fyi: Marijuana May Slow Alzheimer's/Scripps Research Inst.

Marijuana May Slow Alzheimer's, Research Shows

From Reuters

October 6, 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.

Many of us who have been involved with the issue over the past thirty years or so have suspected that when studies were finally done, they would prove marijuana's relative safety and health benefits.


I guess we were right. :nana:

*flame suit on* Here's what I don't understand. If THC is sooo great, why not make it into pill form? Wait, people would get pissed because they couldn't smoke it.... To some it's for medical reasons, for others it's just to get high.

Pills are metabolized differently than vapors. Where the idea comes from that we can always improve on the natural pharmacology of herbs I don't know. We have at least as much to fear from synthetics as we do any herb. There is no 5,000 year time trial on any pill, there is on herbs.

VWTim said:

*flame suit on* Here's what I don't understand. If THC is sooo great, why not make it into pill form? Wait, people would get pissed because they couldn't smoke it.... To some it's for medical reasons, for others it's just to get high.

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So then put them in an inhaler? Then you don't have the issues associated with inhaling smoke and CO2 in the lungs.

VWTim said:

*flame suit on* Here's what I don't understand. If THC is sooo great, why not make it into pill form? Wait, people would get pissed because they couldn't smoke it.... To some it's for medical reasons, for others it's just to get high.

Click to expand...

I recall 25-30 years ago it was "for sale" in a pill.
Purple THC ring a bell? Perhaps I am mistaking.
That was a long time ago.
Topper

VWTim said:

why not make it into pill form?

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They do.
http://www.marinol.com/home.html

You can also release it into an edible form via releasing it into an oil (ie butter). Methods are readily available online so I won't go into it.

There is already THC in pill form. One brand, IIRC, was called Marinol.

Personally, I think that "getting high" or altering ones consciousness is a more fundamental right than free speech or a womans right to abort the couples fetus. Don't get me wrong by understanding me as a supporter of smoking pot, I'm not. My personal belief is that it's a generally destructive habit but our government has seen fit to outlaw many other substances, like Teonancatl, Ayahuasca and Peyote that have proven to be beneficial to individuals and communities that use them in a sacred context. One certainly needn't belong to an indigenous people to appreciate these substances in a manner conducive to religious use.

Habitual use of any substance tends to be destructive. Use of entheogens like Ayahuasca, Teonancatl and Peyote do not create the phenomena of craving associated with drugs of habituation like marijuana , alcohol , cocaine and methamphetamine (these substances also fall far outside the definition of the term entheogen).

There is also a form of inhaler , I think it's called a vaporizer and it gently heats the raw herb till the resins vaporize. There is no combustion involved so all the hazardous substances produced by burning are eliminated. I think they tend to be unpopular since they take quite a bit longer to get the job done.

Reminds me of those that drink wine with dinner and like to say alcohol aids in digestion.

Slows down Alzheimer's...............but the person has to be stoned.


I'm not seeing any advantage here.

Would you rather have your parents high and know who they and you are or not high and clueless as to who you and they are? Seems pretty obvious to me.

I was thinking about me, personally, having to choose between Alzheimer's or being high.

Easy. I'd rather be dead. Same for my parents.

Not that I'd take that choice away from anyone else. If someone else wants to live high, more power to them. Alot of people live high already, and, other than some intelligence issues which are not germane to this topic, there's nothing wrong with them.

A close friend of mine has been smoking marijuana for 10+ years now for medical purposes. When he started, he would be high like the typical social user. Now days, you won't even know if he's 'high' or not. I can not tell 95% of the time and to outsiders, they can not tell 99+% of the time.

FYI:
The city/county of San Francisco's health department issues medical cards for legal (local) use and possession of marijuana. Possession of a medical card is needed for entry into a medical clinic or buyer's club which specializes in marijuana.

Diesel_Bomber said:

I was thinking about me, personally, having to choose between Alzheimer's or being high.

Easy. I'd rather be dead. Same for my parents.

Not that I'd take that choice away from anyone else. If someone else wants to live high, more power to them. Alot of people live high already, and, other than some intelligence issues which are not germane to this topic, there's nothing wrong with them.

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DB, your position is extreme. Extremeism is rarely rationally thought out. What has influenced you into such a position? That's like saying you'd rather let your parents die in pain than allow a physician to administer morphine or other opiates. One is just as high with these compounds. Most anesthetics are intoxicating as well.

The issue here is that a new treatment for alzheimers may have been found. Brain diseases cause an incredible amount of sufering and even if , in the short term some intoxication is produced, tolerance will build and the intoxicating effects diminish. The beneficial effects shouldn't wane. Either way, the point is that a potentially novel mechanism of action has been found that can be researched and exploited in non pyschotropic drugs. Hell, we don't even know if the quantities of the active compound that produce effective results with alzheimers are enough to produce intoxication.

..it's not that it slows Alzheimers, it just makes it really hard to notice when it sets in.. :hahaha:

if only grandma could remember where she put the bong...

Yep, my position is extreme. If you'd truly like to discuss it further, please PM me.


My opinion stands. I'd rather be dead than intoxicated.

it's a trade off....

Forget stuff now... remember stuff later

It also helps ease the discomfort from chemotherapy for leukemia patients.
My late Aunt had it prescribed to her in 1985.
She had an acute (hits fast and hard) case of the blood disease caught in time at the right moment during a routine medical checkup.
She lived for another year after that before complications related to her leukemia and chemotherapy caught up with her.

Hmmm... :candle: I though pot made you forget... This says it helps you remember. :huh2: