Cannabis Study House - NORML Weekly News in Audio 2007.5.17

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Weekly News in Audio

May 17, 2007

Cannabis Use May "Improve" Brain Function In Schizophrenics, Study Says

Legislators Amend Washington State Medi-Pot Law

Past Pot Use May Be Detected In Sweat For Up To Four Weeks, Study Says

Berlin, Germany:
Cannabis Use May "Improve" Brain Function In Schizophrenics, Study Says

Cannabis use is associated with improved cognition in schizophrenic patients, according to clinical trial data to be published in the journal Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry.

Investigators at the University of Berlin assessed the impact of cannabis on cognitive functions in schizophrenic patients who reported prior use of pot versus patients who reported no history of substance abuse. Researchers reported that cannabis use was not associated with any decline in cognition, and that those subjects who reported using marijuana prior to their first psychotic episode showed improved cognitive performance on certain tests compared to non-users.

"[T]o our surprise, cannabis abusing schizophrenic patients … achieved results either similar to those [achieved] by the non-using cannabis schizophrenic patients or, at times, performed even better than them," investigators concluded. "[R]ather than deteriorating neuropsychological performance, cannabis [use] prior to [a patient’s] first psychotic episode improved cognition in some tests."

According to the study’s authors, cognitive dysfunctions are present in more than 80 percent of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

A separate 2005 study by investigators at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain previously reported that schizophrenic patients who consumed cannabis prior to disease onset possessed greater cognitive skills after ten years than did non-users.

Neurocognitive studies performed on healthy volunteers generally report that the use of marijuana, even long-term, is not associated with any significant or long-lasting declines in cognitive function.

Olympia, WA:
Legislators Amend Washington State Medi-Pot Law

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed Senate Bill 6032 into law last week, amending the state’s nearly nine-year-old medical cannabis measure. Fifty-nine percent of state voters initially approved the law in 1998, which enacts statewide legal protections for patients who use cannabis under the supervision of their physician.

The amended law, which takes effect on July 22, 2007, mandates the state Department of Health to "adopt rules defining the quantity of marijuana that could reasonably be presumed to be a sixty-day supply for qualifying patients." The Department is instructed to report its findings to the legislature by July 1, 2008.

Currently, patients may legally possess or cultivate up to a sixty-day supply of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. Lawmakers have never clarified how much cannabis legally constitutes a "sixty-day" supply, instead leaving the issue to be interpreted subjectively by local law enforcement.

As amended, patients who possess larger quantities of cannabis than those approved by the Department will continue to receive legal protection under the law if they present evidence indicating that they require such amounts to adequately treat their qualifying medical condition.

Senate Bill 6032 also affirms changes previously recommended by the state's Medical Quality Assurance Commission to expand the state's list of qualifying conditions to include Crohn's disease, hepatitis c, and any "diseases, including anorexia, which results in nausea, vomiting, wasting, appetite loss, cramping, seizures, muscle spasms, and/or spasticity, when these symptoms are unrelieved by standard treatments or medications."

The new law also limits the ability of police to seize medicinal cannabis that is "determined ... [to be] possessed lawfully [by an authorized patients] under the ... law."

Though SB 6032 was approved overwhelmingly by the legislature, Washington’s medical marijuana patient community was strongly divided over the proposal 窶� with many patient groups actively opposing the bill.

Baltimore, MD:
Past Pot Use May Be Detected In Sweat For Up To Four Weeks, Study Says

The primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC, may be detectable at low levels in the sweat of daily cannabis users for up to four weeks after they cease using the drug, according to clinical trial data published in the journal Forensic Science International.

Investigators at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) assessed the sensitivity of sweat patch technology in 11 daily cannabis users. All of the subjects tested positive for THC during their first week of abstinence, three tested positive for two weeks, and one subject continued to test positive for four weeks after ceasing his use of cannabis.

By contrast, subjects administered daily doses of oral THC did not have a positive sweat patch result.

Sweat patches consist of an absorbed cellulose pad that is applied to the skin with an adhesive and is generally worn by subjects for up to one week. The technology is primarily used in drug treatment and criminal justice settings.

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