Title: Cannabis: The Future of Medicine and Recreation 

Primary Author (and presenter): Bowen, Dylan R

Additional Authors: Kadannagari, Surekha; Pathak, Suhrud; Ramesh, Sindhu; Govindarajulu, Manoj; Deruiter, Jack; Clark, Randall; Moore, Timothy; Dhanasekaran, Muralikrishnan

Department/Program: Drug Discovery and Development

College/School: Harrison School of Pharmacy

Abstract:

Currently, many natural product growers and drug manufacturers generate various natural and synthetic cannabis products for commercial, recreational, and medicinal purposes. Concerns regarding the use and abuse have recently risen in global populations in the past few years due to overdose, adverse drug effects, and changing legality status.  Without proper clinical trials and insufficient research, many states in the U.S.A. have legalized the possession and/or use of cannabis and cannabis products for humans and pets. With the rise of cannabis use and abuse, substantial diversity in pharmacological effects, and an increase in crime and health concern, there is an immediate need to conduct a systematic review (meta-analysis) on cannabis.

The primary conclusion was determined by an analysis of lifetime and first-time use of cannabis trends from PubMed, Scopus, google scholar, global safety, and anti-drug databases. Secondary conclusions and reasoning for future research were determined by usage trends compiled by the CDC and WHO and a combined meta-analysis of statistics on cannabis use and abuse trends.

Natural cannabinoids are one of the most common drugs of abuse in the past 5 years.  Over the past one year as the increase in cannabis production has surged, there has also been a jump in the number of users of and overdoses from synthetic cannabinoids in teenagers (2.5%). This increase in the number of overdoses from synthetic cannabinoids and the changing legality of cannabis use are just two reasons for an increase in global concern over cannabis use, and they justify a need for further research and appropriate therapeutic interventions regarding adverse health outcomes of these unregulated and/or partially regulated substances. The many different studies done on various cannabinoids for medicinal purposes open up the possibility of using cannabinoids in emergency medicine as well as patients in critical condition or for palliative care. This new and emerging data on cannabinoids for medicinal purposes is another reason to conduct further studies and meta-analyses on cannabinoids.