The Cannabis and Science Conference summarised treatment and research
The sixth annual conference Cannabis and Science was held at the Brno Observatory and Planetarium. The purpose of the event is to evaluate the development of research and treatment with cannabis, education and news in this field. The conference was attended by 160 people from the ranks of doctors, biologists, researchers, scientists, students and patients.
Due to epidemiological conditions, one of the main speakers, Lumír Hanuš, a Czech chemist and scientist living in Israel. Despite this, the conference had a very busy programme. “On the agenda were topics ranging from basic research, i.e. the study of genetics, through the plant itself, cultivation, processing, the creation of medicinal preparations to clinical trials in our country and in the world. In the afternoon part, there was also experience from the perspective of doctors and patients,” said MVDr. Václav Trojan, Head of the Clinical Pharmacology Unit of the International Clinical Research Centre at St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno (FNUSA-ICRC).
The conference originally started as an event of several enthusiasts who were involved in cannabis research. Now it has international participation, including professors from different disciplines. All agree that cannabis has a future. “Thanks to the changes that are taking place in the Czech legislation regarding cannabis, we are on the threshold of a period when we will move perhaps more steps in this area than in the past. This will help us to further intensify the connection between research and patients,” said FNUSA-ICRC Director Pavel Iványi.
St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno is a leader in cannabis treatment in the Czech Republic. “We are currently treating 240 patients with cannabis for chronic pain of various origins, up from 220 last year. The biggest increase was recorded at the beginning of 2020, when it was decided that 90 percent of the prescribed medical cannabis would be covered by health insurance. Until then, there were only dozens of patients,” added the head of the FNUSA Pain Management Centre, Radovan Hřib, MD, who is also involved in cannabis research at the FNUSA International Clinical Research Centre.
“In the last two years we have achieved many things, such as the establishment of the Cannabis Research Centre or the commissioning of a cannabis cultivation facility for research. I am delighted to be part of a journey that starts with genetic information and ends with the patient. I am proud and grateful that we can develop something like this in this combination and I dare say we are the only ones in the world. At St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno we have scientists, doctors and patients in one place, which is really unique,” added Václav Trojan.
