Health Pedia

Four-year-old Gabriel Pass surprises his mother every day now that he's gotten relief from frequent seizures. Ethan Goodridge, 17, is having fewer seizures and is laughing and talking more, his mother says. Gabriel and Ethan, so far at least, are two of the success stories resulting from a new Alabama law that allows the use of cannabidiol, or CBD oil, to treat debilitating medical conditions. CBD oil is derived from the marijuana plant. Leni's Law took effect June 1. It's named for Leni Young, 4. The Young family moved from Alabama to Oregon last year so that Leni could use CBD oil to treat her seizure disorder. Leni's mother, Amy Young, said Leni has gone from having hundreds of seizures a day to a total of six since September. Leni began taking CBD oil in August, Young said. "Leni is great," Young said. "She is spectacular. She is using her body more and more and doing new things every day." Leni's Law was an expansion of Carly's La...

New evidence suggests that a chemical derived from marijuana may be an effective treatment for patients with drug-resistant forms of epilepsy.   Stories of cannabis’s abilities to alleviate seizures have been around for about 150 years but interest in  medical marijuana has increased sharply in the last decade with the help of legalization campaigns.      Charlotte Figi, an eight-year-old girl from Colorado with Dravet syndrome, a rare and debilitating form of epilepsy, came into the public eye in 2013 when news broke that medical marijuana was able to do what other drugs could not: dramatically reduce her seizures. Now, new scientific research provides evidence that cannabis may be an effective treatment for a third of epilepsy patients who, like Charlotte, have a treatment-resistant form of the disease. Last month Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist at New York University Langone Medical Center, and his colleagues across multiple research centers publ...

Trulieve, one of the six Florida medical cannabis licensees, has announced that they are the first dispensary in the State of Florida to receive a formal Authorization to Process and Authorization to Dispense from the Florida Department of Health on Wednesday. “We are happy to announce that we have passed all inspections — from growing and processing to dispensing — and are the very first medical cannabis provider in the state to receive these formal authorizations. And we are most excited to get this much anticipated medicine to the patients of Florida,” said Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers. “The Department of Health staff and leadership have been consummate professionals throughout this entire process. They have been accessible and knowledgeable all along the way, and we simply could not ask for better public servants.” The dispensary also announced its intention to begin sales at its Tallahassee facility within the coming days. It will be the first dispensary to open its door...

“We’re extraterrestrial,” I muse as his lips touch my skin. Smoke rings swirl around the room mimicking the sixth planet from the sun. Weightless and whimpering, I close my eyes to spy flashes of light like a universe of glittery trichomes. A sweet and pungent musk fills my lungs. Hints of citrus mingle with my subconscious, triggering fits of sensuous giggles. Everything’s electric. Touch is ecstatic. Kisses are shooting stars. I can’t escape his gravitational pull. I don’t want to, either. Oysters and champagne can’t hold a candle to this sun-grown, organic cannabis ... the cosmic key that unlocks libidinous secrets. In my experience, few things complement each other as well as sex and cannabis. Note that I live in a state where recreational use is legal. Several other states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes as well. (Getting arrested isn't sexy.) But, if you can get it, here are 7 ways that cannabis can improve your sex life. Strengthens Bonds Did y...

Some of the most important health benefits of cannabis oil include its ability to reduce stress and anxiety, improve the quality of sleep, boost appetite and optimize digestion, reduce pain, prevent certain cancers, strengthen heart health, and protect your skin, among others. Cannabis essential oil is one of the more unusual oils in the essential oil range, simply because of the plant from which it is derived. Although cannabis and hemp have been used for thousands of years as a naturally growing herb, its reputation as a drug in many parts of the world have complicated the relationship between users of cannabis oil and hemp and authorities in certain parts of the world. However, cannabis essential oil is a wildly beneficial essential oil, and is widely considered of the most effective oils for the alleviation of certain illnesses and condition, in fact. Cannabis essential oil is extracted by steam distillation from the flowers and upper leaves of cannabis plants, which are in the Ca...

Going back millions of years in history, our ancestor's diets were a mix of plant and protein based food. Days were spent lounging in the jungles, foraging for vegetation and fruits, eating termites, figs, seeds and other sources of nutrition. The fruits and vegetation they consumed may have altered the course of our history forever. They consumed terpenoids our fellow mammals couldn't or didn't want to reach. If they never ate as many terpenoids and cannabinoids, we can wonder if they would've had the creativity to discover new ways of solving problems, like sparking the first fire or building the first "home". Cannabis has been our silent partner for millennia. We now know that spices and plants contain varying degrees of cannabinoids and terpenoids. Consider that nutmeg is a known spice and, when consumed in massive quantity, it gives you a mental buzz (Though I don't recommend experimenting). Many commonly eaten store items such as apricot...

Poster for the 1936 film Marihuana. Image now in the public domain. This news will give anti-marijuana crusaders fits. A new study in the journal Health Affairs looked in great detail at prescription drug usage in U.S. states that have legalized medical marijuana. Researchers Ashley Bradford and David Bradford collected Medicare data for the period 2010-2013 to answer two questions: are patients choosing marijuana instead of prescription drugs for conditions that marijuana might treat, and what has been the overall effect on Medicare spending? The bottom line: In 2013 alone, when 17 states had legalized medical marijuana, Medicare saved over $165 million. A simple extrapolation suggests that if all states legalize marijuana, annual savings could be triple that amount, $500 million. (Obviously this extrapolation is over-simplified: It depends on the actual populations of those 17 states, and it only considers Medicare. Commercial healthcare plans may save far more.) (Ph...