Roll one up... Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer’s
SuzannePjam
Posts: 411
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15145917/#storyContinued
Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer’s
Active ingredient in pot may help preserve brain function
Updated: 4:31 p.m. ET Oct 5, 2006
WASHINGTON - Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana’s active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.
THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.
The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.
Those afflicted with Alzheimer’s suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.
Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.
Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer’s
Active ingredient in pot may help preserve brain function
Updated: 4:31 p.m. ET Oct 5, 2006
WASHINGTON - Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana’s active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.
THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.
The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.
Those afflicted with Alzheimer’s suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.
Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.
"Where there is sacrifice there is someone collecting the sacrificial offerings."-- Ayn Rand
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
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Comments
i agree with you!!!!! what are the chances? well, almost, i cant get on board with banning cigaretts, if you want to kill yourself with smokes, have at it. im never for the government banning what we do with our own bodies, but i do see your point.
Those afflicted with Alzheimer’s suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.
Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.
guess i should take it back up again then, b/c it is believed at the end of his life my father most probably suffered from alzheimer's....and one of his brothers, most definitely.
of course, i already knew of the possible hereditary connection...but yea, it's a scary disease.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
Damn thats a good excuse to start smoking the weed again if ever I heard one.:)
but of course, people would rather take man-made chemicals than that evil, natural pot!
I don't believe that memory loss bullshit. Some people are just stupid. I've known regular smokers who have no problems remembering things.
no she said that memory loss only is accuring if someone uses 4 or more compleet joints every day....i have a smal glass pipe and i use it onc or twice a day with a really litle amount in it...works fantastic.Better then al those morfine like pills that made me a totally different and unplesant person.
Yep ... Pot can interfere with some memory functions, true .. Especially working memory. But it also (apparently) affects neurotransmitter levels that are related to Alzeimers. Not the same thing. Alzeimers is a specific disease that happens to involve memory loss as a cardinal symptom.
Yes, it apparently takes very heavy usage over long periods of time to produce permanent memory deficits.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=15363608
Recent research has clarified a number of important questions concerning adverse effects of cannabis on health. A causal role of acute cannabis intoxication in motor vehicle and other accidents has now been shown by the presence of measurable levels of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the blood of injured drivers in the absence of alcohol or other drugs, by surveys of driving under the influence of cannabis, and by significantly higher accident culpability risk of drivers using cannabis. Chronic inflammatory and precancerous changes in the airways have been demonstrated in cannabis smokers, and the most recent case-control study shows an increased risk of airways cancer that is proportional to the amount of cannabis use. Several different studies indicate that the epidemiological link between cannabis use and schizophrenia probably represents a causal role of cannabis in precipitating the onset or relapse of schizophrenia. A weaker but significant link between cannabis and depression has been found in various cohort studies, but the nature of the link is not yet clear. A large body of evidence now demonstrates that cannabis dependence, both behavioral and physical, does occur in about 7-10% of regular users, and that early onset of use, and especially of weekly or daily use, is a strong predictor of future dependence. Cognitive impairments of various types are readily demonstrable during acute cannabis intoxication, but there is no suitable evidence yet available to permit a decision as to whether long-lasting or permanent functional losses can result from chronic heavy use in adults. However, a small but growing body of evidence indicates subtle but apparently permanent effects on memory, information processing, and executive functions, in the offspring of women who used cannabis during pregnancy. In total, the evidence indicates that regular heavy use of cannabis carries significant risks for the individual user and for the health care system.
Marijuana should be decriminalized IMO. We can hope......
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
I saw Hard To Imagine LIVE at MSG!
alright then... it'll be smoke only 1 joint in the morning, and smoke two joints at night.
seriously though, that's good to know. i can't imagine even smoking close to 4 complete joints in one day... who has that kind of cash??
My g/f thinks like this and other than her knowing some people close to her abusing it she really can't name anymore reason why.
So, what's your reasoning
(You don't have to answer if it's too personal)
A friend of mine got killed because of it.
Cool.
Damnit.
Damn man, I'm sorry. I hope I didn't offend you either.
yes it is.
and so is everyone that thinks it doesn't have harmful side effects.
Esther's here and she's sick?
hi Esther, now we are all going to be sick, thanks
I have to correct you there, smoking pot is NOT more carcinogenic than tobacco smoking. Pot also contains several times less tar than tobacco, so the smoke is milder for the lungs.
http://www.norml.org.nz/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=582
If you are genetically susceptible to a bipolar disorder, maybe. There's no research to this day that has proven a causal link between cannabis use and schizophrenia. Then again, why would you use cannabis - or alcohol, if your family's known for having mental disorders? That's just plain stupid.
Oh this one was the best I've read this week
If you believe this study is proof enough to keep cannabis illegal - then tell me why we shouldn't do the same with alcohol and tobacco. Tobacco is killer drug nr. 1 today, alcohol 2nd.
http://www.idmu.co.uk/historical.htm - Why cannabis first were made illegal.
http://www.sky.org/data/who/library/study/ - The famous WHO report classifying cannabis as a less harmless drug than alcohol and tobacco
http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/ - Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman recommends legalisation of cannabis
http://www.tripzine.com/print.asp?id=myths - The greatest drug war myths revealed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=10221315&dopt=Abstract - Study proves no correlations between cognitive decline and cannabis use
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/11/25/marijuana-normal041125.html - 57% of Canada for legalisation of cannabis
Please take a close look at this chart:
Explanations to the chart:
WITHDRAWAL: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal
symptoms.
REINFORCEMENT: A measure of the substance’s ability, in human
and animal tests, to get users to take it again and again, and in
preference to other substances.
TOLERANCE: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy
increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is
eventually reached.
DEPENDENCE:How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate,the
percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating
users give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the
substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.
INTOXICATION: Though not usually counted as a measure of
addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with
addiction and increases the personal and social damage a
substance may do.
Source: Jack E. Henningfield, PhD for NIDA, Reported by Philip J. Hilts, New
York Times, Aug. 2, 1994 “Is Nicotine Addictive? It Depends on Whose Criteria
You Use.”
If tobacco came aroung today, it too would be made illegal but then people like you would fight for the legalisation of it and tell us the benefits.
My personal opinion is that any mind altering substance is wrong, whether it be alcohol or drugs, but i'm not gonna start fighting to make alcohol illegal or drugs legal.
Tobacco is not a mind altering drug, just a fucked up poison that can lead to severe diseases. It is taxed accordingly (at least in the UK) so the government makes a profit on taxes from cigarettes against money spent on helath care from smoking related diseases.
Why?
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