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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLow Doses of THC protect brain/may halt brain injuries
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130530132531.htmPrevious studies focused on injecting high doses of THC within a very short time frame -- approximately 30 minutes -- before or after injury. Prof. Sarne's current research, published in the journals Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, demonstrates that even extremely low doses of THC -- around 1,000 to 10,000 times less than that in a conventional marijuana cigarette -- administered over a wide window of 1 to 7 days before or 1 to 3 days after injury can jumpstart biochemical processes which protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function over time.
...While performing experiments on the biology of cannabis, Prof. Sarne and his fellow researchers discovered that low doses of the drug had a big impact on cell signalling, preventing cell death and promoting growth factors. This finding led to a series of experiments designed to test the neuroprotective ability of THC in response to various brain injuries.
...According to Prof. Sarne, there are several practical benefits to this treatment plan. Due to the long therapeutic time window, this treatment can be used not only to treat injury after the fact, but also to prevent injury that might occur in the future. For example, cardiopulmonary heart-lung machines used in open heart surgery carry the risk of interrupting the blood supply to the brain, and the drug can be delivered beforehand as a preventive measure. In addition, the low dosage makes it safe for regular use in patients at constant risk of brain injury, such as epileptics or people at a high risk of heart attack.
Hello, DEA. We're sick of your lies. Stop treating this plant like it's a dangerous drug, like, say, all those pharmaceuticals that you have no problem with in spite of their many negative side effects.
Sincerely, American People
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)dmr
(28,344 posts)alittlelark
(18,888 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)maintaining power for the status quo....locking up people in jail and denying them voting rights, rights to create a life for themselves, to go to school...
all so that a bunch of authoritarian dickheads have a job to go to on Monday morning.
The DEA refuses to admit that cannabis has medicinal value.
They're the creationists of bureaucracies, with the same bullshit beliefs to back them up.
alittlelark
(18,888 posts)All too true....
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Synthetic Derivatives Of THC May Weaken HIV-1 Infection To Enhance Antiviral Therapies
A new use for compounds related in composition to the active ingredient in marijuana may be on the horizon: a new research report published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that compounds that stimulate the cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor in white blood cells, specifically macrophages, appear to weaken HIV-1 infection. The CB2 receptor is the molecular link through which the pharmaceutical properties of cannabis are manifested. Diminishing HIV-1 infection in this manner might make current anti-viral therapies more effective and provide some protection against certain HIV-1 complications.
The synthetic compounds we used in our study may show promise in helping the body fight HIV-1 infection, said Yuri Persidsky, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. As compounds like these are improved further and made widely available, we will continue to explore their potential to fight other viral diseases that are notoriously difficult to treat.
To make this discovery, scientists used a cell culture model to infect human macrophages with HIV-1 and added synthetic compounds similar to the active ingredient in marijuana to activate the CB2 receptor. At different times during the infection, samples from the culture were taken to see if the replication of the HIV virus was decreased. The researchers observed diminished HIV growth and a possible protective effect from some HIV-1 complications.
HIV/AIDS has posed one of the most significant health challenges in modern medicine, said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. Recent high profile vaccine failures mean that all options need to be on the table to prevent or treat this devastating infection. Research on the role of cannabinoid type 2 receptors and viral infection may one day allow targeting these receptors to be part of combination therapies that use exploit multiple weaknesses of the virus simultaneously.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112834714/synthetic-derivatives-of-thc-may-weaken-hiv-1-infection-to-enhance-antiviral-therapies/
Studies have already indicated synthetic CBD shrinks cancerous tumors, as well.
Yeah, it's good this dangerous substance is illegal so that it's difficult to do research on its medicinal properties...
alittlelark
(18,888 posts)....sooooo many potential benefits that Big Pharma will do anything in their power to stop.
felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)It's pretty astonishing that cannabis has soooo many positive indications for health.
No wonder people are skeptical when they see these things...you think... surely our govt. isn't so fucking stupid and backward that they would continue to create laws against something safer than aspirin, but with more potential benefits than aspirin.
...but then, you'd realize that, oh, well, the truth is that our govt. is too fucking stupid.
and they make the entire world suffer for their stupidity.
or, really, more to the point, their corruption.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)according to the article, applied within a short time frame.
The guy who designed this study did so because these short time frame/high doses provided protection for the brain - so he wanted to see if lower doses had an impact... or at what level such impact would cease to be.
And he found that very small amounts offer benefits.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)Michael Pollan did some great work looking at plant and human co-evolution.
there is likely a reason this was medicine for 5000 years, that migrated across the world, until the last 75 or so years of prohibition.
just like aspirin was a widely used medicine in its natural form of willow bark.
Cannabis also has the most complete EFA profile for humans - and we don't produce EFAs, we have to ingest them from fish or plants. EFAs are essential for health in all animals and must be acquired from our food environment.
This plant has been a friend to humans for a long, long time.
How strange that the U.S. declared war on a plant.
Stryder
(450 posts)He has found that extremely low doses of THC -- the psychoactive component of marijuana -- protects the brain from long-term cognitive damage in the wake of injury from hypoxia (lack of oxygen), seizures, or toxic drugs.
I'm doin it wrong.
alittlelark
(18,888 posts)other studies had already looked at dude-i-tude levels...
What's also REALLY interesting about this is not only neuroprotective qualities, but the ability to generate brain cell growth.
From Oct. 2005 -
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8155-marijuana-might-cause-new-cell-growth-in-the-brain.html
In mammals, new nerve cells are constantly being produced in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is associated with learning, memory, anxiety and depression. Other recreational drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine and cocaine, have been shown to suppress this new growth. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and colleagues decided to see what effects a synthetic cannabinoid called HU210 had on rats' brains.
They found that giving rats high doses of HU210 twice a day for 10 days increased the rate of nerve cell formation, or neurogenesis, in the hippocampus by about 40%.
But that was a synthetic at a concentrated dose, not someone doing science experiments in the garage...
RainDog
(28,784 posts)...To paraphrase former DEA Judge Arnold Trebach. The DEA's judge recommended rescheduling. Nixon's appointee. But this recommendation was ignored.
Judge Young was the only person in history to hear all the evidence, ever, in the history of this nation, concerning one drug... tens of thousands of documents.
They recommended decriminalization 40 years ago.
We currently arrest 800,000 people per year for possession of marijuana.
In 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that more than 12-percent of inmates at the state and federal levels are serving for marijuana offenses, costing Americans an estimated one billion dollars a year.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)exactly
RainDog
(28,784 posts)exactly.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Wait....what were we talking about?