I learned something interesting the other day. Apparently, high rates of cannabis use by young men is associated with cyclical vomiting syndrome. If you’ve ever known anyone who had CVS, it’s a frightening and debilitating condition. A serious matter.
I wonder if the correlation has anything to do with the anti-nausea effect also reported in cannabis use. I can think of several ways the causality could work. High rates of cannaabis use could produce CVS in young men. Or, alternatively, young men who are predisposed to CVS may have high rates of cannabis use in an attempt at self-medicatingg.
Whatever the case note that I’m not arguing that the bans on marijuana use should be maintained because of this. I just think it’s possible that the acceptability of cannabis use may produce higher incidence of CVS than might otherwise be the case.
Add CVS to anal leakage on the list of funny side effects as long as they happen to someone else.
Sat through a GI meeting where this was briefly discussed. Mechanism is not clear and does not respond well to standard anti-emetics. On the plus side it seems rare and as of 6 months ago no reports of it developing in someone using cannabis to treat chemo symptoms. Suspect will be hard to research because of restrictions.
Steve
I’ve heard stories about Illinois’ medical marijuana law that I find curious. One is that the licensing authority has indicated that doctors that have been involved in pro-legalization groups setting up shops won’t be allowed to prescribe marijuana. Pro-legalization groups are trying to identify doctors that are willing to prescribe it, but are not finding many due to a lack of clinical studies. A local doctor wrote to the paper that he didn’t think the existing literature supports its use as treatment, but (the reason for writing) if pot is going to be legal for medical use, it should not be taxed by state and local government at such levels as create a new income stream like gambling.