Pressure reportedly applied to drop article detailing Bill Clinton’s comments on CBD

0
614
Pressure reportedly applied to drop article detailing Bill Clinton’s comments on CBD


Former president said to have suggested CBD can help with pain management

Article content

An article in which former President Bill Clinton told CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta during a recent forum that CBD may help combat pain drew some unwanted attention recently.

Advertisement

Article content

According to Marijuana Moment, Clinton’s thoughts related to CBD’s potential therapeutic value for pain management were apparently sufficient to have his public relations team ask that the story be deleted. This was reportedly done at the writer’s request.

Clinton is said to have told the forum that he’s heard from people about how low-THC cannabis products can help with managing pain, Marijuana Moment cites the article as noting.

Research out of Harvard University last year suggested cannabis can be an effective treatment option for chronic pain sufferers, while a study from 2020, involving lab-cultured rat neurons treated with CBD, noted the compound may help block pain-signalling pathways.

Advertisement

Article content

Authors of yet another study released in late 2021 concluded that patients using medical cannabis to ease fibromyalgia-related pain may be able to benefit even more with a good night’s sleep.

“Our findings suggest that reductions in negative affect and sleep problems are important contributors to improvements in pain intensity and well-being,” noted the research out of Quebec.

Despite the findings, medical bodies continue to be divided on CBD’s possible pain-relieving effects.

A McMaster University study involving doctors in Ontario found they are “still hesitant to prescribe medical cannabis to patients suffering long-term pain 20 years after it was first introduced.” That was despite all 11 of the surveyed physicians saying they believe medical cannabis can relieve chronic pain.

Advertisement

Article content

In Australia, however, the country’s leading pain advisory body recommended last year that doctors not use medicinal marijuana to treat chronic pain.

Per Cannabis & Tech Today, the article at issue quotes Clinton as saying that standardizing CBD testing to help with pain management could, ultimately, mean the compound might prove an alternative to opioids.

“We need to have a national standard of the THC count of these products and what the tests show,” he reportedly said, adding that “CBD could be a viable outlet for pain relief. We could potentially not lose so many people.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that prescriptions opioids to treat chronic and acute pain have their place when used appropriately.

Advertisement

Article content

“However, serious risks are associated with their use, and it is essential to carefully consider the risks of using prescription opioids alongside their benefits. These risks include misuse, opioid use disorder (addiction), overdoses, and death,” the CDC points out.

It reports that from 1999 to 2019, almost 500,000 people died from an overdose involving any opioid, including prescription and illicit opioids.

Despite the accuracy of the article, “it was pressure from the Clinton camp PR team that the comments were supposed to be closed to the press, so we respected the writer’s request,” a Cannabis & Tech Today editor wrote to Marijuana Moment in a Twitter direct message.

Although Clinton’s administration opposed the legalization of medicinal marijuana, Drug Policy reported when he was out of office in 2014, the former president had apparently had a change of heart. Citing comments made on Meet the Press, Clinton said there was “a lot of evidence” for using medical marijuana, despite it breaching federal law.

Advertisement

Article content

In late 2000, following the presidential election and his forthcoming exit from office, Clinton told Rolling Stone: “I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be.”

Gupta reportedly noted during the forum that although he wasn’t always a believer in cannabis, he now thinks CBD works. “I’ve worked on this for so long that I know not only can it work, sometimes it’s the only thing that works for some of these conditions.”

Gupta’s belief, however, does not extend to recent reports that he had launched a line of CBD gummies. Rather, he had become the latest in a long line of celebrities and personalities to be targeted with a fake cannabis promotion.

Subscribe to Weekend Dispensary, a weekly newsletter from The GrowthOp.

    Advertisement

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.



Source link

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here