Category Archives: Science

THC Could Relieve Some Sclerosis Symptoms

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ScierosisA new study, that was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, says marijuana may relieve some symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego gave 30 participants either marijuana or placebo cigarettes to smoke over a matter of days.

Those given marijuana had less pain and reduced muscle stiffness.

A few participants who withdrew early from the study reported feeling uncomfortably high, dizzy or fatigue. But researchers say there were no serious negative effects.

Sixty-three percent of study participants were women, and over half required the use of devices to assist in walking, with 20 percent using a wheelchair. The average participant age was 50.

“We found that smoked cannabis was superior to placebo in reducing symptoms and pain in patients with treatment-resistant spasticity, or excessive muscle contractions,” Reports said.

Patients reported 50 percent less pain while using marijuana, and tests that “graded the intensity of muscle tone by measuring such things as resistance in range of motion and rigidity” showed marked improvements in the cannabis users.

UCSD researchers are calling for a larger, longer term study to confirm their findings and determine whether a lower cannabis dosage can achieve the desired physical benefits without the impact on cognitive function.

Dabbing is Becoming a New Way to get High

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Dabbing Kit

Dabbing marijuana seems to be the new way of getting high, What is dabbing? “Dab” is a endearing term for consuming cannabis medicines through using super-critical extracted cannabis concentrate that is normally ”dabbed” on to a heated surface and the vapor that is created by dabbing the medicine on the heated surface is inhaled by the patient. Dabbing is a single dose of hash oil or vaporizing pure marijuana oils known as BHO or butane honey oil. The amount of hash oil one will be consuming in one hit.

Some say dabs are awesome and becoming a great way to take 1 hit and be done for. There are a few ways to dab, one is a skillet, which looks like little cymbals that you pretty much heat up with a blow torch, then apply the wax to your paper clip. Another is the glass nail, you can get a bowl with a glass nail, in which you remove the lid, take your blow torch and heat up the glass nail. There are many other ways to dag and new dabbing rigs are popping up everywhere. Some people really enjoy it, some say it is too strong. What do you think?

Marijuana May Reduce Suicides?

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A new study titled “High on Life” Medical Marijuana Laws and Suicide has shown that using marijuana may reduce the thoughts of suicide.  The study comes from the same people that found that legalizing medical marijuana was associated with fewer deaths on the highways.

The study showed that they estimated the effect of legalizing medical marijuana on suicide rates.  The study was taken from using state level data for the period of 1990 through 2007.  The results suggest that the passage of a medical marijuana law is associated with an almost 5 percent suicide reduction total.  An astounding 11 percent suicide reduction for 20 through 29 year old men and a 9 percent suicide reduction for 30 through 39 year old men.  The study said that estimates of the relationship between legalization and female suicides are less precise and are sensitive to functional form.Using state-level data for the period 1990 through 2007, we estimate the effect of legalizing medical marijuana on suicide rates. Our results suggest that the passage of a medical marijuana law is associated with an almost 5 percent reduction in the total suicide rate, an 11 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 20- through 29-year-old males, and a 9 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 30- through 39-year-old males. Estimates of the relationship between legalization and female suicides are less precise and are sensitive to functional form.

Whether you agree or dis-agree with this study, marijuana has proven to re-leave numerous medical conditions and stress.  Comparing legalizing marijuana to already legal alcohol, I can’t see even an glimpse of evidence on how alcohol is safer.  Alcohol could very much be one of the most dangerous drugs out there, I’ve never heard of alcohol reducing suicides, have you?

Marinol – FDA Aprroved THC Pill

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Marinol, also know as Dronabinol and Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is the principal psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant.  Dronabinol, the active ingredient in Marinol Capsules, is synthetic delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC). Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol is also a naturally occurring component of Cannabis sativa L. (Marijuana).  Marinol (dronabinol) Capsules is supplied as round, soft gelatin capsules containing either 2.5 mg, 5 mg, or 10 mg dronabinol.  This pill is a light yellow resinous oil that is sticky at room temperature and hardens upon refrigeration. Dronabinol is insoluble in water and is formulated in sesame oil.

Dronabinol is used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy in people who have already taken other medications to treat this type of nausea and vomiting without good results. Dronabinol is also used to treat loss of appetite and weight loss in people who have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Dronabinol is in a class of medications called cannabinoids. It works by affecting the area of the brain that controls nausea, vomiting, and appetite.

Since Marinol does contain THC, this makes it one of the only FDA approved marijuana type medicine you can actually get a prescription for, unlike medical marijuana where the fight continues on legalizing for medical use and is still considered a recommendation, not a prescription.

Marijuana-Based Mouth Spray Seeking FDA Approval

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Marijuana has been used for numerous medical reason, but now a British pharmaceutical company, known as GW Pharma, has developed a mouth spray from key ingredients of raw marijuana to treat severe cancer pain.  The British company is in advanced clinical trials with the world’s first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana and it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.

GW Pharmaceuticals has asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve Sativex.  Sativex contains marijuana’s two best known components, delta 9-THC and cannabidiol, which have already has been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for a different usage, relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

The company lists the main effects of cannabinoids as anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, antipsycotic, anti-oxidant, neuroprotective, immunomodulatory, and the main effects of THC as analgesic, anti-spasmodic, anti-tremor, anti-inflammatory, appetite stimulant, anti-emetic. The most common side effects of Sativex are dizziness and fatigue.

Last April, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice of allowance for a patent, which protects the use of Sativex as a treatment for cancer pain, providing an exclusivity period until April 2025.  FDA approval would represent an important milestone in the nation’s often uneasy relationship with marijuana, which 16 states and the District of Columbia already allow residents to use legally with doctors’ recommendations.

The Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration shot down a petition to reclassify marijuana as a drug with important medicinal properties in July 2011, citing that it has “no accepted medical use.” Marijuana therefore remains within the strictest categorization of restricted substances, alongside heroin and LSD. (ANI)

Scientist, Alexandros Makriyannis, director of the Center for Drug Discovery at Northeastern University and founder of a small Boston company that hopes to market synthetic pain products that are chemically unrelated to marijuana, but work similarly on the body or inhibit the cannabinoid receptors. He also has been working on a compound that functions like the failed Acomplia but without the depressive effects.

“I think within five to 10 years, we should get something,” Makriyannis said.

Marijuana May Not Be as Harmful to The Lungs As Some Think

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Smoking marijuana is just like smoking cigarettes and it can hurt your lungs the same way right?  Wrong,  apparently from a 20 year study, it suggests evidence that marijuana doesn’t do the kind of damage tobacco does.  The study, published in the Jan. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found occasional pot smokers – who used a median of roughly two to three joints per month – had normal lung function compared to tobacco smokers in the study. This result s from one of the largest and longest studies on the health effects of marijuana.

The data suggest that using marijuana that often might cause a decline in lung function, but there weren’t enough heavy users among the 5,000 young adults in the study to draw firm conclusions.  Still, the authors recommended “caution and moderation when marijuana use is considered.”  Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law although some states allow its use for medical purposes.

The study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham was released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.  The findings echo results in some smaller studies that showed while marijuana contains some of the same toxic chemicals as tobacco, it does not carry the same risks for lung disease.

Study co-author Dr. Stefan Kertesz, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Alabama at Birgmingham, said when it comes to the question of whether marijuana can have other negative impacts on health, the answer isn’t so simple.”Marijuana is like any complex substance that affects many different parts of human biology and human functioning,” Kertesz told CBS News in an email. “For some people it’s going to be the impact on social life or legal issues or intellectual functioning that might be harmful,” he said, adding that some people really do develop severe addictions to marijuana.A recent study in the Archives of General Psychiatry found THC – the active ingredient in marijuana – can trigger psychosis in people by clouding the brain’s ability to distinguish between important and unimportant signals that constantly flood the brain, LiveSciencereported. Marijuana smoking has also been tied to anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and depression.Not all doctors were even convinced that marijuana had zero impact on a person’s lung health. For the study, researchers gave two kinds of pulmonary function tests that gauge a person’s ability to inhale and exhale. The study did not look at lung cancer, or other disease rates among pot-smokers.

The study randomly enrolled 5,115 men and women aged 18 through 30 in four cities: Birmingham, Chicago, Oakland, Calif., and Minneapolis. Roughly equal numbers of blacks and whites took part, but no other minorities. Participants were periodically asked about recent marijuana or cigarette use and had several lung function tests during the study.

Overall, about 37 percent reported at least occasional marijuana use, and most users also reported having smoked cigarettes; 17 percent of participants said they’d smoked cigarettes but not marijuana. Those results are similar to national estimates.

On average, cigarette users smoked about 9 cigarettes daily, while average marijuana use was only a joint or two a few times a month – typical for U.S. marijuana users, Kertesz said.

Dr. Donald P. Tashkin, a marijuana researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told WebMDthe study should not be taken as the final word on marijuana’s safety for pot smokers.

“The smoke in marijuana contains thousands of ingredients, many of which are toxic and noxious and have the potential, at least, to cause airway injury,” Tashkin said. “In an ideal world, it would be preferable to take it in another form.”

Study Shows Smoking Pot Increased Thinking In Middle Aged Men

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Can smoking pot really increase your intelligence?  As we are all aware, pot has been degraded for years for making people dumber, but the latest study about marijuana published in the American Journal of Epidemiology this week suggests that cannabis may improve cognitive functioning in middle aged males.  Pot use actually appeared to improve “cognitive functioning” among the middle-aged men it examined.

The reserch was not small, actually researchers looked at a astounding 8,992 men who used drugs, mainly marijuana, at age 42, and then again at age 50. They were given tests to determine their level of brain functioning. What researchers found was that when given tests to determine cognitive functioning, the drug users fared a bit better than most.  The study on all those participants found a positive association with past and or current illicit drug use on cognitive functioning.  Britons at age 50 and found that those who had used illegal drugs as recently as in their 40s did just as well, or slightly better, on the tests than peers who had never used drugs.

Marijuana was by far the most common indulgence for the participants, who were surveyed at age 42 about current or past drug use, then tested at age 50,  with six percent saying they had used it in the past year, while one-quarter said they had ever used it.

They were asked if they had used any of 12 illegal drugs.  Other drugs reported included LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine and ecstasy. They study participants were questioned at 42 on their pattern of drug use and then tested for memory and mental function at age 50. Six percent of those tested at age 50 said they had used marijuana in the past year, while one-quarter reported they had used it in the past. About three to eight percent of the subjects said they had used other drugs such as LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms and cocaine in the past.

According to John Halpern, psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts: “In a Western population of occasional drug users, this is what you’d expect to see. In some ways, this is not surprising. The brain is resilient.”

The study warns that heavy, long-term drug use could still be bad for your smarts and memory.  Past studies have found that marijuana and cocaine can cloud thinking, affect memory and attention span, but the current finding add support that those effects may only be temporary.

The researchers stressed that the result of the study should not be taken as endorsement of drug use. They said that there is evidence that prolonged and heavy use of illicit drugs harm mental function.

 

National Forests being Destroyed by Cannabis Growers

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The forestry service has seen serious pot-growing operations sprout in 67 national forests in 20 states.  Growers in national forests all over the country have caused “severe” damage to these natural treasures.

The U.S. Forest Service is calling for increased cooperation between government agencies to prevent further forest damage, while some experts believe changing drug laws — including the legalization of marijuana might reduce the need to grow marijuana in parks.

Pot smokers like to burn one down, but growers of marijuana are getting heat for tearing it down in the country’s national forests.

The outlaw reefer growers seek out national parkland for their hidden weed farms because the forests are incredibly vast, security is incredibly light and conditions are ripe for growing, the website Live Science reported.

But as covert cultivation of pot farms on U.S. National Forest System lands becomes more common, environmental costs are mounting, the website’s report details.

“The lands are remote, with few people, the forest vegetation is dense; there is an extensive system of roads and trails (both opened and closed); soils are fertile, and water for irrigation is available for the diverting,” explained David Ferell, director of law enforcement for the U.S. Forest Service.

Limited security is another major factor luring marijuana growers to squat on federal lands.

“National parks and forests are vast lands that are sparsely policed,” said Warren Eth, who wrote a review on marijuana cultivation in national parks.

“In some areas, there is one park ranger for every 100,000 acres. No one can possibly police or patrol that area.”

Growers who take advantage of national parkland by establishing pot gardens are doing more than breaking the law with their green thumbs, the report notes. They’re ripping out native vegetation to clear tracts for their own crops, adversely impacting ecosystems and scaring off wildlife.  They transport water from lakes and streams (an average plot of 1,000 plants requires 5,000 gallons, or about 19,000 liters, of water daily). Some growers also liberally apply toxic chemicals to keep their plots clear of weeds, bugs and rodents, Eth said.

“The most disgusting aspect of it is the pollution,” he said. “They just pour chemicals like nobody’s business … and they get washed into streams that flow through national parks.”

The U.S. Forest Service has reported 67 major marijuana-growing operations in national forests in 20 different states, but the agency says large plots weren’t detected until 1995.

Increased security at national borders, thereby making pot smuggling more difficult, may have fueled some of the marijuana cultivation in national parks, Eth said.

“The Mexican cartels and other growers began to think to themselves that they could make more money and run less risk if they were to grow it stateside,” he said.

Post Illegal Drug Use Maybe Linked to High Childhood IQ

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Published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.  Research suggests a high childhood IQ may be linked to subsequent illegal drug use, particularly among women.

This is based on the authors findings on data from just under 8,000 people in the 1970 British Cohort Study, a large ongoing population based study, which looks at lifetime drug use, socioeconomic factors, and educational attainment.  The IQ scores of the participants were measured at the ages of 5 and 10 years, using a validated scale, and information was gathered on self reported levels of psychological distress and drug use at the age of 16, and again at the age of 30.  The drug use included cannabis; cocaine; speed; downers (blues, tanks, barbiturates); LSD (acid); and heroin.

The study shows that by the age of 30, around one in three men (35.4%) and one in six women (15.9%) had used cannabis, while 8.6% of men and 3.6% of women had used cocaine, in the previous 12 months.  A similar pattern of use was found for the other drugs, with overall drug use twice as common among men as among women.

When intelligence was factored in, the analysis showed that men with high IQ scores at the age of 5 were around 50% more likely to have used amphetamines, ecstasy, and several illicit drugs than those with low scores, 25 years later.  The link was even stronger among women, who were more than twice as likely to have used cannabis and cocaine as those with low IQ scores.

The same associations emerged between a high IQ score at the age of 10 and subsequent use of cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, multiple drug use and cocaine, although this last association was only evident at the age of 30.

The findings held true, irrespective of anxiety/depression during adolescence, parental social class, and lifetime household income.

“Although most studies have suggested that higher child or adolescent IQ prompts the adoption of a healthy lifestyle as an adult, other studies have linked higher childhood IQ scores to excess alcohol intake and alcohol dependency in adulthood,” write the authors.

Although it is not yet clear exactly why there should be a link between high IQ and illicit drug use, the authors point to previous research, showing that highly intelligent people are open to experiences and keen on novelty and stimulation.

Other research has also shown that brainy children are often easily bored and suffer at the hands of their peers for being different, “either of which could conceivably increase vulnerability to using drugs as an avoidant coping strategy,” explain the authors.