According to a Marist Survey, there are 55 million American adults who actively consume cannabis. As at 2015, there were 238 million worldwide users of the drug. This widespread usage has, in recent times, incited several arguments about the efficacy of cannabis as a drug. More importantly, the concept of dosage when ingesting the substance is fraught with ambiguity. In fact, until recently, it was generally believed that there’s no recorded case of death caused by marijuana overdose.
In addition, a national nonprofit program dedicated to propagating safe and legal access to cannabis filed a request against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).This stemmed from the plethora of factually incorrect information about the drug on their website.
In view of this, an unbiased review of relevant research will prove useful in coming to a conclusion. To this end, let’s go through some of the recent CBD clinical trials.
The Increasing Demand for CBD Clinical Trials
This recently released report indicated that there are 2,132,777 patients who legally use medical marijuana for the treatment of certain conditions. This goes to prove that cannabis is warming its way into our hearts by the minute. In the past year, cannabis has received commendation for curing certain medical conditions. Some of these conditions include:
Anxiety
Pain
Arthritis
High blood pressure
Colitis
Seizure
Psychotic disorders
PTSD, etc.
There is an existing argument that there are other effective drugs which solve the same problem. But this is not without its side effect. Countless studies have shown that many of the drugs on the market have far worse implications, yet, they remain on sale.
This has, to a large extent influenced the number of CBD clinical trials we’ve had. At least, in the past year, no fewer than 100 trials have surfaced and the results are unanimous. These studies are instrumental in the understanding and acceptance of marijuana.
CBD Clinical Trials Involving Seizures
Refractory epilepsy is a condition in which the epilepsy is resistant to drugs. Over 50 million people suffer from epilepsy worldwide. In fact, it is more common than Parkinson’s disease and cerebral palsy combined. To this end, a study involving the use of cannabis to curb epilepsy surfaced.
Researchers then gathered 15 patients suffering from these seizures and they administered cannabis. Here’s a list of some of the findings.
The seizures decreased in 6 patients and it disappeared completely in 4 patients.
9 patients were able to control 50% of their next seizures.
All the patients reported an improvement in their mood as a result of cannabis.
The side-effect which the patients reported most often was drowsiness.
CBD Clinical Trials Involving High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is a seasoned killer of both youths and aged worldwide. And several people who take weed claim they do so because it helps in taking the pressure off. Yet, studies dedicated to cardiovascular measurement under the influence of CBD are scarce.
In a recent study by Khalid A. Jadoon, Garry D. Tan, and Saoirse E. O’Sullivan, the effect on 9 male volunteers was studied.
The researchers administered two substances, one containing 600 mg of CBD and the other, a placebo, to the volunteers. After this, they went through a stress test. Their cardiovascular system was under check and it revealed interesting results. The presence of CBD in their system lowered their systolic blood pressure. Also, the stroke volume became lower.
CBD Clinical Trials and Schizophrenia
Patients with schizophrenia are apt to point out the need for antipsychotic drugs. Their condition is such that, without these drugs, they are unable to get by daily. Worse still, some of these drugs have deleterious side-effects.
Cannabis provides both antipsychotic and anti-inflammatory benefits. This makes it expedient to study the possibility of it being an alternative to the existing drug. It then propelled researchers at the University of Wollongong to study 27 different publications.
These studies span 26 years and it offered insight into the use of cannabis to treat schizo. The result of the study helped the researchers to come to an agreement. Cannabis improves cognition and is a good cure for the following conditions;
Schizophrenia
Alzheimer’s
Neuro-inflammatory diseases
Neurological disorders
This study did not provide enough evidence to measure the how effective cannabis is. But it does establish that CBD will be an important method of treatment in the future.
CBD Clinical Trials and the Liver
In this study, researchers fed cannabis to subjects who had alcohol in their system. The subjects comprised mice and some human blood samples. After careful observations, the researchers reported the following results.
Cannabis reduced fat accumulation in the liver.
It proved ideal for lessening the liver enzymes caused by alcohol.
Cannabis mitigated the metabolic impairment of the liver which results from alcohol.
It guards against abnormal retention of lipids.
CBD Clinical Trials and Pain- Cannabis or Opioids?
A collaboration between researchers at UC Berkeley and Kent State University proved decisive.
The sample space was 2897 individuals who use cannabis. Those who use opioids to assuage pain were then questioned.
Of these people, 97% reported that cannabis helps them reduce their opioids consumption. Furthermore, 81% attested to the fact that cannabis alone yields better results. This was in comparison with opioids.
Besides, the research showed that cannabis relieves pain just as well as other drugs on sale. The prominent advantage it offers is the lack of side effects.
CBD Clinical Trials- Panic Disorder
About 5% of the world population suffers from panic disorder. This means that almost 400 million people worldwide are victims of this menace. Staffs at the University of Sao Paolo scoured prior studies on this subject.
They came to the conclusion that cannabis is a potential treatment for panic disorders. A more important conclusion is that cannabis doesn’t decrease tolerance. This means that patients will not suddenly develop a resistance to the treatment.
CBD Clinical Trials- A Summary
After scouring through tons of data, we arrived at these conclusions.
Cannabis is safe for consumption.
Cannabis has fewer side-effects in comparison with some commonly prescribed drugs.
The fewer side-effects of medical marijuana ensure that patients stick to the treatment.
Cannabis is also a great supplemental therapy.
Even though we have seen results which give us cause for joy, the best is yet to come. The world urges researchers to dig deeper in search of more compelling evidence. Also, significant funding will go a long way in causing a breakthrough.
In conclusion, the clinical trials so far show that cannabis offers more good than harm. It is an ideal alternative treatment for several conditions. Finally, it poses less threat to the sanity of its users.
If this exposition proved compelling, feel free to learn more about CBD oils here. You can also learn more about different cannabis strains to know the effects and uses. Popular strains such as Cannatonic are readily available while rare strains are equally effective, albeit not widely used.