New study finds that marijuana can reprogram sperm genes

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December 20, 2018

We already know that cannabis lowers sperm count, but new research suggests that the drug actually causes genetic changes to the sperm itself — which might have implications for the health of a potential baby.

For a study published today in the journal Epigenetics, scientists at Duke University 

Think of your DNA as a list of instructions for making proteins, and genes as small subsets of that list. Our body has little chemical tags (called methyl groups) that get added to the DNA at specific regions, explains Susan Kay Murphy, a professor of gynecology at Duke and co-author of the study. These chemicals don’t mutate the genes themselves, but they do affect how they’re used, like deciding which instructions are followed and which aren’t.

Najari already counsels men who use marijuana regularly to cut back because of the effect on sperm count. “I think one of the important positive things about research like this is that it may further motivate men to change their health,” he adds. “It’s one thing to talk about sperm count, another when you’re talking about the potential health of the child.”

Both Najari and Murphy stress that future research needs to be done, and the Duke team is already working on follow-up studies. Are those changes reversible? Will they even end up affecting a potential baby? “

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Cannabis: The case against legalisation

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Executive Summary

Cannabis can be both addictive and harmful. 

Our understanding of the precise extent and nature of the health implications of recreational cannabis use is developing but, at this stage, there is a great deal of uncertainty. On the eve of the first legal retail sales of recreational cannabis in Canada, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an editorial which referred to legalisation as: a national, uncontrolled experiment in which the profits of cannabis producers and tax revenues are squarely pitched against the health of Canadians.1 

The World Health Organisation recognises addiction rates of 1 in every 9 adults that uses cannabis. This rate of addiction is significantly higher in teenagers, the very age group most susceptible to its harmful effects. Currently, there is scientific uncertainty regarding the causality between cannabis use and the onset of conditions such as psychosis or diminished cognitive function. Nevertheless, there is a compelling body of correlational evidence, spanning 20 years and multiple jurisdictions, that heavily suggests that there is a such relationship. This is particularly pronounced in frequent and younger users. The existing law does mitigate the risk that cannabis poses. Although there has been a slight up-lift in recent years, cannabis consumption has been falling for nearly 20 years in the UK. A great many people do take the law seriously and, to many, the law continues to deter them from using a harmful substance.

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International Narcotics Control Board concludes its 123 rd session with treaty compliance and health and well-being at the core of deliberations

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INCD Press Release UNIS/NAR/1367  16 November 2018

VIENNA, 16 November 2018 (UN Information Service) - The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) concluded today its 123rd session in Vienna. In closing the session, theINCB President, Dr. Viroj Sumyai, recognized once again the importance of compliance by countries with the three international drug control treaties to ensure the health and well-being of their people, and emphasized the importance of cooperation at all levels.

Over the past three weeks, the Board addressed diverse challenges at the core of the world drug problem. The Board devoted a significant amount of time to consider the matter of treaty implementation, in particular with respect to recent developments concerning the legalization of cannabis for non-medical and non-scientific purposes. The Board reiterated that the drug control treaties limit the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances exclusively to medical and scientific purposes, and highlighted the serious consequences that non-compliance can have on public health, especially among vulnerable groups.

The Board also gave significant attention to the opioid overdose crisis in North America, and the potential opioid abuse problems in other parts of the world. The Board, and its Standing Committee on Estimates, reviewed the availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical purposes in different countries. In this context, the Board finalized a special report on the matter to be published in early 2019 as a supplement to its Annual Report for 2018.

The Board finalized during the session its 2018 Annual Report, dedicating a thematic chapter to the use of cannabis and cannabinoids for medical, scientific and "recreational" purposes, and approved its report on precursors and its technical publications on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The 2018 Annual Report, its supplement on availability and the report on precursors will be launched worldwide in March 2019.

During the session, the Board also focused its attention on the findings of its recent country missions and agreed on recommendations to be made to the respective Governments on improving their national drug control systems.

This session also marked the 50 th anniversary of INCB. On this occasion, INCB invited Member States to discuss the international drug control system, challenges and the way forward. The Board reiterated its commitment to continuous cooperation with Member States, as well as international organizations and civil society.

On the margins of the session, the INCB President addressed the fifth intersessional meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, where he emphasized that the fundamental objective of the drug control treaties is to safeguard "the health and welfare of humankind by ensuring the availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific use, preventing drug abuse and providing treatment for those affected by drug use, as well as address the diversion of controlled substances and precursors chemical to illicit activities".

The Board met with the Chair of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs as part of ongoing cooperation and in preparation for the ministerial segment of the sixty-second session of the Commission to be held in March 2019. In line with the Joint Statement of INCB, UNODC and WHO in Implementation of the UNGASS 2016 Recommendations , and in the spirit of ongoing cooperation, the Board held consultations with officials from the World Health Organizations (WHO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as well as the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The discussions focused on cooperation among the agencies within their respective mandates to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly relating to health and well-being.

The Board will continue its work in February 2019.

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The Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent body, established by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, mandated to monitor and support governments' compliance with the three international drug control treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the Economic and Social Council to serve in their individual capacities for a term of five years.

The 123 rd session of the Board was held from 30 October - 16 November 2018.

Could medical cannabis be the new THALIDOMIDE? Fears of a crisis as doctors consider doling marijuana-based medicines out to pregnant mothers despite evidence the drug can damage foetuses

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• Pressure to loosen NHS guidelines on medical cannabis use is growing in the UK
• The British Medical Journal warned that widespread use could lead to disaster 
• The potential crisis was compared to the thalidomide scandal of the 50s and 60s

By GUY ADAMS FOR THE DAILY MAIL PUBLISHED: 24 November 2018 

Each of the 400 phone calls to the cannabis dispensaries followed a script. ‘Hi,’ said a female voice. ‘I’m eight weeks pregnant and feeling really nauseated. Are there any products recommended for morning sickness?’

In two-thirds of cases, the reply was: ‘Yes’.

Around half of those callers who’d received an affirmative answer were then advised to buy a specific ‘cure’ in a form they could eat. 

Just under 40 per cent were told to get it in a form that could be inhaled or smoked. Most of the remainder were offered tinctures or drinks.

The recommended cure in question? Marijuana. But far from being genuine requests for help from expectant mothers, the phone calls were part of a research project by the University of Colorado. 

The researchers were pretending to be pregnant to see how cannabis — legal for medical reasons in the U.S. state of Colorado since 2000 and fully legal since 2014 — was being dispensed. The answers they received offer a worrying insight into the booming medical marijuana industry.

‘After eight weeks [of pregnancy], everything should be good with consuming alcohol and weed,’ one dispensary assistant replied.

‘When I was pregnant and started to feel nauseous, I did not smoke [cannabis] more than two times a day,’ recommended the proprietor of another clinic.

‘Edible [marijuana] would not hurt the child,’ reassured another, telling the woman, wrongly, that something ‘going through your digestional tract’ will have no effect on an unborn child.

Of the 277 dispensaries that recommended cannabis as a cure for morning sickness, three-quarters then attempted to sell a version of the drug containing THC, the chemical that gives users a ‘high’.

Many also advised their pregnant patients to keep their consumption of this intoxicating drug secret from their doctor.

‘The doctor will probably just tell you that marijuana is bad for kids and try pushing pills on you,’ said one. ‘I do not know if the baby doctors are chill or not, [so] do not go stoned when you talk to them,’ warned another.

Perhaps those doctors had good reason for their reservations about cannabis. For the Colorado research paper, published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology earlier this year, highlights cannabis as a matter of growing concern to medical practitioners across the world.

Increasingly, marijuana is being sold for medical reasons. Yet this ‘medical’ marijuana is very far from being the safe, natural healthcare product its often-rapacious suppliers would have us believe. 

In some circumstances, the product — which is becoming legal in growing numbers of countries, including Canada, the U.S. and most recently Britain in highly specific circumstances — can be dangerous and possibly fatal. Particularly when taken by pregnant women.

To blame is a simple fact: a multitude of studies over several years have shown all forms of cannabis to be ‘teratogenic’. Meaning that, like tobacco or excessive alcohol, they can harm a foetus.

The drug has been linked to a host of serious birth defects, including at least six life-threatening deformities.

They include two congenital heart problems; a neurological condition called anencephaly, in which a child is born with a large portion of the brain missing, often dying within hours; and the birth defect gastroschisis, where the intestines develop outside the body.

‘Babies exposed to marijuana in utero are at increased risk of admission to neonatal intensive care units,’ says Torri Metz, a University of Utah professor who was among the Colorado study’s authors.

‘There are also concerns about possible long-term effects on the developing brain, impacting cognitive function and decreasing academic ability later in childhood.’

Which brings us to the situation in Britain, where there is pressure on the Government from an increasingly powerful cannabis lobby to loosen the NHS guidelines on medical cannabis use.

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