Top Medical Cannabis Use Trends in 2021

The push toward federal cannabis legalization is SERIOUSLY ramping up! And as the legalization movement continues to surge, cannabis inches closer to mainstream acceptance. This rising profile includes a growing awareness of cannabis’s therapeutic potential.

Cannabis is currently used to treat a variety of ailments, ranging from insomnia to anxiety to poor appetite. It’s also proven highly effective as a pain reliever. And it’s often used to curb the debilitating side effects that accompany chemotherapy, with great results.

But many believe these applications are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to cannabis’s therapeutic potential. A perspective that’s spurring ongoing research into the possible uses for medical cannabis.

And here at Cannawayz.com, we’ve compiled a brief overview of where medical cannabis use trends are headed in 2021…

Leveraging the Endocannabinoid System to Treat Neurodegenerative Disorders

Cannabis research has revealed there are two neurotransmitters – CB1 + CB2– that bond with cannabinoid (cannabis-based substances), and thereby transmit the effects of cannabis on the human body and brain.

Activating the CB1 neurotransmitter produces the “high” associated with cannabis. While activating the CB2 neurotransmitter generates much of the therapeutic value connected to cannabis. If a cannabis-based drug was able to active the CB2 neurotransmitter alone, excluding the impact of CB1, it could be a major gateway to treating neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and more.

Meanwhile, a study completed at the end of 2020 sought to isolate the impact of cannabinoids on the CB1 and CB2, and the results appear to suggest that this separation is in fact possible.

As such, developing a cannabis-based drug focused on activating the CB2 neurotransmitter figures to be at the forefront of cannabis medical use research in 2021 and beyond.

Cannabinoids And The Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

Perhaps thanks to the tireless efforts of actor Michael J. Fox, the public is more aware than ever of the brutal impact of Parkinson’s Disease. The symptoms, most notably, massive tremors, turn Parkinson’s victims into a shuttering, sputtering mess often unable to walk or talk.

The primary drug currently used to counter these effects, L-DOPA, lessons the tremors and affords users great mobility and more use of general motor functions. L-DOPA, however, often causes users to have abrupt and uncontrolled movements. A limb will suddenly jerk out or crumple in without warning. This side effect is known as dyskinesia.

A recent European study paired L-DOPA with THCV, a cannabis by-product. And according to the study’s results, adding THCV to the mix appeared to eliminate dyskinesia.

If these findings are corroborated in further testing, this could be a significant breakthrough for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease.

Positioning Cannabis as a Legitimate Pain Reliever

Cannabis has long been celebrated as a highly effective pain reliever. When the medical cannabis movement first got rolling, it was due largely to the success of cannabis at mitigating the pain and discomfort associated with glaucoma. And this was followed by the revelation of cannabis’s uncanny ability to significantly ease the symptoms that accompany chemotherapy.

Many doctors, however, are reluctant to prescribe cannabis as a pain reliever. In reality, this most likely due to the stigma associated with the status of cannabis as an “illegal drug.” But the most oft-stated reason is the: “lack of legitimate studies verifying the therapeutic benefits of cannabis as a pain reliever.”

While it’s not entirely true that such studies don’t exist, it points to the need for additional research. And toward that end, two studies published late last year sought to begin filling this void.

The first specifically looked at using cannabis to treat women suffering from chronic pain resulting from fibromyalgia. While the second looked at using an inhaler dispensing cannabis-based medication to treat chronic pain in general. In both cases, the studies demonstrated cannabis to be highly effective at lessening chronic pain, while generating little to no unwanted side effects.

Meanwhile, the results of these studies are certain to prompt further research into the use of cannabis for pain management, both in the treatment of specific ailments and for more general applications.