Cannabis

Cannabis was a legal and popular medicine in the United States until the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937, when it was criminalized, over the vigorous objections of the AMA, primarily for reasons related to racism and competitive commercial interests. Now that it is being relegalized, at the behest of the 94% of Americans who support legal access to medical marijuana, insurance companies are obligated to cover the costs of this versatile and relatively nontoxic medicine.

Marijuana use for medical purposes, including control of cancer-associated symptoms, has gained traction over the past decade, achieving legal status in most states.

NAPLES, Florida — In this video, Jennifer L. Seminerio, MD, stresses the importance of medical professionals “arming themselves with information” about alternative therapies, a topic she presented at the 2022 ACG/FGS Spring Symposium.

Children of mothers who used cannabis during pregnancy had greater fat mass and adiposity and higher fasting glucose than those not exposed to cannabis, according to study findings.

Long-term cannabis users showed deficits in cognition and smaller hippocampal volume by midlife, according to results of a New Zealand study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

A small percentage of Canadian nephrologists reported prescribing cannabis for chronic kidney disease management, according to data published in Kidney Medicine.

A new study found that eating certain types of foods at a specific time of day, such as potatoes in the morning and vegetables in the evening, may lower mortality risk in adults with diabetes. It was the top story in endocrinology last week.

CHICAGO — Access to medical cannabis may reduce opioid prescriptions in patients with osteoarthritis, with opioids no longer required in more than one-third of patients after medical cannabis certification, results presented here show.

CHICAGO — Access to medical cannabis may reduce opioid use for patients with chronic low back pain, with a higher chance of opioid cessation found among patients with lower baseline opioid use, according to results presented here.

Susan Weiner, MS, RDN, CDCES, FADCES, talks with Janice Newell Bissex, MS, RDN, FAND, about potential health benefits of cannabis and CBD for diabetes.