Earlier this month, the Supreme Court allowed patients using medical marijuana to legally alter their dried cannabis into oils. Before this point, it was considered unlawful as the previous regulations only allowed the vaporization of dried cannabis.
Since the ruling, more waves have been made in the medical marijuana industry, and some insurance companies may even be on board with actually covering cannabis oil, due to its ability to be concentrated into consecutive doses in the form of pills, therefore leading to doses being more regulated and consistent.
With all the hype currently going around about cannabis oils, you may be curious as to just what it is, and what the benefits of using oils are.
What is cannabis oil?
Cannabis oil is the oil derived from cannabinoids that have been extracted from the cannabis plant. Unlike straight THC and CBD oils you can find in some dispensaries, cannabis oil differs because it contains all of the necessary medical properties, including both THC and CBD. The oil is very concentrated making it more potent, therefore less is required to achieve the desired effect.
What are the benefits?
Oils offer the same relief found in dried marijuana. It can treat or relieve symptoms of: anxiety and stress, pain, enhance appetite, and has shown in some cases to reduce tumour size and many of the negative side effects associated with chemotherapy. Some have also used cannabis oil to treat symptoms of epilepsy as well.
Many patients find this to be more logical in their everyday consumption. Some are affected by the smoke, while others want to keep their use of the medication private and can lead to avoiding to take their medications in a public place at the times they need to get relief. David-George Oldham, founder of The ARC, a consortium of cannabis patients, doctors, activists and chemists, explains the logicality of cannabis oil into the lives of chronic pain patients:
“Imagine smoking seven grams of cannabis when you’re having a migraine so bad that just moving your fingers is excruciating pain. Taking a [cannabis] pill is a lot more sensible and having pills stocked in my cupboard makes a lot more sense than having just raw cannabis out and about in my house.”
With the news of oils growing in acceptance, this opens up a new door of opportunity for LP’s and clinics.
“I feel that it is an important step in the right direction. Oils will pave the way to being able to more accurately dose and therefore prescribe medical cannabis.”
Bryan Hendin
President & Director, Apollo Applied Research
The ability to administrate analogous doses through the form of pills also makes research on the effects of medical cannabis more accurate. This helps to alleviate the issue of certain patients not vaping the proper dosages, therefore potentially affecting study data.
“The recent ruling by the Supreme Court allowing patients to consume Medical Cannabis in alternative forms should be seen as a great stride for patients. Certainly the production and use of derivative forms of Medical Cannabis should be approached with caution, but I think this lowers some of the obstacles patients experience in administering their medicine. From a research perspective, the opportunity to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of derivatives like oils and tinctures is phenomenal. Our Clinical Research Team at Apollo has already begun to develop protocols to look more closely at these alternative routes of administration.”
Jason Moreau, Ph.D.
Manager, Clinical Research at Apollo Applied Research
Rulings such as these are further helping to erase the stigma associated with marijuana for medical purposes, and are instilling a global acceptance into the lives of the patients involved.
