
body fat could have been responsible, Arnold and his colleagues
investigated this issue in rats. Both a stress hormone and food
deprivation increased the concentration of the THC metabolite
THC-COOH in blood. Arnold suspects that if THC is taken over
a long period of time, sufficient THC levels could build up in body
fat to explain abnormally high levels of THC-COOH in people
who claim not to have taken the drug recently.
(Source: New Scientist of 9 August 2009)
5. News in brief
USA: Colorado
The number of patients who are allowed to use cannabis for
medicinal purposes has increased strongly in recent months in
Colorado. The health department said it is receiving nearly 2,000
new applications each month. As of June 2009, the health
department had received 8,918 applications, 4,282 of those
applications were received between April and June 2009.
(Source:
Denver Daily News of 4 August 2009)
Science: Osteoporosis
According to animal research at the University of Edinburgh, UK,
activation of the CB1 receptor “may exert contrasting effects on
the skeleton at different stages in life”. While mice without CB1
receptors had increased peak bone mass during their life due to
reduced bone resorption, they later developed age-related
osteoporosis with reduced bone formation. Scientists noted, that
“cannabinoid receptor ligands may be of value therapeutically in
enhancing peak bone mass and preventing age-related
osteoporosis.”
(Source: Idris AI, et al. Cell Metab 2009;10(2):139-
47.)
Science: Inflammation of the brain
Researchers of Temple University in Philadelphia, USA,
demonstrated in experiments with nerve cells that activation of the
CB1 receptor reduces the concentration of the pro-inflammatory
substance tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) and may
protect nerve cells from inflammation following injury or during
neurodegenerative diseases.
(Source: Zhao P, et al.
Neuropharmacology. 2009 Aug 3. [Electronic publication ahead of
print])
Science: Expectancy and cannabis use
Research by US scientists showed that the effects of cannabis
are much influenced by expectancy of the user. They conducted
a study with 20 young cannabis users who smoked either cannabis
cigarettes with 2.8 per cent of THC or placebo cigarettes without
THC. All participants who were told that they receive THC, but
received placebo cigarettes reported that they indeed smoked
active cannabis containing THC. Researchers noted, that “both
expectancy and pharmacological effects of marijuana can modify
smoking behaviour.”
(Source: Metrik J, et al. Exp Clin
Psychopharmacol 2009;17(4):217-25.)
UK: Call for legalization
In an article of The Times entitled “Drugs are evil. We should
legalise them now” the authors state: “The harm this market
causes comes both from its existence and its illegality. And there’s
only one of those we can tackle.” The article continues: “The
victims of this lost war are everywhere. There are those who
choose to be victims, … Then there are the collateral victims:
those that the junkies rob to fund their habits, … There are 11,000
dead Mexicans on the front line, … There are the British and
American soldiers killed by weapons bought by opium dollars.”
(Source: The Times of 31 July 2009)
[International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM)
>http://www.cannabis-med.org]
Am Mildenweg 6
D-59602 Ruethen
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)2952-9708571
Fax: +49 (0)2952-902651
Email: info@cannabis-med.org
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