Contains clinical information about cannabis, beneficial to pharmaceutical companies, clinicians and patients in identifying and evaluating the medicinal benefits of cannabis.
Includes scientific information about cannabis valuable to academic and industrial researchers in gathering current scientific information about cannabis.
Contains wide-ranging information about cannabis providing policymakers, government advisers, politicians, lawyers, journalists, students and parents with important relevant information about cannabis
Each chapter is written by a group of one or more authors recognized internationally as an established expert in the topic of that chapter which ensures that the information provided on cannabis in this handbook is relevant, accurate and correctly interpreted.
Truly global in scope and with contributions from leading researchers around the world, The Handbook of Cannabis is the definitive resource on this fascinating drug. Combining scientific perspectives and clinical applications, it covers a vast array of topics, from why over the centuries cannabis has been used as a medicine, through the regulations facing those wishing to self-administer cannabis or provide cannabis-based medicines, to the chemical structure of its many constituents and the rapidly growing group of synthetic cannabinoids that are currently being used for 'legal highs'.

With each chapter written by a group of one or more internationally recognised subject experts, it provides academics and researchers with authoritative scientific material on the main pharmacological actions and their effects, as well as their pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and forensic detection. In addition it also examines the complex morphology, cultivation, harvesting, and processing of cannabis and the ways in which the plant's chemical composition can be controlled.

As well as offering a raft of scientific information there is extensive coverage of cannabinoid-based medicines. Helping readers to identify and evaluate their benefits, chapters explore pharmacological actions and the effects that seem to underlie approved therapeutic uses, how they are currently used to treat certain disorders, and the ever-growing number of wide-ranging potential clinical applications. There is also coverage of both the legal and illegal sources of cannabis, including 'coffee shops' and 'cannabis dispensaries'.

The complex issue of 'recreational cannabis' is also tackled. The sought-after and adverse psychological and non-psychological effects are described and discussions are included on how some adverse effects can be lessened by at least one constituent of cannabis, and that it might be possible to reduce the harm that cannabis does to some by changing current regulatory policies.

The Handbook of Cannabis is a one-stop reference; essential reading for all clinicians, pharmacologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists interested in this drug, as well as those working in the field of public health.


Constituents, history, international control, cultivation and phenotypes of cannabis
1: Mahmoud A. ElSohly and Waseem Gul: Constituents of Cannabis Sativa
2: Ethan B. Russo: The Pharmacological History of Cannabis
3: Alice Mead: International Control of Cannabis
4: David Potter: Cannabis cultivation
5: Etienne de Meijer: Cannabis phenotypes
Pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, metabolism and forensics
6: Roger G Pertwee and Maria Grazia Cascio: Known pharmacological actions of phytocannabinoids that activate cannabinoid receptors
7: Maria Grazia Cascio and Roger G Pertwee: Known pharmacological actions of nine non-psychotropic phytocannabinoids
8: Bela Szabo: Effects of phytocannabinoids on neurotransmission in the central and peripheral nervous systems
9: Eliot L. Gardner: Cannabinoids and Addiction
10: Sachin Patel, Matthew N. Hill, and Cecilia J. Hillard,: Effects of phytocannabinoids on anxiety, mood and the endocrine system
11: Saoirse Elizabeth O'Sullivan: Phytocannabinoids and the cardiovascular system
12: Marnie Duncan and Angelo A. Izzo: Phytocannabinoids and the gastrointestinal system
13: Jordyn M Stuart, Emma Leishman, and Heather B Bradshaw: Reproduction and cannabinoids: ups and downs - ins and outs
14: Guy A. Cabral, Erinn S. Raborn, and Gabriela A. Ferreira: Phytocannabinoids and the Immune System
15: John M. McPartland: Non-phytocannabinoid constituents of cannabis and herbal synergy
16: Marilyn Huestis: Pharmacokinetics, metabolism and forensic detection of certain phytocannabinoids
Medicinal cannabis and cannabinoids: clinical data
17: Arno Hazekamp and George Pappas: Self-medication with cannabis
18: Amanda Reiman: Cannabis pharmacies and coffee shops
19: Alison Thompson and Verity Langfield: Development of cannabis based medicines: regulatory hurdles/routes in Europe and USA
20: Stephen Wright and Geoffrey Guy: Licensed Cannabis-based Medicines: Benefits and Risks
21: Mark Ware: Synthetic psychoactive cannabinoids licenses as medicines
22: William Notcutt and Emily Laura Clarke: Cannabinoids in clinical practice: a UK perspective
Approved therapeutic targets for phytocannabinoids: preclinical pharmacology
23: Erin M. Rock, Martin A. Sticht, Linda A. Parker: Effect of Phytocannabinoids on Nausea and Vomiting
24: Luigia Cristino and Vincenzo Di Marzo: Established and Emerging Concepts of Cannabinoid Action on Food Intake and their Potential Application to the Treatment of Anorexia and Cachexia
25: Barbara Costa and Francesca Comelli: Pain
26: Gareth Pryce and David Baker: Cannabis and Multiple Sclerosis
Some potential therapeutic targets for phytocannabinoids
27: Javier Fernández-Ruiz, Eva de Lago, María Gómez-Ruiz, Concepción García, Onintza Sagredo and Moisés García-Arencibia: Neurodegenerative disorders other than multiple sclerosis
28: Daniela Parolaro, Erica Zamberletti and Tiziana Rubino: Cannabidiol/Phytocaanabinoids: A new opportunity for schizophrenia treatment
29: Eric Murillo-Rodríguez, Lisa Aguilar-Turton, Stephanie Mijangos-Moreno, Andrea Sarro-Ramírez, Óscar Arias-Carrión: Phytocannabinoids as novel therapeutic agents for sleep disorders
30: Claire M. Williams, Nicholas A. Jones & Benjamin J. Whalley: Cannabis and epilepsy
31: Pal Pacher and George Kunos: Cardiovascular, metabolic, liver, kidney and inflammatory disorders
32: Sergio Oddi and Mauro Maccarrone: Phytocannabinoids and skin disorders
33: Heping Xu and Augusto Azuara-Blanco: Phytocannabinoids in degenerative and inflammatory retinal diseases: glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and uveoretinitis
34: Itai Bab: Bone as a target for cannabinoid therapy
35: Guillermo Velasco, Cristina Sánchez, and Manuel Guzmán: Cancer
Recreational cannabis: sought-after effects, adverse effects, designer drugs and harm minimization
36: H. Valerie Curran and Celia J. A. Morgan: Desired and Undesired Effects of Cannabis on the Human Mind and Psychological Well-Being
37: Paul D Morrison, Sagnik Bhattacharyya, and Robin M Murray: Recreational Cannabis: The Risk of Schizophrenia
38: Franjo Grotenhermen: Non-psychological adverse effects
47: Brian F. Thomas, Jenny L. Wiley, Gerald T. Pollard, and Megan Grabenauer: Cannabinoid designer drugs: effects and forensics
39: Wayne Hall and Louisa Degenhardt: Harm Reduction Policies for Cannabis
40: Brian F. Thomas, Jenny L. Wiley, Gerald T. Pollard, and Megan Grabenauer: Cannabinoid designer drugs: effects and forensics