Development of medical cannabis programs: risks associated with cannabis treatments
Authors:
Mariano García de Palau, and José Carlos Bouso.
Book:
Efectos terapéuticos de los cannabinoides
Year:
2017
About the study
This report, written by Mariano García de Palau, medical director of Kalapa Clinic, and José Carlos Bouso, scientific director of ICEERS, constitutes chapter 15 of the book Efectos terapéuticos de los cannabinoides, edited by the Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Neuroquímica of the Complutense University of Madrid and coordinated by José Antonio Ramos Atance.
First, the authors briefly review the undeniable reality that cannabis is used for therapeutic purposes internationally, with numerous medical cannabis programs in countries such as Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Germany, Israel, Uruguay and Macedonia, among many others. “The first medical cannabis program began in the state of California in 1996, when after a referendum the government legalized cannabis for therapeutic purposes,” the study says.
Subsequently, the report discusses whether it is possible to develop a medical cannabis program in Spain, which “could be regulated by the same mechanisms that regulate other herbal products traditionally considered medicinal, which can be dispensed without having previously undergone pharmaceutical development in the form of clinical trials, not referring to specific therapeutic indications and being subject to a control equivalent to that of other prescription drugs.”
The risks associated with cannabis treatments and their pharmacological interactions are then analyzed, as well as the possible interactions between cannabinoids and opioid analgesics, anti-epileptic drugs and chemotherapeutic agents in oncology patients and the main side effects when administering cannabinoids.
Excerpt
“During the nineteenth century, and until well into the twentieth century, the medicinal use of pharmaceutical preparations of cannabis was widespread, existing specifically in Spain dozens of products both locally produced and developed by major pharmaceutical companies of the time.”
Photo by Roberto Valdivia on Unsplash.
Categories:
Studies & papers
, Cannabis
Tags:
medical cannabis
, marijuana
, cannabis
, scientific research
, study
, adverse effects
, therapeutic
, risk reduction
, therapy
, medical cannabis
, risks
, harm reduction
, book chapter