Smoking super-strength cannabis or ‘spice’ may trigger deadly seizures, claims new research

· Trials on mice found THC – which causes the ‘high’ in weed, can induce seizures

· The same was shown for JWH-018 – the main part of the synthetic cannabis spice

· Japanese researchers have described their findings are being ‘quite important’

· Skunk, made mostly of THC, dominates the illegal British market of marijuana

Smoking super-strength cannabis or spice may trigger life-threatening seizures, researchers have warned.

Trials on mice showed seizures can be induced by both THC – which causes the ‘high’ in marijuana, and JWH-018 – the main component of spice. The rodents also suffered from a shortness of breath and impaired walking after being given both compounds, the scientists discovered.

Japanese researchers warned the results should act as a wake-up call, given how widely high-potency and synthetic weed is used.

The findings contradicts pro-cannabis campaigners who have long argued that cannabis can help to tackle seizures and highlighted research which shows weed can prevent and control seizures in epileptic patients.

However, lead researcher Dr Olga Malyshevskaya, based at the University of Tsukuba, said the latest findings show cannabis is not a soft drug and warned of its dangers.

She said: ‘Our study is quite important. Unaware of the particularly severe effect by those cannabinoids, people see marijuana as a soft drug, without dangerous health effects.’

She added: ‘It is critically important for health-care professionals and policy makers to be aware of the serious adverse effects, as shown in this report. Clinicians in the emergency departments should always suspect seizure activity in patients who have a history of cannabinoid intoxication.

WHAT IS THC?

THC is found in all forms of cannabis, but is abundant in skunk – a super-strength form of the drug that dominates Britain’s illegal market.

Some 80 per cent of what is available on the streets is believed to be skunk, which is created by growers aiming to make the most potent strain of the drug possible in order to maximise their profits.

They remove high amounts of CBD from the plant, allowing the modified herb to contain only THC. It is unsure how much THC was in the strain of cannabis used in the new study.

Over the years, a host of previous research has pointed to a link between the popular recreational drug and mental health conditions. Last October, University College London researchers found that skunk may be twice as addictive as normal strains of cannabis.

Similar health concerns have been raised about synthetic cannabis spice, which can slump users and turn them into ‘zombies’.

It was previously known as a legal high before it was banned last year following a surge in its use. Now it has reached epidemic levels in prison.

‘The number of clinical cases involving marijuana intoxication has been steadily increasing due to increase in cannabis potency over the last two decades.’

What do other experts think?

Ian Hamilton, a cannabis researcher at York University, cautioned the results, which are published in Scientific Reports.

He told MailOnline: ‘We don’t know if people who use cannabis are using something as potent as this.’ For the study, researchers measured the brain activity of the mice after giving them both compounds and recorded them.

Research that claims to show cannabis can control seizures

The findings contradict a body of research which shows weed can prevent and control seizures in epileptic patients. Campaigners have long argued that cannabis has the opposite effect to the new findings and can help to tackle seizures.

Researchers have previously suggested that CBD – the other compound in cannabis which produces no ‘high’, binds to a receptor in the brain that calms down the electrical activity in the brain which causes a seizure.

First Briton to be prescribed liquid cannabis oil on the NHS

Their case was strengthened when an 11-year-old on the brink of death from a severe form of epilepsy made an ‘incredible’ recovery from taking marijuana.

Billy Caldwell, from Castlederg, Northern Ireland, made headlines in April when he became the first Briton to be prescribed such a drug on the NHS.

And 10 months since he was first given the liquid cannabis oil, he hasn’t had any seizures. He used to suffer up to 100 a day.

THE MAN WHO SUFFERS SEIZURES FROM SYNTHETIC CANNABIS

The news comes just a week after DailyMail.com reported on a disturbing video which shows a man from Des Moines, Iowa, having a seizure as an effect of years smoking synthetic marijuana.

Coby O’Brien-Emerick, 27, has experienced chronic seizures every three months for the past five years, putting him in the hospital for weeks on end.

In the video uploaded in December, Coby is seen on the floor convulsing for about nine minutes while paramedics are being called.

The father-of-two told Dailymail.com he asked for his seizure to be recorded in order to understand the severity of it.

The video was posted to YouTube by his mother-in-law to warn others about the dangerous effects of smoking synthetic marijuana .

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4917100/Smoking-super-strength-cannabis-trigger-seizures.html 26 Sept. 2017

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