CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Thanks to therapeutic users and civil organizations, in March of 2017, in Argentina, it was possible to pass Law 27,350 for the medicinal use of cannabis, which allows for research into medicinal cannabis and regulates the access to medicinal cannabis. However, as of date, only a handful of patients managed to access the medicinal cannabis. This situation forces mother and patient organizations to grow and process cannabis plants, in order to improve the health and life quality of kids, patients and their families. The risks this kind of practices entail are many, and we can frequently see police raids and the seizure of the plants in the growers? homes, and the growers are often prosecuted and even sentenced to 4 to 15 years in prison. Such situation has allowed for the growth of an illegal market of cannabis oil with no control whatsoever. However, it is getting more and more frequent to see patients that choose to use medicinal cannabis and ask their doctors to assist them in the process. This is mostly seen in oncologic patients who receive palliative care and who are treated at the Department of Palliative Care of the Hospital Angel Roffo for Oncologic Care (University of Buenos Aires). They use homemade oils or they buy them in the black market; we don?t have any information on the cannabinoids that are present in these oils and in which proportion. We want to stress that it is mandatory to know the concentration of the cannabinoids found in the different presentations used for medicinal purposes in order to be certain of the dosage.The aim of this work is to study the cannabinoids that are present in the oils used by the patients who are treated at the Unit of Palliative Care of the Hospital Angel Roffo and to check on the evolution of the patients.