sex-specific treatment

Adolescent Female Cannabis-Users are Less Likely to Engage in Sexual Intercourse

Daily co-occurrences of marijuana use, alcohol use, and sexual intercourse among at-risk, truant adolescent girls

In summary

A recent study conducted by Brown University found that adolescent female cannabis users were less likely than their peers to engage in sexual intercourse. It remains uncertain whether cannabis is reducing participants’ desire to engage in sexual intercourse or if there is a second common factor that wards them away from intercourse. Within the same population, it was found that the participants who consumed alcohol were far more likely to engage in sexual intercourse that day than controls or cannabis users. This knowledge may aid in the development of prevention programs, specifically for those consuming alcohol underage and then engaging in sexual intercourse, defined as a high-risk behavior in this study. 

Adolescent cannabis use is a hot topic of conversation as state governments continue to legalize medical and recreational cannabis. At-home cultivators and those who maintain a large amount of cannabis at their homes need to ensure proper storage and restriction methods to ensure the safety of their children. Too little is known about the long-term effects of cannabis to allow adolescents to have unsupervised access to cannabis. There should also be more studies conducted addressing the effect of cannabis-based medications in adolescents so it can be deemed safe to give children for various disorders or if it affects neural development.

The study is available for review or download here

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Benjamin Caplan, MDAdolescent Female Cannabis-Users are Less Likely to Engage in Sexual Intercourse
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Noradrenergic depletion causes sex-specific alterations in the endocannabinoid system in the Murine prefrontal cortex

The Endocannabinoid System May Provide Sex-Specific Treatment Methods for Stress

In Summary

A recent study has found the receptors in the endocannabinoid system may behave differently in men and women during times of stress. This sex-specific mechanism may provide novel treatment methods for patients suffering from stress and anxiety disorders. Previous studies have shown how the endocannabinoid system and stress, ruled by norepinephrine, interact with each other, but this new information depicting the activity of the endocannabinoid during the dysregulation of norepinephrine is likely to provide evidence for sex-specific treatment of psychiatric disorders. 

This study brings to light the larger issue of specific treatment methods for men and women. Clinical trials often begin by distributing the drug therapy to a small number of healthy male patients, which helps researchers determine dosing, toxicity, and the overall effect. Medications are rarely dosed based on sex despite numerous studies discovering sex-specific mechanisms in the brain. The research highlighted in this post is one of many that highlights the need for specific medications.

View this review (yellow link) or download:

This paper is also stored HERE inside the CED Foundation Archive

To explore related information, click the keywords below:

Benjamin Caplan, MDNoradrenergic depletion causes sex-specific alterations in the endocannabinoid system in the Murine prefrontal cortex
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