Marijuana found helpful in treating Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS):

[Mike K]

https://uwc.webmail.optimum.net/en/mail.html?lang=en&laurel=on&cal=0



Cannabis therapy may reduce symptoms and prolong survival in patients diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS aka Lou Gehrig’s disease), according to a scientific review published online last week by the American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine.

Investigators at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle and Temple University in Pennsylvania reviewed preclinical and anecdotal data indicating that marijuana appears to treat symptoms of ALS as well as moderate the course of the disease.

Authors wrote: “Preclinical data indicate that cannabis has powerful antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects. … Cannabis also has properties applicable to symptom management of ALS, including analgesia, muscle relaxation, bronchodilation, saliva reduction, appetite stimulation, and sleep induction. … From a pharmacological perspective, cannabis is remarkably safe with realistically no possibility of overdose or frank physical addiction. There is a valid, logical, scientifically grounded rationale to support the use of cannabis in the pharmacological management of ALS.”

They added, “Based on the currently available scientific data, it is reasonable to think that cannabis might significantly slow the progression of ALS, potentially extending life expectancy and substantially reducing the overall burden of the disease.”

Investigators concluded, “There is an overwhelming amount of preclinical and clinical evidence to warrant initiating a multicenter randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of cannabis as a disease-modifying compound in ALS.”

Writing in the March 2004 issue of the journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis & Other Motor Neuron Disorders, investigators at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported that the administration of THC both before and after the onset of ALS symptoms staved disease progression and prolonged survival in animals compared to untreated controls. To date, however, no clinical trials have assessed the use of marijuana or any of the plant’s cannabinoids on patients diagnosed with ALS.

Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a fatal, progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord, brain stem, and motor cortex. An estimated 30,000 Americans are living with ALS, which often arises spontaneously and afflicts otherwise healthy adults. An estimated 70 to 80 percent of patients with ALS die within three to five years following the onset of disease symptoms.

[WheelWalker]

1. Right on.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Mike.

[bigwillq]

3. K and R

:bounce:

[wildbilln864]

4. K&R! NT

[Old and In the Way]

5. I wish I knew about this 10 years ago...

My mom died from complications due to ALS...it might have made her last few months more comfortable. Horrible, horrible disease.

[librechik]

8. I intend to always recommend MJ to sick folks, just in case

It's so useful for so many chronic/acute illnesses, and so overlooked as a palliative!

[Duer 157099]

6. "..cannabis has powerful antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects"

That should indicate that long-term cannabis users should show a lower incidence of non-genetic Alzheimer's Disease.

Wonder if that study has been done yet?

[tridim]

9. Take Cannabis daily for general good health.

Seriously.

[Tsiyu]

12. I'm glad they put "bronchodilation"

as one of the ways cannabis works

there have been so many arguments on DU about that:

"How can anything you SMOKE help your lungs?"

First off, if people would turn off the Cheech and Chong movies playing in their heads whenever they consider cannabis, they'd realize that it's 2010.

you can ingest it without smoking it.

nebulized breathing treatments (albuterol, etc) can feel more choking than pot smoke and raise the heart rate like a mutha. Cannabis also raises the heartrate, and shouldn't be used by those with a tendency to tachycardia, but the effects on the heart are milder than for most conventional bronchodilators.

Just my opinion, not to be construed as medical advice. i just hope the "howcansmokedoanythinggoddforyoulikeopenyourlungs?" Types will call up the scientists and argue with them as stridently as they do on DU that "there's no way pot can help breathing."

[jberryhill]

7. Wow, that's potent.... I guess Mr. Gehrig is pretty sick by now /nt

[ShortnFiery]

10. Yet he Feds won't even consider decriminalizing it? eom

[Mike K]

11. No.

Because legal marijuana (and hemp) will seriously impact the pharmaceutical, liquor and several other industries and will put an end to a massive amount of graft coming from the cartels who pay our lawmakers to keep it illegal.

[Danascot]

13. But ... Feds Won't Allow More Medical Marijuana Research

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/feds-won-t-allow-more-medical-marijuana-research

It’s the ‘Catch-22’ that has plagued medical marijuana advocates and patients for decades. Lawmakers and health regulators demand clinical studies on the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis, but the federal agency in charge of such research bars these investigations from ever taking place.

But it took until now for the federal government to finally admit it.

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) told The New York Times last week that the agency does “not fund research focused on the potential medical benefits of marijuana.”

Why is this admission so significant? Here’s why.

Under federal law, NIDA (along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) must approve all clinical and preclinical research involving marijuana. NIDA strictly controls which investigators are allowed access to the federal government’s lone research supply of pot – which is authorized via a NIDA contract and cultivated and stored at the University of Mississippi.

In short, no NIDA approval = no marijuana = no scientific studies. And that is, and always has been, the problem.

But to the folks over at NIDA, there’s no problem at all.

[Bonobo]

14. Peter Tosh missed that one (but he got most of them!)

Legalize it
Don't criticize it
Legalize it, yeah, yeah
And I will advertise it

Some call it tampee (tampee)
Som call it the weed (kali)
Some call it marijuana, yeah
Some of them call it ganja

Never mind, got to legalize it
And don't criticize it
Legalize it, yeah, yeah
And I will advertise it

Singers smoke it
And players of instrument too
Legalize it, yeah, yeah
That's the best thing you can do
Doctors smoke it
Nurses smoke it
Judges smoke it
Even the lawyer too

So you've got to legalize it
And don't criticize it
Legalize it, yeah, yeah
And I will advertise it

It's good for the flu
Good for asthma
Good for tuberculosis
Even numara thrombosis

Got to legalize it
Don't criticize it
Legalize it, yeah, yeah
I will advertise it

Birds eat it
Ants love it
Fowls eat it
Goats love to play with it

So you've got to legalize it
And don't criticize it
Legalize it, yeah, yeah
And I will advertise it
Keep on telling 'em, legalize it
Don't, don't ...

[slay]

15. And it's illegal why?

Don't bother asking the government - all you'll get are bullshit answers. We must DEMAND it be legalized.