Medical CannabisHistoryPrescribedImbalanceResearch

About Medical Cannabis

Medicinal cannabis is a natural alternative.

Today, medicinal cannabis is a catch-all term for anything from dried cannabis flowers, cannabis oils, capsules, tablets, oromucosal spray etc. Common to all these product types is that they contain either parts of the cannabis plant, active substances from the plant or synthetic cannabinoids.

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Medicinal cannabis

Medicinal cannabis can, in some cases, be an alternative to authorised medicines. The treatment with medicinal cannabis is something a doctor can prescribe only if the patient has been treated with relevant authorised medicine with an insufficient result.

History

Cannabis has been used since ancient times and doctor’s knowledge and available data is gradually increasing, so does the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes

1500 BC
The first written references to medicinal use of cannabis in China.
1961
Cannabis is regulated by the UN Drug Convention.
1996
California opens up for medical use of cannabis as the first US state.
2012
Norway opens for treatment with medicinal cannabis.
2018
The value of the US legal cannabis market exceeds USD 10 billion. Denmark starts pilot program for medicinal cannabis.
2019
WHO calls on UN to re-evaluate the classification of cannabis in the Drug Convention in the light of modern research.
2020
The UN is voting for a reclassification of cannabis in the Drug Convention.
2021
The pilot program for medicinal cannabis in Denmark is continued.

Doctors have several routes to prescribe cannabis-based products. But as a patient you can only access these products if your doctor has prescribed it to you.

1
Authorized medicine

At the moment (2022) there are two authorised cannabis-based medicines in Denmark: Sativex® and Epidyolex®. These two products have undergone clinical trials and are registered as pharmaceuticals just as any other prescription medicine.

2
Non-authorised medicine by issue of a compassionate use permit

If a doctor wants to prescribe a non-authorised medicine to specific patients, he or she can apply for a compassionate use permit from the Danish Medicines Agency even though the medicines in question are not approved in Denmark.

3
Magistral preperations of cannabis

Doctors can also prescribe magistral preparations of cannabis-based products. A magistral preparation is made by a pharmacy for a specific patient according to the doctor's instructions.

4
Medicinal cannabis pilot programme

The pilot programme means that the doctors are allowed to prescribe products that are neither authorised medicines nor magistral preparations of medicines. The products comprised by the pilot programme are called medicinal cannabis.

The endocannabinoid system was only recently discovered by modern medicine in the 1990’s.

Many things are still unknown about how system imbalance effects human well-being.

CB1

The CB1 receptors target things such as motor activity, thinking, motor co-ordina-
tion, appetite, short term memory, pain perception, immune cells.

CB2

CB2 receptors are much broader than CB1 and influence most of the body.

This includes among others the gut, kidneys, pancreas, adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, bone health, eyes, tumours, reproductive system, immune system, respiratory tract, skin health, CNS, cardiovascular system and liver.

The endocannabinoid system

Balancial is entering the Danish market.