THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, improves the memory of aging mice, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. By conducting cognitive tests on dozens of mice, the researchers determined small doses of THC improved the older creatures’ ability to remember how to perform a number of tasks. Proving the same is true for aging human brains will be quite difficult, however, as recent studies have found that THC can have adverse affects on developing human brains.

“Together, these results reveal a profound, long-lasting improvement of cognitive performance resulting from a low dose of THC treatment in mature and old animals,” the German and Israeli scientists who conducted the study wrote.

The scientists provided some of the mice–aged two months, 12 months, and 18 months old–with daily doses of THC. Others were given a control substance that did not contain THC. The older mice–the 12- and 18-month-olds–showed an improvement in their ability to solve memory-based tasks–like navigating a water maze–with THC in their system.

The two-month-old mice, however, showed the reverse effect. According to the researchers, the younger mice who had ingested THC showed a decline in their ability to solve the cognitive tasks. This mirrors the findings of studies that suggest cannabis has adverse affects on developing human brains. One recent study showed that young people who smoked marijuana daily for a period of a few years almost directly led to cognitive decline.

In the U.S., marijuana is prohibited at the federal level. In recent years, however, eight states and D.C. have legalized pot for recreational use; twenty-nine states (and D.C.) have legalized marijuana use for medical purposes, and nearly a dozen others allow some form of CBD (cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound of the cannabis plant) use, also for medical purposes.

As the laws loosen, and the stigma surrounding marijuana use dissipates, marijuana-as-medicine is becoming an increasingly likely reality. Therapeutic uses for marijuana–to help alleviate pain, for instance–have been observed anecdotally for years. But there’s not much in the realm of concrete data proving marijuana’s medical properties exists. And further research is difficult because of the DEA’s classification of marijuana as a Schedule I substance. There is only one government-sanctioned research facility in the U.S.

But despite the lack of robust scientific data on marijuana’s effects on the human brain, the researchers of the recent study published in Nature Medicine are hopeful that THC may one day prove to be a reliable tonic for an aging brain. They wrote that a “chronic, low-dose treatment with THC or cannabis extracts could be a potential strategy to slow down or even to reverse cognitive decline in the elderly.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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When his father was dying of cancer in 1999, Daniel Reingold brewed a remedy that would not cure his fatal disease, but might alleviate his pain: marijuana-infused tea. Reingold, now the president and CEO of RiverSpring Health, later brought his first-hand experience with the medical properties of marijuana to a nursing home his company operates in the Bronx. The Hebrew Home, in Riverdale, allows its residents to find late-in-life relief from a leaf that doesn’t grow in the facility’s garden: marijuana, in the form of cannabidiol (CBD) pills. 

As states continue to loosen the laws for marijuana use, the drug is reaching people who might have grown up in the age of “Reefer Madness.” Though marijuana use has shot up among all demographics over the past decade, use among adults ages 65 and up has increased exponentially. According to one recent study, between 2006 and 2013, marijuana use among people 65 and up has increased by 250 percent.

In some of the 28 states (and the District of Columbia) that have legalized marijuana for medical use, elderly residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities can use marijuana pills in lieu of drugs like morphine. But at many of them, because the drug is banned at the federal level, the staff will not directly administer or oversee use, instead following a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Residents can obtain cannabis products from a dispensary, and stow them away in their rooms. Some are worried that this is a health hazard, especially since the effects of marijuana on older people are far from understood.

“If residents are taking it, they are taking it undercover without the staff knowing so it’s not part of their care plan,” Dr. Cheryl Phillips, senior vice president for public policy and health services for a group that represents more than 2,000 nursing homes, told The New York Times. “I think that creates a safety problem.”

But for some residents at places like the Hebrew Home, popping a pill filled with cannabis oil is no different than using any other medication–aside from the stigma that comes with it. “It’s got a stigma,” Marcia Dunetz, 80, told the Times. “People don’t really believe you’re not really getting high if you take it.” Dunetz, a Parkinson’s patient, said since using marijuana she no longer wakes up with headaches, and feels less dizzy and nauseous.

Because marijuana is banned, in all capacities, at the federal level, staff at many assisted living facilities and nursing homes could theoretically be committing a crime if they were to administer marijuana to residents and patients. That possibility deters the staff and the owners wary of doing so. And at government-supported nursing homes, there is the possibility that Medicare and Medicaid could take a hit if the staff were giving their patients pot.

And then there is the great unknown of how marijuana affects older people. Should they consume less? Will it adversely affect their brains? “On the one hand, cannabis may be an effective substitute for prescription opioids and other misused medications; on the other hand, cannabis has emerged as an alternative for the undertreatment of pain at the end of life,” said a study published in January in the Oxford University Press.

Ruth Brunn, a 98-year-old with neuropathy living at the Hebrew Home, does not know what long-term affects taking cannabis oil pills will have on her (long-term has a different meaning for her, perhaps), but that doesn’t matter. “I don’t feel high or stoned,” she told the Times. “All I know is I feel better when I take this.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Ease into this Monday with some of Law Street’s top stories from last week. ICYMI, an Iranian civil rights activist’s hunger strike continues, UK approves CBD for medical use, and an attack on female Mexican politician inspires a misogynistic hashtag. Check out the best of the week below!

1. Imprisoned Iranian Civil Rights Activist Continues Hunger Strike

An Iranian civil rights activist and former college student is in critical condition after going on a hunger strike for over two months. Human rights groups have been urging authorities to do something, but to no avail. Arash Sadeghi stopped eating four months into his own prison sentence to protest the arrest of his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, who was imprisoned because of an unpublished novel she wrote. Sadeghi is serving a 15-year sentence on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security,” “propaganda against the state,” “spreading lies in cyberspace,” and “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic.”

2. UK Officially Classifies CBD Oil as a Medicinal Ingredient

A popular cannabis-based ingredient has officially been classified as medicine in the UK, after healthcare officials scrutinized claims speaking to its effectiveness. The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced earlier this week the addition of cannabidiol, or CBD oil, to its list of medicines after reviewing several manufacturing companies’ “overt medicinal claims” that the product provides relief for patients.

3. Attack on Female Politician in Mexico Leads to Misogynistic Hashtag

A few weeks ago, Mexican senator and former Olympic athlete Ana Gabriela Guevara was severely beaten by a group of men. She was riding her motorcycle in Mexico City when a car rammed into her, seemingly on purpose. Four men got out of the car and started to beat her. She said they hit her in the ribs and the head and insulted her for being a female motorcyclist. Guevara was beaten so badly that she had to be hospitalized. She later posted a photo of herself with a black eye, thanking everyone who had supported her and said that she had recently left the operating room after having surgery.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) added a new code Wednesday to its Federal Register that reclassifies CBD oil and other marijuana extracts as Schedule 1 drugs. This effectively makes all forms of marijuana illegal under federal law, sending shockwaves throughout the cannabis industry.

In the announcement titled “Establishment of a New Drug Code for Marihuana Extract,” the DEA created a new code for marijuana extract, which is defined as: “an extract containing one or more cannabinoids that has been derived from any plant of the genus Cannabis, other than the separated resin (whether crude or purified) obtained from the plant.’’

According to the DEA, this code will allow the agency to track quantities of CBD and other marijuana extracts imported and exported to and from the U.S. separately from quantities of marijuana.

CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a natural cannabis compound that is useful for treating a number of medical conditions including epilepsy, anxiety, schizophrenia, and chronic pain. Unlike THC, CBD does not get you high. Despite this, it is now listed under the same classification of “hard drugs” as heroin, LSD, and bath salts.

Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Association, criticized the move in an interview with Westworld. Bradley called it another example of the government neglecting modern science, saying:

It’s common knowledge that CBD has numerous medical uses, including curbing the effects of epilepsy and reducing muscle inflammation from injuries. To deny that shows a complete disregard for the facts.

The new classification has the possibility to interfere greatly with commerce in the growing medical CBD industry, leaving businesses that currently produce and sell the once-legal drug in a kind of legal limbo. It also opens up consumers and patients who rely on the non-psychoactive oil to possible criminal charges.

CBD is available nationwide, and as mentioned in our “State of Weed” coverage on marijuana legalization state by state, it is legal for select medical purposes in a number of states where neither medical nor recreational marijuana are legal.

Political commentators have speculated on the impact Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) could have on the cannabis industry if confirmed as Attorney General under the new Trump administration. Sessions has been an outspoken opponent of marijuana legalization, and could use his authority to enforce federal marijuana laws over state legislation.

The code will go into effect January 13, 2017.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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