All Countries Need to Legalise Medicinal Cannabis NOW!

 

 Why we shouldn't delay on medicinal cannabis legislation...

I know I haven't posted for a while. That's because I've been working with a team of scientists, quality assurance manufacturing experts, cultivation experts, clinical and plant phenomics researchers and business leaders on a very important project.

If you've read my posts before you'll know I'm a writer who is extremely passionate about understanding the roots of health and disease and all the ways we can improve and maintain health and cure disease. This passion is very personal because of my life-long health issues.

In my book - The Energy Code - I explored many different mind and body health 'hacks' including mindfulness, hypnosis, exercise, diet, nutrition, hydration and over-coming trauma. I explored how our genetics and brain chemistry are both modified by our environment and lifestyle choices and how we can maximise our health, vitality and quality of life through applying these methods.

In early 2016 I fully ruptured my Achilles Tendon and was off my feet for 6 weeks and then spent another 6 weeks in a boot. I'd been working on a side-project looking at how we might extract essential ingredients from botanicals without chemical solvents and became very passionate about the potential of SuperCritical CO2 to achieve this, enabling people who are sensitive like me to use plant-based extracts without fear of reacting to solvents or preservatives. Around the same time the Australian Government announced the legalisation of Medicinal Cannabis. I had been interested in the plant's possibilities for years, but had been unable to do anything more than reading about it while it was banned. The time off my feet gave me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to focus completely on understanding what this amazing plant could actually do, and if it is something I should get behind.

This began a quest to understand everything I could, traveling to Israel twice to speak to the leading scientists in the field, talking to experts from the Netherlands, Canada and the US as well as emerging scientists in Australia. Very quickly I had an amazing, small team of people around me doing the same and by the end of that year LeafCann was born.

Since then LeafCann has been establishing production facilities in Australia, applied for licences, employed cultivation and quality assurance experts, begun a clinical trial into the effectiveness of Medicinal Cannabis on the Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia, and partnered with major research organisations to understand the genetic and morphological expression of different cannabis cultivars. 

In November 2018 we will host a Symposium that will bring together leading experts in Medicinal Cannabis research, regulation, medicine, patient access, plant cultivation and manufacture to discuss what is needed to overcome political inertia and medical skepticism to advance the sector and provide patients with efficacious, affordable, quality medicines.

We've also been liaising with government on both the Federal and State levels and pushing for more stream-lined and faster access for patients in need. To support this, LeafCann regularly talks to the media, contributing to the evidence based debate to bring the best quality Medicinal Cannabis medicines to those who need them most.

After a LinkedIn conversation with Carol Coombes OBE, I realised that there might be many in the UK and elsewhere who could benefit from the work we have been doing. So, I've decided to post our Australian media teasers on my blog and start posting more regularly about what we are learning here about the pathway to legal Medicinal Cannabis. I'll be in the UK in November and hope to meet with advocacy groups and government while I am there in support of the growing patient access movement that uses the hashtag #weeditandreap.

I hope you find this information helpful

Sincerely,

Elisabetta

Elisabetta Faenza, MAICD, BA, MIR, Dip Clinical Hypnotherapy

CEO LeafCann Group

 

UK moves to make medicinal cannabis available on prescription after being approved for use by government.
 

The move is great news for those with certain conditions such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, however, there is still some work to do to make more products available to those who need them.  While imported Cannabidiol (CBD) only products are already available without prescription in the UK, they are extremely expensive and out of reach of many people with chronic conditions. Certainty around the future legal framework for a local medicinal cannabis sector is essential to the development of new cannabis based medicines, better affordability for patients, product safety and the fostering of medicinal cannabis research.

Phone app shows that medicinal cannabis is successfully treating a wide range of conditions

Recent studies conducted by the University of New Mexico have found that medicinal cannabis provided patients with statistically and clinically significant therapeutic benefits for a wide range of symptoms. The studies used the commercially developed Releaf app for mobile phones which allowed users to record immediate changes to their symptom intensity levels and side effects. With almost 100,000 recorded user sessions the studies contain the largest repository on the effects of medicinal cannabis. To date, the results are promising.

The studies found that medicinal cannabis has numerous therapeutic effects for conditions ranging from chronic pain to insomnia. Over 94% of cannabis users reported a reduction in symptom intensity, as well as recording that the side effects that do occur are far less serious tan those found in prescription medications. Medicinal cannabis has great potential to replace some of the traditional pharmaceutical products currently in use.

Go to Research 

https://releafapp.com/ 

New data on opioid deaths means alternatives must be found 

A recent report released by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has found that 1045 Australians aged 15 to 64 years old died from opioid overdoses in 2016. Opioid deaths have increased from 3.8 to 6.8 deaths per 100,000 between 2007 and 2016, an alarming trend that is also occurring overseas. 

Now is the time to look at alternatives, such as medicinal cannabis, for pain management rather than looking to pharmaceutical opioids which are far more dangerous. Medicinal cannabis is a safer option that has never resulted in death due to overdose, nor does it the addiction problems associated with opioids

Link to research

Imitation products harm the medicinal cannabis industry

A recent report of 52 people experiencing illness after using unregulated cannabidiol (CBD) oil in Utah is a timely reminder of the dangers faced by desperate consumers forced to purchase unregulated (and sometimes illegal) products because they can’t access them through normal channels. The case in Utah found that over half the 52 reported illnesses tested positive for dangerous synthetic compounds instead of authentic CBD.   

This should serve as a warning to the emerging medicinal cannabis industry to remain vigilant and expose imitation products and their producers before they harm the reputation of genuine medicinal cannabis producers who diligently prepare products of the highest standards.

Time to face the (real) facts on medicinal cannabis

Results of a recent study on the effectiveness of cannabis in treating chronic pain are alarming to the medicinal cannabis industry. Not because the study challenges thousands of other studies that have found cannabis to be an effective treatment, but because it relies on flawed research: that used illicit cannabis (think street weed); relied on participants to self-report; and was not conducted in controlled conditions. Medicinal cannabis is treating chronic pain in over 30 countries, yet Australian research is not keeping up with reputable international studies. More work is required to educate the public on the real facts and potential of medicinal cannabis. The publicising of flawed research in the media must be called out and discredited.

Medicinal cannabis imposters must be exposed

The Australian medicinal cannabis industry should take notice of imitation products being produced internationally and expose the producers before they gain a foothold here. A recent report in Utah found that 52 people experienced illness after using what they thought was authentic cannabidiol (CBD) oil. Instead, they took synthetic compounds mostly found in a product called Yolo CBD Oil. A product so highly touted by its manufacturer that U.S officials still cannot determine who produces it.

Australia’s regulations and standards are heading in the right direction in what is an emerging industry. It would be a shame to see imposters enter our market and quickly reduce the consumer confidence in medicinal cannabis which has taken some time to earn.  

Cannabis extract might be the ibuprofen replacement you’re looking for

A groundbreaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant medicinal cannabis extract rich in a particular cannabinoid known as Cannabidiol, compared to synthetic cannabidiol, Aspirin or Tramadol.  This study leads the way for the use of whole-plant medicinal cannabis that is rich in CBD as a combined pain-management and anti-inflammatory treatment. It also further confirms the superiority over synthetic CBD-only treatments, and as a replacement for Aspirin, Nurofen, Voltaren and addictive opioid treatment regimes. Could Cannabis extract change the way we manage pain? 

Link to Research

Increasing synthetic cannabis overdoses in the U.S emphasise the importance of regulation in the medicinal cannabis market

Recent reports of overdoses related to recreational-use synthetic cannabis have highlighted the importance of ensuring the medicinal cannabis industry operates to the highest of standards. Although some medicinal cannabis products do use synthetic cannabis, these products are created in strict laboratory controlled conditions. U.S authorities report that recent deaths related to synthetic cannabis were laced with dangerous chemicals such as fentanyl, an opiate, or brodifacoum, an anticoagulant found in rat poison. Consumers can be confident that medicinal cannabis products available in Australia are free of impurities and safe to use.

Elisabetta Faenza - CEO, LeafCann Group & Medicinal Cannabis Precision Medicine Expert 

Coming to a supermarket near you - legal hemp food products?

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has approved Proposal P1042 to legalise Low-THC Hemp as a Food in Australia and New Zealand, and now awaits the results of a study on the effects on roadside drug testing, due late April. Health Ministers in Australia and New Zealand then have 60 days to notify FSANZ whether they intend to ask it to review its decision or not, and will meet on April 28th to consider their decision.

Should the Australian Government accept the recommendation, foods made from hemp seed or hemp oil will be legal for human consumption and sale in Australia. Long considered a super-food, hemp oil can be processed to make a protein rich flour and used as a substitute for wheat products.

However, recent announcements in the media about the creation of a Hemp Hub in Geelong, Victoria and millions of dollars of investment by the sector into equipment and facilities may be premature, as representatives of the Office of Drug Control (ODC) and TGA recently commented in a public meeting that until the UN signals its approval of Low THC, high CBD Hemp Foods, they will remain prohibited here. 

Australia has an obligation as a signatory to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961  & 1972, to not move in advance of changes to this schedule. Hemp is part of the Cannabis family of plants and therefore every part of the plant is covered by the convention (except for industrial or horticultural use). The difficulty comes when low THC Hemp is touted as significantly different to low THC Cannabis, which it is not. Hemp is the term used to describe the sub-species of cannabis used for industrial purposes, generally a taller and more fibrous plant. To produce the proposed hemp foods a shorter version of the plant would be bred, higher in CBD oils, which is exactly the same as low THC Medicinal Cannabis. 

Consumption of any part of the plant as a medicine is permitted under the same stringent licensing conditions that were announced in Australia in February 2016 for Medicinal Cannabis. Furthermore the total amount of hemp foods produced made from extracted oils would have to be included in Australia's Annual Narcotics Estimates to the UN.

The obligation of a signatory include the following:

"Article 36 PENAL PROVISIONS 1. a) Subject to its constitutional limitations, each Party shall adopt such measures as will ensure that cultivation, production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, possession, offering, offering for sale, distribution, purchase, sale, delivery on any terms whatsoever, brokerage, dispatch, dispatch in transit, transport, exportation of drugs contrary to the provisions of this Convention, and any other action which in the opinion of such Party may be contrary to the provisions of this Conventions shall be punishable offences when committed intentionally, and that serious offences shall be lable to adequate punishment particularly by imprisonment or other penalties of deprivation of liberty."

In other words, because hemp flour is made from high CBD, low THC hemp oil, and touted as a super-food with health benefits, it is technically a Cannabis Medicine and therefore regulated by the Office of Drug Control. Legalising Hemp Foods in advance of the UN could put Australia into direct contravention of our international obligations, causing the loss of our status as a complying signatory. This could lead to a delinquency notice from the UN, and the destruction of Australia's massive potential as an exporter of Medicinal Cannabis products and hemp products to complying signatory countries.

The Hemp Foods lobby can't have its cake and eat it too, claiming health benefits from its CBD flour but avoiding the compliance standards and regulation required of Cannabis Medicines.

Will the Single Convention be updated to allow Hemp Foods some time soon?

Probably, but until then the Australian Government needs to tread with caution, and industry needs to look at the big picture for a sustainable Cannabis and Hemp Food sector, and not short-term gains by circumventing legislation.

Hemp seed, however, is exempted from the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and is the most likely candidate for legalisation, when Federal and State health ministers meet.

You can learn more about FSANZ and hemp foods here: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/generalissues/hemp/Pages/default.aspx

You can learn more about the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 here:

https://www.unodc.org/pdf/convention_1961_en.pdf

Why all the fuss about Hemp Foods?

While sourcing Omega 6 and Omega 3 rich oils from marine sources has serious environmental consequences, including the risk of heavy metal contamination, hemp is a vegan friendly, environmentally acceptable and ethical alternative to fish-oil and krill oil. High in insoluble fibre, hemp oil is also a good source of tocopherols and essential minerals.

The 9 remarkable dietary and skincare properties of hemp oil

With the imminent legalization of hemp as a legal food in Australia, and its touting as a super-food. Here are 9 reported properties of hemp, when used as a food or for skincare:

1.     Fact #1: Hemp Oil may help maintain hormonal balance: Hemp is the only edible seed that contains gamma-linolenic acid, which is eventually converted to the protective hormone prostaglandin PGE1 that regulates hormonal balance and supports menopausal health.

2.     Fact #2: Hemp Oil may regenerate and energise the skin’s protective layer: Due to its high content of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, hemp oil has a composition similar to skin lipids, which makes it an excellent natural emollient and moisturizer. It is especially useful for dry, tired or dehydrated skin and nails. Hemp oil increases the skin’s elasticity and the water retention capacity of tissues. Pure hemp oil can be used to treat dry hair and is often included in vegan hair conditioners.

3.     Hemp Oil is vegetarian and vegan friendly: Getting the right balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can be tricky for vegetarians and vegans. Hemp oil naturally has the optimal ratio of these acids, is plant based and a renewable crop that conditions soil.

4.     Hemp Oil may lower cholesterol: The only vegetable oil to contain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the right ratio (3:1), hemp oil may help lower cholesterol levels by accelerating metabolic processes. With a faster metabolism, fats burn at a quicker rate preventing them from forming plaques on artery walls.

5.     Hemp Oil may benefit diabetics: Due to its low glycaemic index, hemp oil can be a great food additive for diabetics. The nutrients present may help moderate blood sugar levels.

6.     Hemp Oil may help prevent psoriasis: Psoriasis has been associated with a deficiency of omega-6 fatty acids in the body. The fatty acids present in hemp oil may help improve skin oxygenation and hydration.

7.     Hemp Oil can boost your immunity: Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids improve immunity while regulating intestinal flora, thus building a natural barrier against microbes and increasing digestive and immune resilience. 

8.     Hemp Oil may prevent demyelination of the nervous system: Essential fatty acids are necessary for a healthy cell membrane structure. They also prevent the demyelination, the destruction of the myelin sheath (a membrane that protects the nerve cells). Hemp oil is high in essential fatty acids.

9.     Hemp Oil may prevent varicose veins: Like other compounds high in omega-3s, hemp oil thins the blood, reducing blood clots and varicose veins.

Cannabis shows promise in treating meth and opioid addiction

The International Journal of Drug Policy recently concluded a major Canadian based study into the effect of medicinal cannabis on pain management, tobacco use and prescription drug addiction. 63% of the 271 study participants reported that they managed pain more effectively with cannabis and preferred it to prescriptions pain medications. 30% of participants preferred cannabis to using highly addictive opioids. 12% of recipients had used cannabis to quit their tobacco addiction (Lucas, 2017).

In another review, The National Institutes of Health concluded that a "growing number of studies support a critical role (in addiction pathways) and provide further evidence that the cannabinoid system could be explored as a potential drug discovery target for treating addiction across different classes of stimulants" (Oliere, 2013).

 Studies, such as this one, are overturning the false belief that cannabis is a gateway to more potent drug addictions, and instead shows that medicinal cannabis is an effective and safe pain management treatment, helping sufferers avoid developing dangerous addictions to opioids and other pain medications while adequately relieving pain.

In a separate study, The National Academy of Sciences, found that there is no valid evidence connecting marijuana with increased usage of other illicit substances. As a result the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) was forced to remove unsubstantiated claims about marijuana being a gateway drug from its website.

This move is in line with a growing body of evidence substantiating the medicinal applications of cannabis for chronic pain and otherwise untreatable conditions. While smoking marijuana does not provide optimal dose or quality control, formulations based on Cannabinoid extracts and delivered as an oil, capsule, dermal patch or via metered inhaler show great promise with few if any side-effects.

As the peak medical practitioner body the AMA must now be under pressure to update its policy on medicinal cannabis and work with the TGA to support practitioner education and licensing, to meet the growing, medicinal demand.

Industry Expert: Elisabetta L. Faenza Co-founder – LeafCann

References

Lucas, Phillipe and Walsh, Zach, April 2017, Medicinal cannabis access, use, and substitution for prescription opioids and other substances: A survey of authorized medical cannabis patients,  The International Journal of Drug Policy, , Vol 42, pages 30 -35

Cited at: http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(17)30013-0/abstract

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2017, The health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids: Current state of evidence and recommendations for research. Washignton, DC: The National Academies Press

Oliere, Staphanie, Jolette-Riopel, Antoine, Polvin, Stephane, Justras-Aswad, Didier, 2013 Modulation of the Endocannabinoid System; Vulnerability Factor and new Treatment Target for Stimulant Addiction, Semantic Scholar, Psychiatry, 2013

Cited at https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Modulation-of-the-Endocannabinoid-System-Oli%C3%A8re-Jolette-Riopel/34df4fecc92104d004b46665fa6963681627d928