The biggest news stories about CBD news stories from this week are here:
- The MLB association has decided to eliminate marijuana from the list of banned substances.
- A recent study recommends that Epidiolex may help to minimize the seizures caused by another rare disease.
MLB Eliminates Marijuana From Banned Substances List
The Major League Baseball Players and Major League Baseball have decided to eliminate the marijuana from the list of drugs of abuse on Thursday.
Marijuana will now be handled in the same way as alcohol.
MLB said in a press release that under the Parties’ Joint Treatment Program for Alcohol-Related and Off-Field Violent Conduct, the marijuana-related activity would be treated in the same way as an alcohol-related activity. This program offers mandatory assessment, voluntary treatment and the prospect of compliance by a Player’s Club or the Commissioner’s Office in response to Natural Cannabinoids involving activities.
Players will be examined for the presence of synthetic THC, cocaine, fentanyl, and opioids.
In the light of the US opioid crisis, which hit the league after the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs due to the presence of mixture of opioids and alcohol in his body, MLB started testing for opioids.
Treatment will be given to those who test positive for such substances, but the players will not be disciplined until they declined the treatment.
The MLB press release has also clearly indicated that CBD would be excluded from drugs of abuse list.
This change to marijuana policy occurs after the legalization of marijuana in many states at different levels in recent years.
Tony Clark, the union head, said, “It was a part of a larger conversation that was reflective of the attitudes changing in many parts of the country.”
These changes will be implemented at the beginning of the 2020 Spring Training.
Study Recommends Epidiolex May alleviates Another Type Of Seizure
Recent research indicates that Epidiolex, the first CBD-based medication authorized by the FDA, may treat the another type of seizures caused by a rare genetic disorder effectively.
Dr. Elizabeth Thiele, director of pediatric epilepsy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, has led the research in which they gave placebo or Epidiolex to 224 patients suffering from tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC).
TSC causes benign tumors to develop all over the body, and seizures, almost always.
Half of the patients had age less than 11.
Researchers administrated Epidiolex to half of the patients in doses of 25mg or 50mg, while the rest got a placebo.
Patients also continued their existing anti-seizure medication.
Those using Epidiolex experienced an average alleviation in seizure frequency by 50% after 16 weeks compared to 27% in the placebo group.
Those consuming the higher dose of Epidiolex were more probably to experience a decrease of at least 50%.
However, the results are promising; Dr. Thiele controlled the excitement.
Thiele said, “It’s not a magic bullet. It doesn’t help everyone, as we observed in this research.”
This weekend, Dr. Thiele will present the results to the American Epilepsy Society in Baltimore and be peer-reviewed afterward.
Recently, Epidiolex is authorized for the treatment of Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.
