Cannabis Voices

In this fascinating interview, Justin Clarke gives a unique insight into how cannabis helps him cope with the sensory overload and anxiety commonly experienced by people with autism (ASD).

When we hear about cannabis  and autism, it's often the experiences of parents caring for children with severe ASD that get shared. So it is refreshing to hear from Justin as he describes with great creativity the interior world of a neurodiverse mind.

Before trying cannabis, Justin was prescribed antidepressants to manage the depression and anxiety that often going alongside autism, leaving him feeling numb and fatigued.

In contrast, cannabis has enabled Justin to fully embrace life and trying new experiences such as stand up and public speaking, which previously would have filled him with horror and dread.

I really recommend listening to Justin's first ever stand up routine - and as Justin mentions - it includes a gag about cannabis.

 

Justin's stand up

Other resources:

Patient-Led Engagement for Access (PLEA)

Project Twenty21

Drug Science

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Happy new year everyone. I'm sure most of us are glad to see the back of a year that was largely dominated by Covid 19.

Last year year wasn't all bad for me personally as I wrote and had published my first ever book -  'The CBD Book: The Essential Guide to CBD oil' (Harper Collins).

In what is essentially a roadmap for anyone curious about trying CBD, the book is a clear and easy-to-read guide covering everything from how to choose a CBD oil, current research, tips on how to get the most out of your CBD oil and some incredible case studies that really put the potential CBD has for our optimising our health into a real world context.

In fact, it's these case studies that inspired me to start this podcast; it's one thing to cut and paste interviews into an article or book, but quite another to hear the true emotion in someone's voice (hence the name of this podcast Cannabis Voices).

Many of you will have heard Sharon McEvoy's emotional interview which was one of the first podcast episodes I published and only recently I interviewed Vera Twomey who also features in the book.

But as a special treat to welcome in the new year, I've put together a compilation of some incredible other interviews that feature in the book.

1. Emily Wilson who uses CBD to manage the anxiety and PTSD she has experienced while working on a refugee camp in Athens (https://projectelea.org/)

2. Eve Roginska with her incredible story of using CBD to come off the steroids she was prescribed for a mystery inflammatory brain condition

3. Dan Rodwell who uses CBD to manage both his Crohn's disease symptoms and attributes CBD oil for his miraculous recovery from a rare autoimmune condition Guillan-Barré Syndrome

4. Jo Moss, whose chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia only has only improved since using CBD oil.  (Jo's Blog - https://www.ajourneythroughthefog.co.uk/ )

5. Lin Coxon - diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, she started using CBD oil while waiting for chemo to start, only to discover that her tumours had shrunk by two thirds.

If you want to buy 'The CBD Book,' it's available in hardback and ebook on Amazon and other retailers such as Waterstones, Blackwells and WH Smith. 

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Doctor Mariano Garcia de Palau es uno de los doctores más reconocidos y especializados en terapias con cannabinoides, por haberse volcado en dar una nueva visión del uso de cannabinoides como tratamiento paliativo y coadyuvante en padecimientos huérfanos en opciones terapéuticas. Graduado de la Universidad de Barcelona en 1979 como médico cirujano y actualmente colegiado en Barcelona.

Miembro regular de la I.A.C.M. ,  vocal del Observatorio Español del Cannabis Medicinal  y Director Médico en Kalapa Clinic, Barcelona, Mariano asesora clínicamente sobre tratamientos con cannabinoides.

Recursos:
Kalapa Clinic
Observatorio Español del Cannabis Medicinal

Dr Mariano Garcia de Palau is one of the most well respected and specialised doctors in cannabinoid therapy known for presenting a new vision for the use of cannabinoids as a palliative or adjuvant therapy for patients whose illnesses have not responded to standard treatment.  He graduated from the University of Barcelona in 1979 as a surgeon and is now a professional member of the college of physicians of Barcelona.

He is a regular member of the I.A.C.M. and also of the Spanish Observatory of Medicinal Cannabis, Medical Director at Kalapa Clinics, Barcelona, where he  clinically advises on cannabinoid treatments.

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Vera Twomey is perhaps one of the most recognisable 'Cannabis Voices' featured in the podcast series so far, thanks to her determined and very public fight with the Irish government to get legal access to medical cannabis for her daughter Ava.

Ava has Dravet Syndrome, a rare and catastrophic type of epilepsy that pharmaceutical drugs have no answer for.  Before cannabis, Ava was having hundreds of violent seizures a week and was being regularly rushed to hospital.

Like many parents of children with epilepsy, Vera came across the stories of children like Charlotte Figi who had found CBD and cannabis could control their seizures where pharmaceutical drugs had failed. And so began her very public battle with the Irish government to get Ava legal access to medical cannabis . 

Exasperated with the Irish Health Minister's empty promises, Vera took dramatic action. With no preparation (or even a pair of trainers) she decided to walk 200 miles in protest from her home in County Cork the Irish Parliament in Dublin.

By now, the whole of Ireland were supporting Ava, and yet the government still refused to grant her a prescription. And so Vera, Ava and the rest of the family moved to  Holland where they joined other families living in exile as medical cannabis refugees.

Under the care of a Dutch pediatric neurologist, Ava's seizures were successfully controlled by a combination of CBD oil and THC oil.

Thankfully, this was enough for the Irish government to give Ava her prescription and the family could finally return home.

As anyone who's read her book 'For Ava' will know,  Vera does not pull any punches when it comes to expressing her disdain for the treatment she and her family have received from the Irish government. But it's that fury that has got Ava her prescription and changed the hearts and minds of the Irish people towards medical cannabis.

Be prepared for tears of emotion, tears of frustration and tears of joy in one of the most moving and inspirational podcasts of the series so far.

If you liked this episode, don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to this podcast.

Resources
For Ava by Vera Twomey

Twitter: @veras1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vera.twomey

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twomeyvera/

Footage from Vera's walk to Dublin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPwu4u3V7RE&t=1980s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB_tTRtN4xY&t=57s

Vera's speech at the Water demonstration

Vera's acceptance speech at the Irish People of the Year Awards

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Paul Bregman was a successful radiologist when his bipolar disorder forced him to retire early at 45.

His depression and suicidal ideations didn't respond to the medication he was prescribed by his psychiatrist who was at a loss of what to try next.

Living in Colorado, cannabis was never far away, so Paul gave it a try having a few puffs in his garage. Just this small amount of cannabis was enough to lift his mood, enabling him to be with his wife and children without his usual irritability.

Paul's mental health improved sufficiently for him to practice as a medical cannabis doctor doing evaluations for patients wanting medical cannabis cards.

Paul loved his work and he was good at it. After all, he was a card carrying patient himself. However, when he disclosed to the Colorado Medical Board that his improvement was due to medical cannabis, he lost his license to practise.  A three year battle costing $50,000 failed to overturn their decision.

The implication is that for the Colorado Medical Board at least, a doctor successfully managing their mental illness with cannabis is not fit to practise. Whereas a doctor unsuccessfully controlling their depression and suicidal ideations with prescription medications is.

Paul continues to be a passionate mental health and medical cannabis advocate as well as running his own medical cannabis concierge service cannabisresource.info

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Dr Cristina Sánchez, Vice Dean of Research at the School of Biology at the Complutense University in Madrid, is a world renowned molecular biologist specialising in the study of compounds in the cannabis plant as anticancer agents in breast cancer. 

Cristina has been involved in researching the antitumoral properties of cannabinoids for over twenty years, and played a key role in discovering how THC kills cancer cells while working alongside colleague Professor Manuel Guzmán.

These days, while many research groups around the world focussing on isolated or synthetic cannabinoids as potential anticancer drugs, Cristina's group stands out as trying to understand and replicate the experiences of actual patients who are reporting extraordinary results using whole plant cannabis for their cancer.

In her paper, 'Appraising the ''entourage effect'': Antitumor action of pure cannabinoid versus a botanical drug preparation in preclinical models of breast cancer,' Sánchez found that in mice at least and across all types of breast cancer, a whole plant cannabis extract was more efficacious and potent than THC alone. 

As Cristina says: "This is not a hippie fashion or energy from the plant. No, this is science. This is molecules activating and deactivating. So the same thing as for opioids or for any of the drugs that they use."

Resources:

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Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency is a term regularly used in the medical cannabis world and refers to a collection of illnesses where low levels of endocannabinoids and their receptors contribute to disease development.

So who better to speak to for a deep dive into endocannabinoid deficiency than Dr Ethan Russo, the neurologist and cannabinoid researcher who coined the term and has written three papers on the subject.

Ethan shares how he initially came up with the theory, possible causes, which conditions share the cluster of symptoms associated with endocannabinoid deficiency, we discuss how poor endocannabinoid tone may contribute to the development of endometriosis, and how best we can strengthen our endocannabinoid system supplementing with cannabis, but also through non-cannabis routes such as looking after our gut biome and exercise.

This episode is a must for doctors, patients and indeed anyone with an interest in deepening their understanding of the endocannabinoid system and how its dysregulation may well lie behind a host of pathologies.

References:
Clinical endocannabinoid deficiency (CECD): can this concept explain therapeutic benefits of cannabis in migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and other treatment-resistant conditions? by Ethan Russo

Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency Reconsidered: Current Research Supports the Theory in Migraine, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel, and Other Treatment-Resistant Syndromes by Ethan Russo

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Lucy Stafford is no ordinary 20 year old. She's dynamic, intelligent and passionate science student, but growing up, numbed by the increasingly heavy doses of opiates she had received since the age of 12, Lucy believed otherwise.

Lucy has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - a debilitating and extreme painful condition caused by a lack of collagen in connective tissues. Before cannabis, Lucy had resigned herself to a future defined by her disease and the inability of her doctors to manage its symptoms.

When Fentanyl, which is fifty times more powerful than heroin, failed to control her pain, Lucy's doctor ran out of options, and in desperation to help his patient attempted to prescribe her Sativex through the NHS. Unfortunately, despite the recent change in the law legalising cannabis based medicines, his request was denied.

However, this sowed the seed for Lucy that cannabis might actually help her and she began her own personal journey navigating the illicit cannabis market, eventually getting a legal prescription through a private cannabis clinic.

Lucy now gets her cannabis medicine prescription through Project Twenty21, the national registry aiming to get 20,000 medical cannabis patients signed up by the end of 2021.

Lucy is also a founding member and patient advocate for PLEA (Patient-led Engagement for Access) and one of the first recipients of the recently launched Cancard - the card scheme started by friend of the show, Carly Barton, that allows to people to verify themselves to police as medicinal cannabis patients.

Oh and during lockdown, Lucy has taught herself to walk again (and is regularly walking 5km). Without cannabis, this would never have been possible.

Useful links:
PLEA
Project Twenty21
Cancard
The CBD Book: The Essential Guide to CBD Oil

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80-year-old Tony Bevington is no ordinary retiree. A paramedic in his youth, Tony spent his 50s and 60s volunteering with the VSO teaching agriculture to communities in Papua New Guinea and Botswana.

Unfortunately in his 70s, ill health caught up with Tony and he developed kidney disease, glaucoma and arthritis. With his experience in self sufficiency and knowledge of agriculture and medicine, Tony decided to explore growing cannabis to manage his health conditions.

Thankfully, since using cannabis medicinally (which he spoke about openly), Tony's kidney disease and glaucoma have both stabilised.

Unfortunately, that openness prompted a tip-off to the police who came on two occasions to confiscate Tony's plants.

On the 16th November, Tony will be attending magistrate court in Truro, where he faces charges of cultivation and production. If found guilty of production, which implies an intention to supply to others, Tony could lose his house and be sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Despite Tony's determination to fight the charge of production, going to court weighs heavily on his shoulders and he is currently experiencing dangerously high levels of stress and anxiety.

Tony needs our support and his story must be shared far and wide so that the government is forced to concede that their current stance is not fit for purpose, causing immense distress for the 1.4 million people in the UK who turn to the black market for their cannabis medicine.

For more information about Tony's campaign, head to his Facebook Page 

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Dr Max Alzamora, a physician of over ten years with a background in functional medicine and occupational health, has been prescribing medical cannabis since 2017.

Dr Alzamora now runs CannaHope, a busy private practice specialising in treating patients with cannabinoid, is Medical Director at Cann Farm, Advisory Doctor at the NGO Gotas de Esperanza, and Board Member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians Colombian chapter.

I came across Dr Alzamora in a presentation he gave at a Society of Cannabis Clinicians' webinar in which he discussed the case of Glendy, a 16-year-old girl who had been having 10 seizures a day, despite all the pharmaceutical anti-seizure meds she was taking.

After trying various CBD oils, Glendy found most relief from her seizures when Dr Alzamora prescribed her a cannabis oil containing CBDA (she now only has 10 seizures a year).

At the time, I was researching an article for Project CBD about CBDA, so I took the opportunity to interview Dr Alzamora about Glendy's case history and his use of acidic cannabinoids, as well as his experience in general of treating patients with medical cannabis in Peru.

It was a real pleasure to hear just what strides Peru and Latin America are making in integrating medical cannabis into their health systems, where doctors like Dr Alzamora have comparative freedom to think outside of the box when treating patients with cannabinoids.

Resources
Gotas de Esperanza
CBDA - The Raw Story (Project CBD)
Dr Alzamora's LinkedIn Profile


 

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