Marijuana may prevent Alzheimer's from progressing

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) -- 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.

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I can just imagn this form of medication being used in my Pas rest home.
Wouldnt the required intake of marijuana overide any of the benfits of fighting Alzheimer's ?
Imagn the number of Alzheimer's suffers who would be high as a kite. :w:

yay, Another desiese ill never get

light em up

How can they tell?

Actually, I read that story too.
There are a lot of active chemicals that are barely researched, due to the
current classification of the substance.
Very hard to get grant money to do this.

What a wonderus plant it's almost like it was geneticly engieneered to work perfectly with the human beings chemestry. Can't OD on it, protects nerves in the brain, stimulates the mind to think in new and novel ways, spurs creativity and deep thought(one of the few things that makes us sentient), helps releave post traumatic stress syndrome, helps lower blood pressure, helps people cope with the faster and faster pace mankind decides to operate at, helps arthritis, helps prevent alzhimers, helps long term memory potentiation, the only known chemical that can send a signal the opposite direction on a synapse. (Nerves usually only communicate in one direction) and still no link to cancer.

Victory is certain with the decriminalization of this plant

The Food and Drug Administration, even after yet another news story regarding the use of cannabis to treat still another ailment, will say that "marijuana has no medical value".

The cannabinoids are a particular set of chemicals most closely associated and considered unique to marijuana/cannabis. The properties of the sixty or so different known cannabinoids in treating human disease range from pain relief, antispasmatic properties, as an anti emetic, for protective factors in stroke, some anti-tumor agents against lung growths and now, for the treatment of alzheimers.

The medical uses of marijuana seem obvious to everyone but the F.D.A. Perhaps if those who controlled the F.D.A. were to try marijuiana, it might do something to treat the serious myopia that seems to permeate all levels of government.

Originally posted by spacedoubt
How can they tell?

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Actually, I read that story too.
There are a lot of active chemicals that are barely researched, due to the
current classification of the substance.
Very hard to get grant money to do this.

It's a damn shame too. There are lots of substances within narcotics that could be extremely usefull to us if we learn how to synthesize them. Psilosibin(Majical Mushrooms) is said to be extremely usefull for the treatment of cluster headaches without the sideaffects of conventional treatments. Some people get these headaches so bad they commit suicide. I'm not joking. MDMA (Extasy) opens up a temporary concious link to the sub-concious mind, in low dosess, it could multiply the effectiveness of psycho-therapy. Not sure of any others that could be usefull, those are all I know of atm.

Just want to see if I have this correct.

People who are suffering from Alzheimer's disease can lesson the effects
by ingesting Marijuana, do I have that right?

Hmmmm.. All the 'pot-heads' I've ever known have always had problems
remembering where they last left their car keys, wallets, 'stash'. 80% of them
couldn't tell you what they had for breakfast the day before. 75% couldn't remember
their significant others birthday/anniversary until it was brought in a conversation by either the wife
and/or girlfriend with hints as to what they were going to do on that particular day.

Yeau,,, sounds like a great 'medication' for a disease that already represses the memory functioning properly..