Why Coastal Buds Are Now Being Preferred for Medical Purposes?
Cannabis’ medicinal properties, particularly for pain relief, are widely acknowledged. Nonetheless, its main active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, is classified as a schedule 1 illicit drug under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This status has hampered marijuana’s medicinal use, prompting patients and physicians to lobby governments to allow it to treat chronic pain.
This has sparked an intense debate between governments, regulators, and law enforcement on one side and physicians and patients on the other, over whether to legalize a drug whose production, possession, and use are still illegal in many countries.
In recent years, several countries have passed laws and implemented programs that allow patients to use cannabis preparations in various forms to alleviate the symptoms of a variety of severe, disabling diseases. As a result, cannabis has effectively relieved chronic pain, muscle cramps, and spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord damage, as well as neurogenic pain caused by nerve damage and other causes.
Patients with terminal cancer and AIDS have also benefited from cannabis use to alleviate nausea and vomiting and stimulate appetite and weight gain.
In this article, we will look at why coastal buds are now being preferred for medical purposes and the benefits they bear.
Coastal Buds for Medical Purposes
Coastal Buds has shown promise in treating various conditions due to its ability to modulate the endocannabinoid system and have a safe and effective anti-inflammatory profile. While cannabinoid medications are only approved for a few conditions, such as Epidiolex for rare epilepsies, physicians and patients use them to treat many ailments. East coast cannabis lovers in the European market should be aware of the conditions for which cannabis is prescribed. Patients’ needs vary greatly depending on their condition.
The most common reason for doctors to prescribe medical cannabis is pain. Chronic pain affects up to one in every three people in developed countries and is typically defined as pain that occurs most days or every day for six months. In terms of medical cannabis prescriptions, European trends are comparable to those in North America. The two most prevalent disorders in men and women were pain and anxiety disorders; men were more likely to report anxiety disorders, while women were more likely to report chronic pain as a primary condition.
Notably, medical cannabis patients seeking pain relief have varying needs based on the severity of their pain and frequency of use. Patients with pain generally prefer cannabinoid medications with high and balanced amounts of THC and CBD. However, high-frequency consumers prefer high THC and lower CBD.
Significantly, most countries offer a broader range of medications containing high THC and a balanced THC: CBD ratio rather than high CBD alone.
Demographics
Patients who use medical cannabis in Europe are generally slightly older than those who use it in North America. The average age of medical cannabis users in Germany, Europe’s largest market, is 54. Denmark and Italy stand out for having a high population of mature medical cannabis patients, with an average of 57 and 58 patients, respectively. Early Project Twenty21 data show that patient groups in the United Kingdom are slightly younger than in other European countries.
People of various ages are known to prefer various medical cannabis products. According to data from an official survey of German patients, the average age of medical cannabis patients who use flowers is 46, while the average age of medical cannabis patients who use extracts is 57. Many prescriptions for cannabis flower are unreported, which could skew the data because these patients are more likely to be male and a little younger than patients using other products.
Gender
The gender distribution of medical cannabis patients in Europe appears to be more balanced than in North America, where the patient population is predominantly male. The gender gap is not wide in the Netherlands or Germany. Denmark and Italy are notable for having a large female majority in their patient populations, with 62% and 63%, respectively. The gender balance of the UK’s patient population is more comparable to that of North America, with a 66% male majority.
Germany and the United Kingdom are the only countries with data on non-binary patients, and to date, approximately 0.1% and 0.6% of patients in these countries identify as such.
Cannabis Policy in Europe
The legalization of medical cannabis in Europe falls under three different legal frameworks.
- Countries Where Medical Cannabis is Allowed
Countries like the UK, Poland, Portugal, and the Netherlands have a well-defined medical cannabis legalization. The legislation is rather new in a lot of these nations. In 2018, the same year as the UK, the Greek government authorized the legalization of coastal buds for medical purposes. In 2017, the German government legalized the prescription of medical cannabis.
In these nations, the use of medical cannabis is expressly permitted by the law, and medical cannabis is subject to the same pharmacovigilance rules as other pharmaceuticals. As a result, patient safety is the same for all medications, and the same steps may be used to spot and deal with fake medications.
- Countries Where Medical Cannabis is Prohibited
Other nations, such as Sweden, Latvia, Belgium, and Albania, firmly forbid the use of medical cannabis. This means cannabis use, purchase, and sale are all prohibited. There are currently no channels for importing medical cannabis into those nations.
- Countries With Unclear Medical Cannabis Laws
Countries that fall somewhere in the middle allow the supply of particular cannabis products under particular circumstances. These comprise nations that are now conducting pilot studies or trial periods to test the viability of using medical cannabis. There is potential to cautiously promote medical cannabis in these nations.
At the discretion of doctors, certain nations permit the importation and/or use of medical cannabis, usually in connection with a specified therapy for a named patient. For instance, there is only one cannabidiol-containing cannabis therapeutic product authorized in Croatia (Epidyolex). Moreover, cannabis can only be registered there using an imported license.
While medical cannabis is undergoing testing in France, Ireland, and Denmark, Sativex (an oromucosal spray) is the sole medication prescribed for MS sufferers in Finland.
Bottomline
The information presented here represents a large portion of the patient data available in Europe. It should be noted that the data only represent a small portion of the continent’s total patient population, with many people still self-prescribing medical cannabis and large swaths of patients not included in published data, such as the Swiss population.
