Edible Marijuana Labels Often Have Potency Wrong, Study Says

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CALIFORNIA:  An analysis of 75 edible marijuana products sold to patients in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles found that labels on just 17 percent accurately described their levels of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient, researchers reported Tuesday.

Sixty percent of the products had less THC than their packages advertised, and 23 percent of them had more THC than claimed.

“We need a more accurate picture of what’s being offered to patients,” said Dr. Donald Abrams, the chief of hematology and oncology at San Francisco General Hospital. He was not involved in the new study, which was published in JAMA.

“What we have now in this country is an unregulated medical marijuanaindustry, due to conflicts between state and federal laws,” Dr. Abrams said.

 

San Francisco Researchers Want To Pay You $560 To Vape Cannabis 30 Times

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CALIFORNIA:  …There’s a slight catch, of course. Researchers at San Francisco General Hospital want to determine whether cannabis can help treat pain associated with sickle-cell disease, a hereditary blood disorder that can cause a number of health problems including severe infections, stroke, and bouts of severe pain. Naturally, in order to conduct this study, test patients are needed, so the hospital’s oncologist, Dr. Donald Abrams, and his research team are seeking eligible applicants to participate for the good of science. Yeah, science!

Selected test subjects will visit SF General’s clinical research center two separate times, with each visit lasting five days. During their stay, they will inhale cannabis three times a day using a Volcano vaporizer and log any effects they experience and whether they impact their level of pain.

To be considered eligible for the study, applicants must adhere to the following guidelines:

 

Medical Marijuana Just Scored A Huge Victory At A San Francisco Hospital

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CALIFORNIA:  San Francisco General Hospital is making strides in developing a marijuana-derived treatmentfor sickle-cell anemia, a blood disorder that affects over millions worldwide, including 10% of African Americans in the U.S. It causes severe pain throughout the body. The condition is currently treated using opiate painkillers, but researchers believe that CBD, one of the compounds in marijuana, could cure the disease without the dangerous addictive, often lethal qualities of pharmaceutical painkillers.

Rather than administering cannabis intravenously or through smoke, the study used vaporized cannabis extracts, specifically, oils that are high in CBD. After administering CBD to lab micewith sickle cell anemia, doctors discovered that the mice had far less pain and inflammation, reducing the need for high doses of opiates. That could mean that tens of thousands of human patients will be relieved from their ailments without having to turn to corrosive opiate drugs.

It’s making great headway now, but the study was delayed for over a year by the FDA because they wanted to ensure that CBD vapor wouldn’t be harmful to lab animals like mice and dogs. That seems rather ridiculous considering that the FDA has approved animal testing for countless chemical pharmaceuticals and held up a study because they were worried that a plant derivative would harm lab mice. Protecting lab animals is not part of their testing protocol.