Kylie OBrien - Medicinal Cannabis and CBD in Mental Healthcare

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Dr. Kylie O'Brien, PhD, the Chief Scientific Officer at Releaf Group Ltd and Adjunct Professor at Torrens University, and Dr. Philip Blair, a family physician and retired United States Army colonel who has utilized medical cannabis in his practice for a number of years, have written a comprehensive textbook on the relationship between cannabinoids, including cannabis, and mental health. This important book will be a resource for clinicians and patients around the world.

Cannabis remains a polarizing topic around the world. Some say that cannabis is harmless and that it can treat almost any medical condition while others refer to it as the Devils Drug with no place in medical practice. Neither extreme view is true. Unfortunately, though, patients and their doctors are caught in the middle of this battle, and it has become hard to learn the truth about cannabis and cannabinoids and to access doctors comfortable with utilizing cannabinoids in their practices. It is my sincere hope that this book will help address this problematic situation.

The authors, one a well-known educator and the other a noted clinician, work to dispel many misunderstandings about cannabis, primarily known as a recreational drug. The level of detail shows the authors obvious passion for this topic. More recently, though, evidence has been building to support the use of cannabis and cannabinoids as pharmacotherapies for a host of medical indications.

The book opens with an introduction, followed by a chapter describing the endocannabinoid system as a foundation for understanding the hypothetical rationale for cannabinoids as medications. Chapter plays a vital role by explaining what medical cannabis is and what it is comprised of. Unfortunately, many people have different understandings of what medical cannabis refers to. The authors explain the roles of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), but they also introduce terpenes and other phytocannabinoids. From there, the book covers specific medical conditionsanxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, Alzheimers Disease, and autism spectrum disorder.

For each medical condition, the authors present key information about each condition before reviewing the state of the evidenceboth preclinical and clinicalfor cannabinoids as possible treatments for these conditions. The depth in each chapter is considerable as the authors dissect the role of the endocannabinoid system in each condition, why cannabinoids may alleviate symptoms in each condition, and the current state of the evidence for cannabinoids for each. They place a particular focus on THC and CBD as those are the most commonly utilized cannabinoids in most medical practices. Case studies are used to illustrate clinical considerations that are likely to arise. The authors acknowledge that the level of evidence for various cannabinoids for different medical conditions varies widely, but they want to ensure that patients and clinicians have all of the evidence at their disposal so that they can make informed decisions about their health.

The authors should be commended for making an important contribution to the science of cannabinoids by creating an exhaustive resource. Patients and clinicians alike will find this book to be an important resource, especially with misinformation on cannabis being so plentiful these days. We clearly need additional rigorous research on the potential medical benefits of cannabinoids. For several reasons, the rate and scale of the research has not kept pace with the surging public interest. Drs. OBrien and Blair, however, recognized the need for guidance today for patients and clinicians discussing the possibility of cannabinoid pharmacotherapy for mental health conditions, and they have made an impressive contribution.

This book was written for the purposes of healthcare practitioner education. It is not intended as medical advice for any individual. Individuals interested in the potential use of medicinal cannabis for their own health concerns are advised to consult an appropriate healthcare practitioner knowledgeable in its use.

More than 10% of the worlds population suffer from some kind of mental illness and in the United States of America (USA), almost one in five have a mental illness with women and young adults/adolescents being the most affected []. What extraordinary figures. Mental health issues such as anxiety , depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) consistently come up as some of the main reasons people use cannabis medicinally. Yet, little is really understood by the medical fraternity about how cannabis may be able to alleviate such problems. There is still much unnecessary stigma attached to the smoking of marijuana, and unfortunately this seems to have spilled over and tarred its medical use somewhat. This is a key reason for writing this bookto demonstrate that while much more needs to be discovered, there is also much scientific evidence already in relation to many medical conditions, including mental health conditions.