SCIENCE & HEALTH: Marijuana Helps Cancer Patients Think More Clearly And Manage Pain, Study Using Cannabis From Dispensaries Finds

Consistent marijuana use is associated with improved cognition and reduced pain among cancer patients and people receiving chemotherapy, according to a new study.While cannabis produces intoxicating effects, and that initial “high” can temporarily impair cognition, patients who used marijuana products from state-licensed dispensaries over two weeks actually started reporting clearer thinking, the study from the University of Colorado found.The findings of the study, published in the journal Exploration in Medicine late last month, were surprising, researcher Angela Bryan, a cancer survivor herself, said in a press release.“We thought we might see some problems with cognitive function,” she said. “But people actually felt like they were thinking more clearly. It was a surprise.”Also, the 25 participants in the study said that they were sleeping better and experienced lower amounts of pain associated with their cancer symptoms or chemotherapy side effects.The study is notable for another reason: patients took a diversity of edible cannabis products that they individually picked out at Colorado dispensaries. That included infused tinctures, baked goods, gummies and other cannabis edibles with varying cannabinoid profiles.Because marijuana remains federally prohibited, the majority of studies that take place in the U.S. rely on either pharmaceutical-grade cannabis medicines like dronabinol or standardized marijuana grown at a federally authorized source, which tends to be low-THC and lacking in other cannabinoids.Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have pushed to free up researchers to access cannabis from dispensaries—and top federal officials have supported giving scientists that option. But that practice for now remains prohibited, meaning that studies like the current one involve patients buying their own cannabis and then reporting back to researchers, instead of having scientists themselves choose the dispensary products they’d like to study and providing them to participants.Click here, to read the full story.