Your Dose of Cannabis Education
Your Dose of Cannabis Education
Only have a minute but want to Learn something every day™? Sign up to receive Your Dose of Cannabis Education, bringing featured content from our course library right to your inbox each day.
Your Dose of Cannabis Education is based on data from the studies and reviews published in the current peer-reviewed medical journals. Whether you are a healthcare provider, patient, caregiver, an individual working in the healthcare sector, or just a curious person, you can benefit from Your Dose of Cannabis Education.
Wake up every morning and get your dose of unbiased evidence-based cannabis education!
2025-05-05
Does abrupt discontinuation of CBD use lead to a withdrawal syndrome?
No. In a 2020 study evaluating abuse liability of CBD, it was found that “abrupt withdrawal of CBD after 4 weeks of use (750 mg twice daily taken orally) did not result in any symptoms of physical withdrawal.”Kirkland AE, Fadus MC et al.. A scoping review of the use of cannabidiol in psychiatric disorders. Psych Resear. 308 (2022)
2025-05-02
For what health conditions are patients using CBD therapeutics?
A case series that assessed treatment applications reported by CBD users in public testimonials on the Reddit forum r/CBD was conducted. A random sample of posts was drawn (n = 3000) and filtered to include posts in which self-identified CBD users testified why they take CBD (n = 376). Psychiatric conditions (e.g., autism or depression) were the most frequently cited subcategory, mentioned in 63.9% of testimonials, followed by orthopedic (26.4%), sleep (14.6%), and neurological (6.9%) conditions. Testimonials also claimed that CBD treated gastroenterological conditions (3.9%), as well as addiction, cardiological, dermatological, ophthalmological, oral health, and sexual health conditions (<2.0% each).Leas EC, Hendrickson EM, Nobles AL, et al. Self-reported Cannabidiol (CBD) Use for Conditions With Proven Therapies. JAMA Network Open. 2020 Oct;3(10):e2020977. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.20977. PMID: 33057645; PMCID: PMC7563067.
2025-05-01
When speaking with a patient and obtaining a history, do you routinely inquire about alcohol consumption? Do you routinely inquire about cannabis consumption (for medical and recreational purposes)? Which substance, alcohol or cannabis, is more frequently consumed?
A recent study measured long-term trends in cannabis use in the United States and compared those trends with alcohol use. "...the 2022 survey, for the first time, recorded more daily and near daily users of cannabis than alcohol (17.7 vs. 14.7 M). Far more people drink, BUT high-frequency drinking is less common. In 2022, the median drinker reported drinking on 4–5 days in the past month, versus 15–16 days in the past month for cannabis. In 2022, past-month cannabis consumers were almost four times as likely to report daily or near daily use (42.3% vs. 10.9%) and 7.4 times more likely to report daily use (28.2% vs. 3.8%).Caulkins JP. Changes in self-reported cannabis use in the United States from 1979 to 2022. Addiction. 2024; 119(9): 1648–1652. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16519
2025-04-30
Are your patients consuming cannabis? If so, do you document that information in the patient's electronic health record (EHR)? Is cannabis use commonly documented in EHRs?
"A study of nearly 1700 patients found that 38.8% responding to a confidential survey in 2021 reported using cannabis in the previous year, but only 4.8% had that information in their electronic health record."Thomas A. Why You Need to Talk About Cannabis With Patients. Medscape Anesthesiology. Feb 12, 2025.
2025-04-29
The FDA has approved a plant-derived purified CBD product for the treatment of 3 rare treatment-resistant epileptic disorders, including Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS). How effective is Epidiolex at reducing seizures in LGS patients? Does Epidiolex reduce seizures by 15%? By 30%? By > 45%? How long does the reduction of seizures last? 6 months? 1 year? Greater than 3 years? Besides a decrease in seizure activity, does Epidiolex positively impact health of the LGS in any other way? What dose was used to achieve these significant results?
"LGS patients who completed the Epidiolex RCTs were invited to enroll in a long-term open-label extension (OLE) trial… Patients received plant-derived highly purified CBD, titrated to a target maintenance dose of 20 mg/kg/day over 2 weeks. Based on response and tolerability, CBD could then be reduced or increased up to 30 mg/kg/day. Of 368 patients with LGS who completed the RCTs, 366 (99.5%) enrolled in this OLE. Median and mean treatment duration were 1090 and 826 days (range = 3–1421), respectively, with a mean modal dose of 24 mg/kg/day... Median percent reductions from baseline ranged 48%–71% for drop seizures and 48%–68% for total seizures through 156 weeks. Across all 12-week visit windows, 87% or more of patients/caregivers reported improvement in the patient's overall condition on the Subject/Caregiver Global Impression of Change scale."Patel AD, Mazurkiewicz-Bełdzińska M, Chin RF, Gil-Nagel A, Gunning B, Halford JJ, et al. Long-term safety and efficacy of add-on cannabidiol in patients with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome: Results of a long-term open-label extension trial. Epilepsia. 2021; 62: 2228–2239. https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.17000
feed…New to TheAnswerPage? There’s lots we’d like to share with you and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Be sure to register today for “Your Dose of Cannabis Education” emails where you’ll gain valuable insights in small doses that fit your schedule and also be provided direct access to the archived daily content.