CANNABIS and SLEEP DISORDERS
At Health Central, Dr. Dean Edell was asked the following question: "Is It Okay To Use Marijuana To Get To Sleep? " His reply: "It would be perfectly legal for your husband to waste his money on kava kava, or melatonin, or a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn't work for sleep. The fact is, he's spending money on an herb that evidence finds to be very effective for sleep and doesn't seem to cause a hangover -- but it's illegal."
I knew a young man in Ohio who could not sleep. I mean, this was a very serious problem that left him on edge, exhausted, and depressed. His doctor's prescriptions did little good and if he took enough to actually sleep, left him groggy the next day. The doctor's solution was to increase the dosage, which only made things worse. Without his doctor's help, he began trying to self-medicate. He stayed sober all day but at 9:00 at night, he would lock up his home, turn off his phone and as quickly as possible, down 2 to 3 six-packs of beer. He followed this routine for a couple of years. Soon it took more alcohol to induce sleep. He knew it was self-destructive: He became overweight, was often out of control, and his moods grew worse. He told his doctor several times that he was drinking like this every night, that he needed a prescription for something that would work. His doctor said, "Well, you better keep on drinking because I'm not giving you anything stronger." Finally the young man learned about cannabis. He was not a smoker but being very intelligent and quite resourceful, he devised a drink of cannabis and fruit juice that was successful in allowing him to sleep. He no longer drinks alcohol, sleeps peacefully at night and is much healthier, happier - and, I might add, much slimmer. Kay Lee
Research
Aug. 2003Cannabis Helps With Sleep Apnea, Functional role for cannabinoids in respiratory stability during sleep. 7/11/03
This can be a dangerous condition. An oxygen saturation below 93% would be very worrisome.
Sleep. 2002 Jun 15;25(4):391-8. Related Articles, Links Comment in: Sleep. 2002 Jun 15;25(4):399-400. Carley DW, Paviovic S, Janelidze M, Radulovacki M. Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, 60612, USA. dwcarley@uic.edu
Functional role for Cannabinoids in respiratory stability during sleep. STUDY OBJECTIVES: Serotonin, acting in the peripheral nervous system, can exacerbate sleep-related apnea, and systemically administered serotonin antagonists reduce sleep-disordered respiration in rats and bulldogs.
Because Cannabinoid receptor agonists are known to inhibit the excitatory effects of serotonin on nodose ganglion cells, we examined the effects of endogenous (oleamide) and exogenous (delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol; delta9THC) cannabimimetic agents on sleep-related apnea.
MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Our data show that delta9THC and oleamide each stabilized respiration during all sleep stages. With delta9THC, apnea index decreased by 42% (F=2.63; p=0.04) and 58% (F=2.68; p=0.04) in NREM and REM sleep, respectively. Oleamide produced equivalent apnea suppression.
This observation suggests an important role for endocannabinoids in maintaining autonomic stability during sleep. Oleamide and delta9THC blocked serotonin-induced exacerbation of sleep apnea (p<0.05 for each), suggesting that inhibitory coupling between Cannabinoids and serotonin receptors in the peripheral nervous system may act on apnea expression.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates potent suppression of sleep-related apnea by both exogenous and endogenous Cannabinoids. These findings are of relevance to the pathogenesis and pharmacological treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders.
FROM WEBSITE: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
As a Schedule I drug, marijuana is considered dangerous and of no medicinal value. It is difficult to understand the DEAs position on this issue when the FDA provides a marijuana derivative called Marinol to some patients. It is curious that the FDA and pharmaceutical companies pursue the development of synthetic marijuana if indeed it has no medicinal use. Should the FDA and the DEA succeed, patients may be further forced to forfeit their ability to use this plant medicine in its natural form.
There exist three phases of study that are necessary in ascertaining the acceptability of a new drug for medical use in treatment. The FDA requires: Phase I; safety, Phase II; pilot studies on efficacy, and Phase III; controlled studies on efficacy and safety. According to Judge Francis L. Young, presiding Administrative Law Judge to the United States Department of Justice in the DEA hearings on the Marijuana Rescheduling Petition in 1988, it has been established that marijuana satisfies both Phase I, II and Phase III studies on safety and efficacy.
Having demonstrated sufficient evidence to substantiate these findings it then seems redundant to continue further studies on the safety or efficacy of marijuana. By succumbing to the FDAs present acceptance of only Phase II; safety studies, we surrender ground already gained. In fact, as patients' needs are ever growing it is essential to focus on the third phase, i.e., controlled trials, if any aspect of further research could be considered necessary. To regress only into pilot research clearly abandons nearly 20 years of legal battles. Delay only serves to create further suffering on the part of patients. It is urgent to create a solution to this problem by meeting the needs of those who are suffering and dying immediately.
From "A Patient's Story" by Valerie Corral
Despite potent psychoactivity and pharmacologic actions on multiple organ systems, cannabinoids have remarkably low lethal toxicity. Lethal doses in humans are not known. Given THC's potency on some brain functions, the clinical pharmacology of marijuana containing high concentrations of THC, for example greater than 10 percent, may well differ from plant material containing only 1 or 2 percent THC simply because of the greater dose delivered. ~Report on the Medical Uses of Marijuana - From the U.S. National Institutes of Health Panel Convened February 19-20, 1997 Report Released August 8, 1997
EMAIL Kay Lee
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