With public perception of marijuana use becoming increasingly
more positive, its physiological effects, social implications, and potential
benefits have continued to be widely debated. In this article, researchers were
interested in assessing the therapeutic role of marijuana use on inflammatory
bowel disease (IBD). The article bases its research on previous knowledge that
two cannabinoid receptors have been isolated. It notes that CB1 receptors are
located all throughout the gastrointestinal tract while CB2 receptors have been
expressed in the ileum. These endocannabinoid receptors may participate in a variety
of responses such as secretion, gut motility, and inflammation. Marijuana contains the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC), which bind these receptors potentially mediating the therapeutic roles.
With this research, a cross-sectional survey and questionnaire was administered
to 291 patients with IBD to assess characteristics such as their diagnosis, the
need for conventional IBD medication, analgesics for abdominal pain, their
overall quality of life, and cannabis use. Overall, the study demonstrated that
a significant portion of the patients used cannabis to relieve their
IBD-related symptoms, particularly those with a lower rated quality of life and
a history of chronic abdominal pain and surgery. Unfortunately, this research
(like many other marijuana research) lacks evidence for the drug’s direct
impact on disease activity. This brings to mind a conversation that I had with Dr.
Hutchison at CU Boulder in regards to the limits of marijuana in health research.
First, it is a class 1 drug that makes it difficult to obtain for academic
researchers. When it is finally obtained, its external validity is lacking
because its THC levels are not representative of what is available to the
population making any type of this research lacking. Meanwhile, there is still
some negative public perception that is prevalent socially and politically and is
preventing any possibility of demonstrating marijuana’s efficacy. Since marijuana
research is lacking in many domains, there will always be this cycle that
presents marijuana in a negative light further limiting the potential to
demonstrate its pros and cons. While the particular article discussed in this blog is a bit older, progress of marijuana research is still very slow even to this day. Hopefully with the years to come, more valid
research will come out and maybe it can be decided, once and for all, whether marijuana
is helpful or harmful. The CU school of medicine has a news article that discusses these ideas as well.
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ReplyDeleteYes!! This is so interesting, Wes! The current treatments for IBD are either not very effective and/or tend to cause severe side effects and so this is an interesting approach. In many states, IBD is listed as a qualifying condition for obtaining a medical marijuana card [1]. Much of the cannabis research is anecdotal or performed in vitro. From what I’ve read on the mechanisms, I think this treatment holds much promise and should be further evaluated in vivo and with clinical trials. Similar to serotonin, cannabinoid receptors are found in the GI tract and the brain which leads to complications in treating adolescents who are most affected neurologically by cannabis use. One suggestion to work around this problem is to design a cannabinoid receptor agonist that is incapable of passing through the blood brain barrier [2]. Working around the legal situation is a catch-22 where we are impeded from doing proper research with cannabis, and yet, in order to obtain evidence to support its legalization we need to have more research. As research continues, we will hopefully be able to neutralize the stigma against marijuana and support better understanding based on scientific findings rather than social perceptions.
ReplyDelete[1] https://www.leafly.com/news/health/qualifying-conditions-for-medical-marijuana-by-state
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1856409/
This was a rather interesting topic. I did not realize that we had marijuana in our GI tract. I had a friend that had IBS and she used marijuana to ease her symptoms. I think why marijuana is not completely trusted as a treatment method is because how it effects the brain is not fully understood. I once read an article provided by a professor on how marijuana can disturb brain development in teenagers and young adults. I have read a lot of great articles on how marijuana helps with a plethora of diseases, like seizures. I think when it comes to marijuana we just have to be patient.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic but also very hard to come to a solid conclusion on the effect on marijuana on IBD and other diseases as well with the negative stigma on marijuana. I thought that it was very interesting that this type of treatment does help patients with IBD to relieve their symptoms.
ReplyDeleteI am also just curious on the use of cannabis with the patients in the studies-- are they using flower or oils?
As difficult as it is currently do to research on marijuana's affects on IBD and other diseases, I do hope that one day the stigma against marijuana changes so that there can be more scientific findings and so that scientists and health professionals can witness the health effects of cannabis. This would also just allow more understanding about marijuana and maybe one day change it's classification as a Schedule 1 drug if it is helping patients with their health.