CANNABIS A MEDICAL MIRACLE - IT"S OFFICIAL
Scientific Tests Of "Wonder Drug" Give Patients New Hope
Cannabis is a "wonder drug" capable of radically transforming the lives of very sick people, according to the results of the first clinical trials of the drug.
Tests sanctioned by the Government are proving far more successful than doctors, patients and cannabis campaigners ever dared hope. Some of the patients are simply calling it a "miracle".
Taking the drug - which it is still illegal for doctors to prescribe - has allowed a man previously so crippled with pain that he was impotent to become a father; a woman paralysed by multiple sclerosis to ride a horse for the first time in years; and a man who couldn"t sit up in a chair on his own to live without a carer.
Until now claims of the benefits of the drug for certain conditions have been anecdotal. But the preliminary results of the UK government trial, started last year, suggest that 80 per cent of those taking part have derived more benefit from cannabis than from any other drug, with many describing it as "miraculous."
The results make it almost inevitable that the Government will bow to public pressure and legalise the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes by 2002. Scientists now predict that cannabis - first used for medicinal reasons 5,000 years ago - will follow aspirin and penicillin and become a "wonder drug" prescribed for a wide range of conditions.
Bowing to pressure for a less hard-line attitude, the Home Office started the first major cannabis trials in the world to see whether there was any scientific basis for its use as medicine. A licence was granted to a specially formed drug company to grow the plants under controlled conditions in a secret location in southern England. Twenty-three patients, suffering from multiple sclerosis and arthritis, were recruited on to the first trial, and given daily doses of cannabis by spraying it under the tongue, before wider trials were started.
The remarkable stories of the patients will be revealed tonight on the BBC programme Panorama , which was granted unique access to them.
Alex Ure, a former paratrooper, suffers from a severe spinal condition. The pain was so bad he considered suicide; he found legal painkillers turned him into a zombie and he couldn"t have sex with his wife, Wendy, for five years. But after starting the trial he became a father. "I couldn"t even bend down and play with a child before - I could do anything now," he said.
His doctor, Willy Notcutt, of James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth, was sure the cannabis was responsible: "His pain has been sufficiently controlled to engage in sex again," he said.
Tyrone Castle, a former publican, started suffering from multiple sclerosis when he was 21 and became so incapacitated he needed two helpers to winch him out of bed. He also suffered from uncontrollable spasms. Cannabis has transformed his life.
"It has really helped sort out my spasms. It helps me sleep because I don"t spend the night jumping about. The difference in my legs is unbelievable - they are no longer stiff as a board," he said.
Jo, the wife of a school chaplain, suffered so badly from multiple sclerosis she would struggle to lift her legs up in the air six times. After she started the trial, she could lift her legs 25 times. "It"s miraculous, really extraordinary. I"ve never had any sort of relief of this kind, and I"ve tried pretty well everything," she said.
Notcutt said the trial was a success: "The results have exceeded what I dared hope for. We"re getting 80 per cent of patients good-quality benefit from the cannabis. For some we are getting almost total relief from their pain, with pain scores going down to zero."
Doctors believe cannabis could eventually prove useful in conditions such as osteoporosis, cancer, HIV and Aids, arthritis, spine injury and certain forms of mental illness.
STATS CONFIRM KEY ROLE ALCOHOL PLAYS IN CRIME
Close the liquor stores. Ban those predinner cocktails. The federal government has proved it: It's the drunks, not the druggies, who should really scare us.
A new study confirming the link between substance abuse and crime has found that the real demon lurking behind the homicides and violent assaults in this country is the one drug Ottawa lets us buy.
Pot, cocaine and heroin may make us steal. But alcohol makes us kill.
"Everybody's scared of drug-crazed people slitting their throats in the street. It's more likely to be a good old-fashioned drunk," said Richard Garlick, a spokesman for the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse and the author of the report.
The three-year, $250,000 study found that drugs and alcohol were major contributing factors in up to half of the examined crimes. But the line was clearly drawn: Drugs were the leading weakness for people convicted of economic crimes such as theft and shoplifting. Alcoholics were twice as likely as drug takers to have committed violent crimes.
Drinking too much alcohol, the report says, was the main contributing factor to one-third of homicides and assaults studied -- suggesting that these crimes would likely not have occurred at all if the killers had stayed sober. This number jumps another 20 per cent when alcohol is combined with drugs.
Drug use alone, on the other hand, was the main factor in only 7 per cent of homicides.
"If you look at this study, the first thing you would do is prohibit alcohol," Mr. Garlick said. "The thing that's really causing the most serious crime is the drug that's readily available to anyone at any time."
Experts have always linked substance abuse to crime, but this is the first Canadian study to produce statistics to substantiate the claim that drugs and alcohol cause crime. To complete the report, the centre conducted in-depth interviews with nearly 700 provincial and federal inmates and surveyed another 10,000 prisoners and individuals under arrest.
Slightly more than half of federal inmates told researchers that they were under the influence of either alcohol or drugs ( most often cocaine ) when they committed their most serious crime. They reported addictions at a much higher rate than the rest of the Canadian population, and drug abusers in particular were more likely to rob or shoplift simply to feed their habit.
Addiction itself leads to more frequent crime generally: Inmates dependent on drugs or alcohol averaged about seven crimes a week, mostly drug offences, but more than three times the rate for inmates without addictions.
The question of what to do about substance abuse in Canada is currently the domain of two parliamentary committees charged with looking into such issues as the economic costs of drug use, the consequences of legalizing marijuana and how to balance enforcement with treatment.
Liberal MP Derek Lee, a member of one of the committees studying the problem, says it will now have to look at the hard numbers on alcohol abuse.
"Members of Parliament are going to have to wake up to this reality," Mr. Lee said.
"It's clear that tobacco is the big killing drug. And it's clear that the big expensive drug is alcohol."
A federal Solicitor-General report shows the relationship between crime and substance abuse. The main findings indicate that violent crimes were more ofter associated with the use of alcohol while crimes such as theft and robbery tended to have a stronger link to illegal drugs.
| Violent Crime Statistics |
ALCOHOL
ONLY |
ILLICIT DRUGS
ONLY |
ALCOHOL
AND DRUGS |
| ASSAULT |
39% |
9% |
24% |
| HOMOCIDE |
34% |
7% |
21% |
ATTEMPTED
MURDER |
30% |
9% |
24% |
SANITY AT LAST
Whatever The Dangers Of Cannabis,
Draconian Laws Make No Sense
IS CANNABIS more - or less - harmful than its legalised cousins alcohol and nicotine? Last week, bang on cue, this hoary old question surfaced yet again as the British government signalled its intent to relax the laws on cannabis possession, and join what is becoming an almost global trend.
Other countries have already taken steps towards decriminalising possession, but nobody expected the same from Britain. The admission that cannabis is not as harmful as heroin and cocaine goes against everything it's been saying for years. It also leaves the US, which is sticking to this hardline position, increasingly isolated.
But not quite alone. One of the strongest attacks on Britain's U-turn came from the nation's best known neuroscientist, Susan (Baroness) Greenfield - Oxford pharmacologist, TV presenter and now a member of the House of Lords. In a thundering broadside in a daily paper, Greenfield blasted liberal campaigners who seek to play down the evidence that cannabis permanently damages the brain. It's good to see scientists of Greenfield's standing voicing strong opinions on public issues. However, having reported on the science of cannabis for many years, we have to disagree with her conclusions.
To take just one example, she points out that some 7000 milligrams of alcohol are needed to achieve intoxication, whereas for cannabis the figure is just 0.3 milligrams: cannabis is far more potent and hence far more dangerous, she reasons. But what this really means is that you have to have 20,000 times as much alcohol coursing through your veins before you feel the effects. By then your liver is having to work overtime. Alcohol certainly lacks cannabis's ability to act on brain receptors in a potent and specific manner: that is one reason why booze can be so deadly.
A number of cannabis users do develop a serious dependency problem. And in excess the drug can lead to poor concentration, even bouts of paranoia. But permanent brain damage? A few lab studies have, it's true, reported that cannabis-like substances can harm nerve cells cultured in the test tube. But such cultures are notoriously fragile, and other studies have found no signs of brain damage in animals given doses far higher than those needed to produce intoxication in humans.
And even if they hadn't, it wouldn't matter - at least not as far as changing the laws on cannabis go. The evidence from other countries is that more relaxed laws do not lead to more youngsters using the drug. Wherever cannabis lies in the league table of harmful substances, there seems little point in imprisoning people for possessing small amounts unless this is likely to make the drug less popular. And all the signs are that it doesn't.
CANNABIS SPRAY HELPS 77% OF PAIN PATIENTS
LONDON ( Reuters ) - A British company developing the world's first cannabis-based medicines said Monday its under-the-tongue spray had delivered significant benefit for 77 percent of chronic pain sufferers in clinical trials.
GW Pharmaceuticals Plc, which grows its cannabis in secret glasshouses in southern England, tested the new drug against placebo on patients suffering from multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury.
It found that 41 out of the first 53 patients enrolled in the Phase I and II studies derived statistically significant benefit, including reduced pain, improved sleep and overall symptom relief.
Side effects, including headaches and nausea, were "predictable and generally well tolerated," it added. Some patients did become intoxicated -- as the best known effect of cannabis kicked in -- but generally the ability to control dosage with the spray mechanism allowed users to strike a balance between reducing pain and getting high.
Results of trials at three centers were presented at the American Academy of Pain Management in Arlington, Virginia.
Dr. William Notcutt of James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth in eastern England had last week outlined promising results from one of the studies at a scientific meeting in Scotland.
GW also announced that Britain's Medicines Control Agency had approved the extended use of its cannabis-based medicines from 12 to 24 months of treatment, following the submission of safety data.
GW, which floated in London in June but has seen its shares fall by more than 40 percent on uncertainties about whether cannabis will ever become a mainstream medicine, said the results were very encouraging.
"The half-term report is - so far, so good," said Executive Chairman Geoffrey Guy.
Although the use of cannabis is illegal in most countries, patients with diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis have been lobbying to use cannabis for medicinal purposes.
The company is already undertaking final Phase III study and aims to file for regulatory approval of its spray in 2003, with the aim of bringing the first prescription medicine made from cannabis extracts to the market early in 2004.
UK: GW Pharmaceuticals Response To Medical Marijuana Studies
Pubdate: Fri, 6 Jul 2001
Copyright: Investis Limited
Contact: info@gwpharm.com
GW PHARMACEUTICAL'S RESPONSE
TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA STUDIES
Are cannabinoids an effective and safe treatment option in the management of pain?
GW's Medicines Targeted At MS, Cancer And Neuropathic Pain
- BMJ Paper Findings Limited To Post-Operative Pain
GW Pharmaceuticals plc ("GW" or "the Company") has noted today's media coverage relating to the findings of a paper by Fiona A. Campbell et al* published in the issue of the British Medical Journal ("BMJ") dated 7 July 2001, which reviews historical data from research on cannabinoids conducted between 1975 and 1997 ("the Paper").
GW is pleased to note that the Paper's findings support the Company's principal research proposition - that there is scientific evidence to suggest that cannabis based medicines are effective in treating neuropathic pain and spasticity, two of the principal symptoms of multiple sclerosis. In clinical trials carried out by GW to date on patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and a range of intractable neurological conditions it is clear they are obtaining significant benefit.
GW agrees with the principal finding of the Paper, that single dose THC should not be used in post-operative pain and is only as effective in treating this form of pain as codeine. GW's lead products comprise whole plant extracts of cannabis incorporated in a sub lingual (under the tongue) spray and are quite distinct from the oral single THC products referred to in the Paper. Further, GW's research programme has never focused on post-operative pain as a target market and the Company's business plan does not include it as a source of potential revenue.
Speaking on LBC Radio this morning the Paper's author, Dr. Fiona Campbell, emphasised the difference between acute post operative pain and chronic intractable neuropathic pain. In addition, Dr. Campbell clearly stated that cannabinoids may well have an important role to play in neuropathic pain.
Professor Roger Pertwee, Professor of Neuropharmacology at Aberdeen University, leads a large cannabinoid research group funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust. Professor Pertwee is a contributing author of the 1997 BMA report on cannabis and former President of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. Commenting on the Paper, Professor Pertwee said: "The data reviewed in the BMJ paper are the same as those we reviewed in the BMA report on cannabis published in 1997. This report recommended that the prescription of cannabinoid medicines should be permitted for patients with intractable pain. The animal data reviewed in the BMJ paper strongly support a role for cannabinoids in the management of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. These animal data are backed up by strong anecdotal data in multiple sclerosis spasticity and pain."
Commenting on the Paper, Dr. Philip Robson, GW's Medical Director, said: "The BMJ paper re-reviews historical data (1975-97) which was considered, alongside a wealth of additional scientific data, by GW when the Company initiated its research programme in 1998. GW agrees with the authors of the paper that post-operative pain is not the area in which cannabinoids are likely to provide superior therapeutic benefit over existing treatments. For this reason, GW is not focusing its research on post-operative pain. However, the paper also recognises that cannabis could be useful in other areas of pain, in particular neuropathic pain and spasticity, and it is these areas in which GW is focusing its current research.
"In the last 18 months, GW has carried out clinical trials in 75 patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, neuropathic pain, other intractable neurological conditions and rheumatoid arthritis. Patients in these trials are clearly gaining benefit. We are seeing clinically significant improvements in a range of symptoms, including pain, muscle spasms, spasticity, bladder related symptoms, tremor and overall improvements in quality of life. In some cases the improvement has been sufficient to transform lives. These improvements are particularly notable in that they have occurred in a group of patients whose symptoms have been considered intractable in the face of all available standard therapy."
* "Are cannabinoids an effective and safe treatment option in the management of pain? A qualitative systematic review" by Fiona A. Campbell, Martin R. Tramer, Dawn Carroll, D. John M. Reynolds, R. Andrew Moore, Henry J. McQuay.
TIME TO GRASP CANNABIS "NETTLE"
As a person with multiple sclerosis and a user of cannabis I would like to repsond to the Government's present stance on the relaxation of the laws on cannabis.
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary said: "In spite of our focus on hard drugs, the majority of police time is currently spent on handling cannabis offences. It is time for an honest and commonsense approach focusing effectively on drugs that cause most harm."
But couldn't his position be seen as hypocritical when people with multiple sclerosis and other disabilities have to trawl the streets to buy cannabis from the same people who peddle hard drugs?
The Government recognise that cannabis has a therapeutic and medicinal use - otherwise it wouldn't have granted a licence to GW Pharmatceuticals to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes would it?
The company is conducting rials on a marijuana-based product, and expects that it would start selling the medicine under prescription by 2004. I welcome these trials but in the meantime I have to break the law.
Mr Blunkett's comments were made to a Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug policy. I hope that, in the fullness of time and deliberation, they come to a more reasoned, "common-sense" conclusion.
David Blunkett has had the bottle to pluck the nettle, and the public will respect him for that.
Plucking the nettle is one thing for Mr Blunkett but, unless he grasps it, society will continue to get stung by organised crime.
Unless people can get cannabis from legitimate sources it's a fact that the vast amount of money being made from the sale of cannabis will end up in the coffers of international criminals.
If we legalise cannabis then society will benefit by ensuring its quality and distribution is controlled.
Any legitimate profits will be taxable and the Government will be able to levy a suitable level of duty.
Doctors will be able to prescribe it as it's now a class C drug. Let people with MS see another side to class C: C for compassion.
JUNK SCIENCE MAKES HEADLINES
Questionable Study Links Marijuana Smoking and Heart Attacks
A study linking marijuana smoking and heart attacks was recently published in the American Heart Associationıs journal Circulation. The study, conducted by Dr. Murray Mittleman of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, is being seized upon by opponents of marijuana law reform as justification for marijuana prohibition. However, the results of Dr. Mittlemanıs study are hardly newsworthy.
An analysis of the research methods used reveals glaring flaws. The sample size is statistically insignificant, no casual relationship has been established, and the study itself has never been replicated - yet itıs making headlines around the world for the second time. The study first made headlines last year following a conference presentation, despite not having ever been published in a reputable peer-reviewed medical journal.
Out of 3,882 patients who had heart attacks, 124 were current marijuana smokers and 9 had smoked within an hour of their heart attack. Based on this minuscule, self-selected sample, Dr. Mittleman concludes that the risk of a heart attack is 4.8 times higher after smoking marijuana. The sample size alone renders the results meaningless. Assuming that Dr. Mittleman's conclusions are correct, the fact that heart attack risk for an otherwise healthy 50-year-old man is about 10 in 1 million highlights the sensationalism of the widespread publicity the study is receiving.
Such junk science is often well publicized. The U.S. government has spent millions of tax dollars trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant, while research that might demonstrate the medical efficacy of marijuana is consistently blocked. The payoff for this highly politicized research has been tremendous. The conclusions are typically reported by the media without any critical analysis of the methodology used. Regardless of whether or not the Mittleman study is ever replicated, the results will no doubt be repeated by drug warriors for decades
(Ed. Note: This study also made no attempts to segregate tobacco smokers in the heart attack group from non-smokers. It is revealing the way the corporate media will seize upon such invalid, meaningless junk science to attack all efforts to legalize medical uses of marijuana while they ignore the real science that proves valid medicinal uses for this amazing gift of nature. Read the reports which follow for some valid, REAL research.)
Read more on this at: http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/DailyNews/06_15_01Junk.html
Marijuana: Short-Term Memory Problems Short- Lived
A recent study found marijuana's effect on memory is short-lived. According to lead researcher Dr. Harrison G. Pope, Jr. of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, "It appears that cognitive impairment from marijuana use is temporary and related to the amount of marijuana that has been recently smoked rather than permanent and related to an entire lifetime of consumption." The study involved three groups of marijuana users. The heavy marijuana users group was comprised of 63 daily users. The second group consisted of 45 former smokers who, like the heavy users, had smoked more than 5,000 times total, but had used it less than 12 times in the past 3 months. The control group consisted of 72 people who had not smoked marijuana more than 50 times. All study participants abstained from marijuana use for 28 days. Cognitive ability tests were conducted on days 0, 1, 7 and 28. Heavy marijuana users initially scored lower on word recall tests, but by day 28 there were no significant differences between the groups in any of the tests carried out.
Neuropsychological Performance in Long-term Cannabis Users
Reports findings of a study conducted by Harrison G. Pope, Jr, MD, et al., and concludes that "[s]ome cognitive deficits appear detectable at least 7 days after heavy cannabis use but appear reversible and related to recent cannabis exposure rather than irreversible and related to cumulative lifetime use."
- Archives of General Psychology, Vol. 58 No. 10, October 2001.
HARVARD DOCTOR PRAISES
MARIJUANA AS MIRACLE DRUG
Dr. Lester Grinspoon Says Pakalolo Is Safer
And Cheaper Than Conventional Drugs
Despite conflicting state and federal laws, medical marijuana is here to stay, says Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard University. Not only that, "it will be seen as a kind of miracle drug during the next decade," the psychiatry professor predicts. A nationally recognized authority on marijuana, Grinspoon is among key speakers at a two-day conference, "Marijuana in 2001: Medical and Social Issues," that opened yesterday at the Ala Moana Hotel. The third annual Hawaii Conference on Addictions, sponsored by the John A. Burns School of Medicine, is aimed at giving medical professionals and others the latest information about the science of marijuana, benefits, risks, and national and international perspectives.
Hawaii and other states have authorized use of marijuana for certain illnesses, but the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a federal law classifying marijuana as illegal makes no exception for seriously ill people.
"It is a great disillusional system, in my view," said Grinspoon, author of "Marijuana, the Forbidden Medicine." In an interview yesterday, he said medical marijuana "simply can't be denied, once people discover for themselves how useful it is and how nontoxic it is compared to conventional drugs."
They will "become believers" when they find that marijuana "is a hell of a lot cheaper and easier to take" for cancer than a series of pills costing $35 each, he said.
When his book was first published in 1993, Grinspoon said, the associate dean of Harvard's medical school read it but said nothing. A few years later, he called Grinspoon to ask if taking Marinol, a synthetic form of marijuana, would help his 67-year-old mother-in-law, who had pancreatic cancer.
Grinspoon said the man was horrified when he told him it would not help as much as if she smoked marijuana. "He said she'd never use marijuana. So I gave him instructions on Marinol and said if she has difficulties, call me."
The next call to Grinspoon was from the ailing woman, asking for help. Grinspoon asked if she had a grandchild who could teach her to roll a joint and smoke one with her. She said her grandchildren had been urging her to smoke marijuana.
Grinspoon advised her to take one puff and wait a few minutes to see how she felt. He told her to call him if she had any problems. About a month later, the associate dean told him at a meeting, "My whole family is indebted to you."
At a Christmas party at the associate dean's home after the woman died, his wife greeted Grinspoon, again saying how indebted the family was to him because the quality of her mother's life had improved so much.
She said she was angry at herself for carrying on "like a banshee" when her three sons smoked marijuana in college, Grinspoon said. "What's all the fuss?" she concluded.
Grinspoon said the public is misled by the government, that there is nothing toxic in marijuana. Yet more than 700,000 people, mostly young, are arrested annually on marijuana charges -- 88 percent just for mere possession, he said.
Grinspoon referred to a talk yesterday by Dr. David H. Friar, University of Hawaii assistant professor in psychiatry, discussing why marijuana is important to brain science.
"If we are to get at the truth about medical marijuana, about recreational marijuana use, about marijuana abuse and dependence," Friar said, "we must go beyond the emotional polarity of the lionizers and the demonizers and commit ourselves to fearless and objective investigation."
Grinspoon said he was a "demonizer" until he started to see how marijuana helped patients. It is not harmless, he said, but it will be seen as one of the safest drugs when added to the thick book of pharmaceuticals.
Marijuana has never caused a death, while more than 7,000 people die annually in the United States from aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, he said.
"It is a myth imposed upon this country that this is a terrible, dangerous drug. What's happening, as people see it as medicine, they ask, 'What's all the fuss?'"
When asked about who is pushing to keep marijuana classed as illegal under federal law, Grinspoon said he could not answer that. But if it is legalized, he pointed out, "conventional drug companies are going to lose."
He said he was surprised that drug companies were supporting the medical school's marijuana conference.
Friar described the chemical structure of marijuana and some of the latest studies. He said research is important to learn how marijuana causes its effects in the brain, but "science has been stifled for decades" because most research money is controlled by the federal government, which is "in the ranks of the demonizers."
Dr. Donald Abrams, assistant director of the AIDS Program at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of clinical medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, said it is a "Catch-22" situation: Marijuana cannot be used legally as a medicine because adequate research has not been done, and adequate research cannot be done because marijuana is illegal.
William Haning III, University of Hawaii associate professor of psychiatry, said one of the most controversial issues is what constitutes dependence, and dosage and frequency do not matter in determining that.
NATURAL FORM OF MARIJUANA IN HUMANS
A MEDICAL MYSTERY
By Usha Lee McFarling
Chicago Tribune, December 18, 1998
WASHINGTON - Amid this year's clamorous battles to legalize medical marijuana stands this little-known fact: Our brains and bodies are flooded with a natural form of the drug.
Called cannabinoids, after the euphoria-inducing plant Cannabis sativa, this family of compounds blocks pain, erases memories and triggers hunger. Newer studies show they also may regulate the immune system, enhance reproduction and even protect the brain from stroke and trauma damage.
Discovered in humans just a few years ago and, until recently, virtually unstudied, the compounds have become one of the looming mysteries of the nervous system, and a field of exploding scientific interest.
Scientists are testing cannabinoids with hopes of harnessing the medical power of marijuana to treat pain without its high, smoke or political baggage. A key challenge is separating the curing power of the compounds from their mind-altering side effects.
"That's the holy grail of this field," said Steven Childers, a pharmacologist at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Because cannabinoids are so numerous in the brain, they also could help explain the workings of some of our body's most complex, and least understood, systems.
"It's obviously important because there's so much of it. And we never knew it existed before," said J. Michael Walker, a Brown University psychologist who has conducted some of the first studies of how cannabinoids block pain.
"It could help us understand movement, it could help us understand memory, it could help us understand pain. We don't really know how any of these things work."
There has always been evidence, from the intoxicating effects cannabis evokes in smokers, that it contains powerful compounds.
The sticky, flowering buds of the plant have been harvested as medicine for centuries. Five thousand years ago, Chinese physicians used the plant to treat malaria, absent-mindedness and "female disorders."
African tribes used it to treat snakebite and the pain of childbirth. Indian physicians prescribed it for headaches.
Sifting through the plant's chemical stew in the early 1960s, Israeli pharmacologist Raphael Mechoulam discovered more than 60 cannabinoids in marijuana, including the famous and psychoactive compound THC.
In 1992, a team led by Mechoulam and William Devane trumped that discovery by showing that humans produced their own cannabinoids. They called the substance anandamide (Sanskrit for "eternal bliss").
Our brains contain receptors that interact with the anandamide we produce. In an accident of nature and chemistry, compounds in pot are shaped similarly and therefore trigger similar but more potent effects. The same is true of the plant drugs nicotine and cocaine.
Now, scientists are beginning to understand just what natural cannabinoids might be doing in the human body.
"We're opening doors now we couldn't even have predicted existed," said Childers, president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society.
For example:
- This week Herbert Schuel and Lani J. Burkman of the University of Buffalo reported that cannabinoids help control the exquisite synchrony of timing during reproduction by slowing anxious sperm if they try to approach an egg before it's ready for fertilization. This may also explain why heavy pot users, both men and women, are sometimes infertile.
- Cannabinoids have been found to both suppress and enhance the body's defenses against diseases and tumors, a duality that has researchers puzzled. "It's a science clearly in flux," said Thomas Klein, an immunologist at the University of South Florida. "The more we learn, the more confused we are."
- While pot warnings -"This is your brain on drugs"- have long spotlighted the drug's damaging effects on the brain, research last summer from the National Institute of Mental Health shows cannabinoids protect brain cells from stroke or trauma damage.
- Last year, scientists at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego showed that cannabinoids block the formation of new memories in slices of animal brain tissues. This power to forget might keep the brain from filling up or getting overwhelmed with unimportant memories.
Cannabinoid research in animals already has scientists considering drugs that might be quite powerful in exploiting an untapped chemical system within the brain to solve an array of medical problems.
"While no one wants a drug that disrupts memory, maybe you could boost memory by blocking cannabinoids," said Billy Martin, a professor of pharmacology at the Medical College of Virginia and one of a handful of people who have studied cannabinoids since the 1970s.
Researchers' largest hopes are focused on using a synthetic form of cannabinoids to block pain, including chronic nerve pain that can't be adequately blocked with existing drugs.
Animal studies show cannabinoids can block other kinds of pain almost before they begin, stopping the pain signals before they reach the spinal cord or brain, working as well as morphine. That power suggests they could be substituted for morphine, which is addictive and must be used in increasing doses over time.
Cannabinoids enhance morphine's power; combining the drugs could vastly reduce the dosages needed to kill pain, offsetting problems of addiction and drug tolerance. Cannabinoids also counteract nausea, another plus for patients with cancer and AIDS.
"It might be possible to manipulate levels of the body's own cannabinoids. You could create drugs like Prozac that block the body's reuptake of cannabinoids or inhibit their breakdown so they stay active longer," said Andrea Hohmann, who previously worked with Walker and now researches pain at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
.
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