The elderly are the fastest growing population of cannabis users. But how do hospice workers feel about their patients using cannabis? A recent survey by pharmacists at the University of Maryland asked palliative care practitioners about their opinions on cannabis use among hospice patients. Over 90% of workers support the use of cannabis, but most physicians did not recommend cannabis to their patients. This may be due to a lack of knowledge about safe use of cannabis — over 80% of respondents wanted standardized protocols on the use of cannabis in palliative care.

In clinical research, cannabis is often set up to fail. Federal restrictions privilege studying isolated molecules from cannabis over the plant itself. And even when cannabis research is done, scientists are often forced to use low-quality weed from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Because of this, most of the useful medical data on cannabis comes from observational studies, where people consuming cannabis are asked about their experience. Researchers in Albuquerque recently analyzed an app-based survey of over 3,000 cannabis users.

Panic, as a mental health disorder, results from overactive stress hormones, hypersensitivity to certain neurotransmitters, and a desensitization to the parasympathetic system — which is supposed to quell the fight-or-flight reaction after a threat has disappeared. New research from Brazilian scientsts in São Paulo examined how endocannabinoids, specifically anandamide, plays a role in panic-like reactions in mice. Injecting various doses of anandamide into a brain region called the dorsomedial hypothalamus, they found that moderate doses suppress panic, but high doses have no effect.