New legislation recently signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will give New York residents who are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder access to medical marijuana.

The bill, signed into law on Veterans Day, adds PTSD to a list of conditions medical marijuana can be used to treat throughout the state.

A certain cannabinoid, or type of marijuana — delta-9-THC — has been available as an extract in prescription drugs since the 1980s, though, said Edward Bednarczyk, clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice and director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Health Outcomes, Pharmacoinformatics and Epidemiology.

“Most of the acute effects that we typically associate with cannabis use, such as feeling ‘high,’ an increase in appetite, red eyes and distortions in time perception and memory are caused by” delta-9-THC, said Ryan Vandrey, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit, in an email.

But Cuomo’s new bill gives people diagnosed with PTSD the ability to buy different cannabinoids at New York’s marijuana dispensaries, Bednarczyk said. The bill also sets up a framework that could allow people to partially cover marijuana costs through their insurance, Bednarczyk said.

PTSD occurs after people have been through a traumatic or highly emotional experience, said John Violanti, research professor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.

People with PTSD experience sudden flashbacks and avoid parts of life that are reminiscent of previous trauma, Violanti said. Other symptoms can include insomnia, hypervigilance and disturbed moods such as a quickness to anger or an inability to easily show affection, he said.

Violanti said he thinks medical marijuana has the potential to help individuals diagnosed with PTSD.

“It can be used, but it should be used in conjunction with other therapies,” such as cognitive therapy and movement desensitization, he said.

Medical marijuana has sedative and anxiolytic effects, which means it can help reduce anxiety that’s often associated with PTSD, Bednarczyk said. Studies suggest “there is therapeutic promise for cannabis,” Vandrey added.

There are still some concerns that a lack of research has prevented an exact analysis of how medical marijuana can be used to treat PTSD though, experts said.

“The appropriate clinical research has not been completed to determine the appropriate dose, route of administration or formulation of a product (with medical marijuana) … nor (have) there been appropriate studies comparing the effects of cannabis to other approved treatments,” Vandrey said.

Marijuana, along with substances such as heroin and cocaine, are classified as federal schedule I drugs.

This classification can make it difficult to conduct research on medical marijuana, Bednarczyk said.

Bednarczyk also said he believes both state and federal governments need to have “adult conversations” about the risks and benefits of medical marijuana in order to determine whether the product should be put on the market.

“The risk versus benefit for use of any drug or novel treatment must be evaluated for an individual patient,” Vandrey said.

New York is one of three states, along with Minnesota and Massachusetts, where people cannot buy actual marijuana plants, Bednarczyk said. People can only buy cannabis extracts, he said, despite marijuana being legalized in some form.

New York has a standardized dosage system and high standard for the purity of marijuana extracts, Bednarczyk added. The use of medical marijuana to treat PTSD was only legalized after convincing research of its effectiveness was produced, he added.

Published on November 29, 2017 at 10:18 pm

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