New research papers on cannabis Jan 2015 MB
posted 27/01/2016
publication CanSS Ltd
New research papers on cannabis Jan 2015 MB
2015 Rumalla et al looked at hospitalizations for aneurismal sub-arachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH). The Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 2004-2011 was used. They concluded that ‘Our analysis suggests that recreational cannabis use is independently associated with an 18% increase likelihood of aSAH’. It was more frequent in younger male patients.
Rumalla K, Reddy AY, Mittal MK, Association of Recreational Marijuana Use with Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2015 Dec 18. pii: S1052-3057(15)00571-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2015.10.019.
2015 Renard et al looked at long-term structural and functional changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in chronic use by adolescent rats. They found that there were changes in synaptic structure and function in the PFC and that these changes provide key insight to structural functioning and molecular underpinnings of long-term cognitive deficits induced by adolescent cannabinoid exposure. ‘They suggest that cannabinoids may impede the structural maturation on neuronal circuits in the PFC, thus leading to impaired cognitive functioning in adulthood’.
Renard J, Vitalis T, Rame M, Krebs MO, Lenkei Z, Le Pen G, Jay TM, Chronic cannabinoid exposure during adolescence leads to long-term structural and functional changes in the prefrontal cortex.
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2015 Dec 3. pii: S0924-977X(15)00355-7. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.11.005.
2015 Helle et al investigated cannabis use, schizophrenia and early onset. 1119 Norwegian patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were recruited and studied. Patients with substance abuse (627) had about 3 years earlier age at onset than the abstinent group. Only cannabis use was statistically significantly related to earlier age at onset. Gender or family history of psychosis did not influence the results.
Helle S, Ringen PA, Melle I, Larsen TK, Gjestad R, Johnsen E, Lagerberg TV, Andreassen OA, Kroken RA, Joa I, Ten Velden Hegelstad W, Løberg EM Cannabis use is associated with 3years earlier onset of schizophrenia spectrum disorder in a naturalistic, multi-site sample (N=1119).
Schizophr Res. 2015 Dec 9. pii: S0920-9964(15)30070-0. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.11.027.
2015 Giacomo and others studied the CB2 receptors and spermatogenesis. They found that both hype-r and hypo- stimulation of the CB2 receptors disrupted the temporal dynamics of the spermatogenic cycle. ‘These findings highlight the importance of proper CB2 signalling for the maintenance of a correct temporal progression of spermatogenesis and suggest a possible adverse effect of cannabis in deregulating this process.
Di Giacomo D, De Domenico E, Sette C, Geremia R, Grimaldi P. Type 2 cannabinoid receptor contributes to the physiological regulation of spermatogenesis.
FASEB J. 2015 Dec 15. pii: fj.15-279034
2015 Becker et al found longitudinal changes in white matter microstructure after heavy cannabis use. 23 young adults (18-20 years), regular users, were paired with 23 age, sex and IQ matched non-using controls. Onset of cannabis use was before 17. Reduced longitudinal growth was found in several areas of the brain. Greater amounts of cannabis use correlated with greater longitudinal reduction, as was relatively impaired performance on a measure of verbal learning. Heavy cannabis use in adolescence and early adulthoodalters ongoing development of white matter microstructure, contributing to functional impairment.
Becker MP, Collins PF, Lim KO, Muetzel RL, Luciana M. Longitudinal changes in white matter microstructure after heavy cannabis use.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2015 Dec; 16:23-35. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2015.10.004.
2015 Warshak et al looked at the association between marijuana use and adverse obstetrical and neonatal outcomes. 6468 women, 6107 non-users and 361 marijuana users were included. They found that maternal marijuana use does not increase the risk of adverse obstetrical outcomes or fetal abnormalities, but does increase the risk for small for gestational age and neonatal intensive care unit admission.
Warshak CR, Regan J, Moore B, Magner K, Kritzer S, Van Hook J. Association between marijuana use and adverse obstetrical and neonatal outcomes.
J Perinatol. 2015 Dec;35(12):991-5. doi: 10.1038/jp.2015.120. Epub 2015 Sep 24.
2015 Bell et al looked at hash oil burns in Colorado. 29 cases were admitted to the local burn center from January 2008 to August 2014 (utilizing the National Burns Repository). No cases presented prior to the medicalization of marijuana, 19 during this time and 12 in 2014 since legalization. The majority were white Caucasians, average age 26. Median range of stay was 10 days. 6 required intubation (airway protection), 19 skin grafts, 8 wound care only and one surgical debridement.
Bell C, Slim J, Flaten HK, Lindberg G, Arek W, Monte AA. Butane Hash Oil Burns Associated with Marijuana Liberalization in Colorado.
J Med Toxicol. 2015 Dec;11(4):422-5. doi: 10.1007/s13181-015-0501-0.
2015 Moitra et al investigated depression in female emerging adults. 332 emerging female adults (18-25 years) were studied for changes in depressive symptoms in relation to changes in cannabis use at 3 months and 6 months. Changes were significantly stronger for those with mild and moderate and more severe depression relative to those with minimal depression. Reduction in depression correlates with reduction in cannabis use.
Moitra E, Anderson BJ, Stein MD. Reductions in cannabis use are associated with mood improvement in female emerging adults.
Depress Anxiety. 2015 Dec 4. doi: 10.1002/da.22460.
2015 Dines and others investigated emergency department presentation following cannabis use involving 10 European countries. Of 2198 presentations between 1st October 2014 to 31st March 2015 356 (16.2%) involved cannabis, 36 (1.6%) of them involved lone use of cannabis. Of the 35 non-fatal cases, 22.9% were agitated or showed aggression, 20% psychotic, anxiety 20%, vomiting 17.1%. Most (71%) received no treatment and 30(85.7%) were discharged or self-discharged from the ED. The one fatality was an 18 year old male. He collapsed with asystolic cardiac arrest while smoking and suffered hypoxic brain injury related to prolonged cardiac arrest.
Dines AM, Wood DM, Galicia M, Yates CM, Heyerdahl F, Hovda KE, Giraudon I, Sedefov R; Euro-DEN Research Group, Dargan PI. Presentations to the Emergency Department Following Cannabis use-a Multi-Centre Case Series from Ten European Countries. J Med Toxicol. 2015 Dec;11(4):415-21. doi: 10.1007/s13181-014-0460-x.
2015 Kylie et al looked at cannabis use and violence among 3 Aboriginal Australian communities. 264 random individuals between 14 and 42 were selected. Physical trauma presentations between June 2004 and June 2006 were used. One in 3 of them (88) presented with physical trauma. The majority (58) had at least one presentation that was violence-related. Nearly 2 in 3 of the total presentations for trauma following violence involved the use of a weapon, hunting tools, wooden or rock implements. Individuals who reported any current cannabis use were nearly 4 times more likely than non-users to present at least once for violent trauma, after adjusting for alcohol, age and sex.
Kylie Lee KS, Sukavatvibul K, Conigrave KM. Kylie Lee KS, Sukavatvibul K, Conigrave KM. Cannabis use and violence in three remote Aboriginal Australian communities: Analysis of clinic presentations. Transcult Psychiatry. 2015 Dec;52(6):827-39. doi: 10.1177/1363461515589047. Epub 2015 Jun 4.
2015 Pacula et al produced ‘In the weeds’: a baseline view of cannabis use among legalising states and their neighbours. Individuals, 2009 from Washington, Oregon 506, Colorado 503 and New Mexico 213 were involved. Mean age was 53 (18-91).
Results “Rates of lifetime medical cannabis use are similar in Colorado and Washington (8°8% and 8°2%) but lower in Oregon and New Mexico (6.5% and 1%). Recreational use is considerably higher than medical use across all states (41%) but highest in Oregon and Washington. About 86% of people who report ever using cannabis for medicinal purposes also use it recreationally. Medical users are more likely to vaporize and consume edibles, and report a higher amount (in grams) consumed, and spend more money per month than recreational users. Individuals who use cannabis do not commonly use it with alcohol, irrespective of whether they are consuming cannabis recreationally or medically. Fewer than 1 in 5 recreational users report simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis most or all of the time and less than 3% of medicinal users report frequent simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis”.
They concluded “In the USA, the degree of overlap between medicinal and recreational cannabis users is 86%. Medicinal and recreational cannabis users favour different modes and amounts of consumption. Only a small proportion (12%) of medicinal cannabis users usually consume cannabis and alcohol simultaneously, while concurrent use is common among recreational users”.
Pacula R, Jacobson M, Maksabedian EJ. In the weeds: a baseline view of cannabis use among legalizing states and their neighbours.
Addiction. 2015 Dec 21. doi: 10.1111/add.13282. Review.
2015 Arria et al used a large longitudinal cohort study of college students to test the direct and indirect effects of marijuana use on college grade point average (GPA) and time to graduate, with skipping classes as a mediator of these outcomes. The results showed a significant path from baseline marijuana use frequently to skipping classes at baseline to lower first semester GPA to longer time to graduate. Over time the rate of change in marijuana use was negatively associated with rate of change of GPA, but did not account for any additional variance in graduation time. Percentage of classes skipped was negatively associated with GPA at baseline and over time.
Arria AM,Caldeira KM, Bugbee BA, Vincent KB, O’Grady KE The academic consequences of marijuana use during college. Psychol.Addict. Behav. 2015 Sept; 29(3):564-575 doi:10.1037/adb0000108. E-pub 2015 Aug 3.
2015 Pardini et al examined the linkages with criminal behaviour and psychopathic features of males into the Mid 30s. Chronic high and late-increasing marijuana users exhibited more adult psychopathic features and were more likely to engage in drug-related offending in the mid-30s than low/non-users. Adolescence-limited users were similar to non/low users in terms of psychopathic features but more likely to be arrested for drug-related crime.
Pardini D, Bechtold J, Loeber R, White helene Developmental Trajectories of Marijuana Use among men. Journal of Research in Crime and delinquency June 29th 2015 doi: 10.1177/0022427815589816.
2015 Roth et al looked at marijuana use by pregnant women. Approximately 4.4% of more than 67,000 pregnant women in the USA used illicit drugs while pregnant, marijuana being the most common. Marijuana can enter the bloodstream in seconds, the brain within minutes and cross the placenta to reach the fetus. Repeated marijuana use can alter receptors in the brain during fetal development as early as 2 weeks after conception, leading to problems with attention, memory and problem-solving. It can also affect an infant’s birth weight, decrease length of gestation and increase risk for pre-term labour.
Roth CK, Satran LA, Smith SM, Marijuana use during pregnancy exposes mom and baby to health risks. Nursing for Women’s Health (Clin. Pract. Journal Assoc. Women’s Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses) Oct/Nov 2015
2015 Cortes-Briones et al found that cannabis increases the noise in the brain. THC increases random neural activity in the brain (neural noise) of healthy individuals. Half to a single joint produced psychosis-like effects and increased neural noise. There is a dose-dependent and strong positive relationship between these findings, disrupting the brain’s normal information processing. The electrical brain activity in 24 people was studied over 3 days.
Cortes-Briones JA, D’Souza D et al, The Psychosis-like Effects of Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol Are Associated With Increased Cortical noise in Healthy Humans . Biological Psychiatry 2015 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych. 2015.03.023
2015 Morean et al looked at the use of e-cigarettes to vaporize cannabis. They evaluated lifetime rates of using e-cigarettes to vaporize cannabis among, lifetime users of e-cigarettes (27.9%), lifetime users of cannabis (29.2%) and lifetime users of both e-cigs and cannabis(18.8%). It proved to be common in all groups, to vaporize hash oil, wax infused with THC, and dried cannabis leaves.
Morean ME, Kong G, Camenga DR, Cavallo DA, Krishnan-Sarin S. High School Students’ Use of Electronic Cigarettes to Vaporize Cannabis.
Pediatrics September 2015 doi: 10.1542/peds. 2015 - 1727
2015 Dr Lisa Charles, Medical Director Victoria Hospital, Castries, St Lucia said that mixing marijuana and tobacco is a dangerous practice and is turning people into ‘respiratory cripples’. Over the last 10 years she has seen an increasing epidemic of young people suffering from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Young people in their 30s have end-stage lung disease. COPD is irreversible and progressive. Patients are literally confined to bed with oxygen cylinders and need full care. Bed space was severely compromised. The cost of treatment is horrendous. The Pan American Health Organisation has said theat COPD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Americas and it is both preventable and treatable.
2015 Scholes-Balog et al examined adolescent cannabis users and their relationship to adult social and behavioural adjustment. Participants, 852 (female 53%) were part of The International Youth Development Study, average age 21. Trajectories of cannabis use frequency were used from average age 12 to average age 19. Three trajectories were identified, abstainers (62%), early onset users (11%) and late onset occasional users (27%). ‘The early onset users showed a higher frequency of antisocial behaviour, violence, cannabis use, cannabis-related harms, cigarette use, and alcohol harms, compared to the abstinent group in young adulthood. The late onset occasional users reported a higher frequency of cannabis use, cannabis-related harms, illicit drug use, and alcohol harms, compared to the abstinent group in young adulthood. There were no differences between the trajectory groups on measures of employment, school completion, post-secondary education, income, depression/anxiety, or alcohol use problems. In conclusion, early onset of cannabis use, even at relatively low frequency during adolescence, is associated with poorer adjustment in young adulthood’.
Scholes-Balog KE, Hemphill SA, Evans-Whipp TJ, Toumbourou JW, Patton GC. Developmental trajectories of adolescent cannabis use and their relationship to young adult social and behavioural adjustment: A longitudinal study of Australian youth.
Addict Behav. 2016 Feb;53:11-8. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.09.008. Epub 2015 Sep 21.
