jimjam wrote:what are they?
I have looked into this. It does not relate to my seizure problem at all. Additionally, BigPharma wants $32,500 @year for their stuff
This is true and to be expected. It will be awhile before the wheat is separated from the chaff. But I am certain there is, in fact, wheat. I plan on consulting with an M.D. in Maine who specializes in usage of medical marijuana. I am 74 and do not have time to wait for the federal government (who, it seems recently, cannot even take out the garbage) and BigPahrma to divide up the profits.
Medicinal use — Medicinal marijuana is supplied as dried flowers of the Cannabis sativa plant that are smoked as described for recreational cannabis use (see 'Recreational use' above). Derivatives of cannabinoids are also available as pharmaceuticals in some countries including oral preparations (dronabinol and nabilone) and a spray for buccal use (nabiximols).
Marijuana and its components have been proposed for various medicinal purposes, such as chronic severe pain (eg, due to cancer), refractory nausea and vomiting, anorexia and cachexia, glaucoma, and seizures [14]. However, none have been proven to have greater efficacy than other currently available medications.
Of these indications, medical marijuana is most frequently prescribed for severe or chronic pain. An oromucosal spray containing THC and cannabidiol (Sativex), also called nabiximols, has been shown to have some efficacy as a multipurpose analgesic in combination with traditional therapy and is approved for use in Canada and elsewhere but not in the United States. No controlled studies demonstrate the efficacy of inhaled marijuana as an adjunct to traditional pain medications for patients with cancer-related pain (see "Cancer pain management: Adjuvant analgesics (coanalgesics)", section on 'Cannabis and cannabinoids'). Trials in patients with multiple sclerosis have failed to show consistent pain reduction. (See "Symptom management of multiple sclerosis in adults", section on 'Cannabinoids'.)
Although inhaled, buccal, or ingested marijuana has shown some efficacy for refractory nausea and vomiting or glaucoma [32,33], consensus expert guidelines do not support its use. (See "Cancer pain management: Adjuvant analgesics (coanalgesics)", section on 'Cannabis and cannabinoids' and "Palliative care: Assessment and management of nausea and vomiting", section on 'Cannabinoids and cannabis'.)
Cannabinoids demonstrate anticonvulsant properties in animal models, but no randomized controlled human trials have proven efficacy. (See "Overview of the management of epilepsy in adults", section on 'Alternative therapies' and "Evaluation and management of drug-resistant epilepsy", section on 'Cannabinoids' and "Seizures and epilepsy in children: Refractory seizures and prognosis", section on 'Cannabinoids'.)
Toxic effects — Recreational cannabis intake to achieve psychoactive effects can often result in adverse effects because there is no clear demarcation between doses that achieve symptoms desired by a marijuana user and noxious effects.
In adolescents and adults, inhaled doses of 2 to 3 mg of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and ingested doses of 5 to 20 mg THC impair attention, concentration, short-term memory and executive functioning [13,15-24,34-39]. More severe adverse effects may occur at doses >7.5 mg/m2 THC, including nausea, postural hypotension, delirium, panic attacks, anxiety, and myoclonic jerking [34,35]. Psychosis has also been associated with use of higher potency/concentrated marijuana products [40,41].
Toxicity in children is most often reported after ingestion of a highly concentrated food product [7,8,42-47] or hashish resin [48]. Estimated oral doses from 5 to 300 mg in pediatrics have caused a range of symptoms such as mild sleepiness, ataxia, behavior changes, excessive and purposeless motor activity of the extremities (hyperkinesis), coma, and respiratory depression with more severe intoxication correlated with higher estimated doses. For example, in a small cohort of 38 children presenting to an emergency department for acute marijuana intoxication after ingestion, degree of symptoms corresponded to an estimated dose as follows: 3.2 mg/kg of THC led to observation and minimal medical intervention, 7.2 mg/kg of THC led to admission to an inpatient floor and moderate medical intervention, and 13 mg/kg of THC led to admission to an intensive care unit and major medical interventions [49]. Patients without prior THC exposure more commonly had lethargy or somnolence and had a longer duration of clinical symptoms. Similarly, as concentrated hashish resin has become more available in France, a corresponding increase in the number and severity of annual admissions has occurred among infants and young children [48].