cannabisnews.com: $900K Federal Grant To Fund Pot-Based Pain-Relief
$900K Federal Grant To Fund Pot-Based Pain-Relief
Posted by CN Staff on August 12, 2003 at 07:58:05 PT
News Story
Source: Business Review
A professor at Albany Medical Center has been awarded a $900,000 federal grant to study the possible use of chemicals related to the active ingredient in marijuana as pain relievers. Lindsay Hough, associate director of the Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience, discovered a new drug, improgan, that might be the first in a class of drugs made from endocannabinoids.
"It has only been appreciated recently that the brain has its own marijuana-like chemicals--called endocannabinoids--that it appears to use to relieve pain," Hough said in a release. Improgan and its chemical cousins are not exactly the same as cannabinoid, or marijuana-like, drugs, but recently, studies have shown they seem to be tapping into the brain's own pain-relief system. "The beauty of it is they appear to be working as well as cannabinoids in relieving pain, but without the side effects of cannabinoids like marijuana," Hough said. The problem with creating an effective drug, and the reason Hough and his team need to do more research, is that improgan only works when directly injected into the brain. "Now we are in the process of slightly altering the chemical structure of improgan to create new drugs which may be more useful to patients someday," Hough said. Hough said his team also has not yet figured out exactly how improgan works on the brain's pain receptors or how to formulate a drug that won't produce any unwanted side effects or encourage abuse. "Over the next four years with this large grant, we are charged with continuing to figure out just what receptor this drug is acting on, and with finding out if we can make a useful drug by modifying its chemical structure," Hough said. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is interested in Hough's research because it could produce an effective pain reliever to replace morphine and other opium-related drugs that have a high potential for abuse. Complete Title: $900K Federal Grant To Fund 'Pot-Based' Pain-Relief StudySource: Business Review (NY)Published: August 12, 2003Copyright: 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.Contact: albany bizjournals.comWebsite: http://www.bizjournals.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on August 12, 2003 at 23:01:20 PT
EJ Thanks
Thank you for the report!
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Comment #14 posted by E_Johnson on August 12, 2003 at 18:40:39 PT
Some ravings about the Volcano
1. My lungs feel amazingly wonderful after just two weeks of use.2. A little bud goes a long way with this thing. You can run the same weed through the machine over and over again until there are no cannabinoids left.3. The gummy residue you have to clean from the valves periodically seems to be almost pure cannabinoid resin.4. The vapor tastes so delicious that I can hardly stand to smoke a joint any more.
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Comment #13 posted by Rev Jonathan Adler on August 12, 2003 at 17:24:58 PT:
Research into Medijuana is overdue!
Aloha, So big money gets the research on alternative drugs?
I still am proposing a real cannabis study program here in Hawaii to develop thew world's best medicine, period. No funding is required. They don't have a system in place to approve new projects that are not asking for a hand-out!
I am very capable of servicing the needs of all approved research projects currently domestically. I have also just incorporated a "ice-methamphetamine treatment proposal" to use our state's medical program to treat addicts and solve this terrible problem soon. Thanks, Rev. Jonathan Adler
Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute
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Comment #12 posted by The GCW on August 12, 2003 at 16:10:54 PT
Deny a Godsend to create a monster.
The beauty of it is they appear to be working as well as cannabinoids... (SO CANNABINOIDS, DOOOOO WORKWORKWORK.)...improgan only works when directly injected into the brain.(how many people want to give up using cannabis... to get injected in the head instead?)They have a Godsend and deny it, to create a monster.
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Comment #11 posted by 13th step on August 12, 2003 at 15:22:17 PT
comment # 9
(number 9 number 9...heh...)
anyway, I saw a report once on my local news, around 1997 IIRC , about how marijuana was the #1 cash crop, over even corn! ("There's more than corn, in Indiana" !)It appears to rank 3rd , now, according to Norml circa 97, but I find that highly suspect.
In the last few years, with indoor cultivation hitting the midwest like a ton of bricks, it's just gotten harder to find...It says they (DEA) estimate the figures on estimated eradication , and Indiana's is 15%, so yeah, it would slaughter corn....And it says the average ounce price was $265! I guess that includes all the doggie - doo $80 mexi-schwag......Hmmm, and cannabis is still tender , it's just now illegal..I know many people who will "work" for weed.Indeed.Feelin' silly today...hope everyone else is too!
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on August 12, 2003 at 13:53:09 PT
afterburner
Very interesting! Thanks!
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on August 12, 2003 at 13:50:28 PT:
The Economy of Cannabis
Check out another NORML feature: XX Top 10 Cash CropsExample: CA Top 10 Cash Crops http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4525&wtm_view=crop10State Rank CropCA--- ---1 MarijuanaMI--- ---5 MarijuanaNY--- ---2 MarijuanaOH--- ---4 MarijuanaVT--- ---2 MarijuanaThink about it!"The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture. "
- Thomas Jefferson - "WHEREAS, Industrial hemp was first domesticated 10,000 years ago; was required in 1619 to be grown by all farmers in Jamestown, Virginia; was legal tender in America and accepted as payment for taxes from 1631 to the early 1800's; was a cash crop grown on the plantations of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson..." --Industrial hemp - California - House Resolution No. 32
http://www.globalhemp.com/Legislation/North_America/United_States/California/HR32.shtmlego transcendence follows ego destruction, hemp for victory!
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Comment #8 posted by BGreen on August 12, 2003 at 12:32:18 PT
I used two words in my search
Racicot BushSometimes the search engines are finicky and seem thrown off by certain word combinations.You're welcome, Virgil. It was my pleasure to help.The Rev. Bud Green
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Comment #7 posted by Virgil on August 12, 2003 at 12:25:53 PT
Thanks Bgreen- that is it
That is a powerful story. I will put it up at another messageboard so I can find it again. It is funny how my keywords did not find it in a Google search. Things like Racicot, governor, electricity, timber, Montana, and the exact phrase White House should have found this article as it has been up a few days. My conspiracy theory is that Google does not want it found.Here is a link saying that the US tried to plant WMD in Iraq but got caught in the act. File this under "The media sucks"- http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_12-8-2003_pg1_9Senator Hollings gave another fine speech from the Senate floor on July 15th. He addressed the deficit and the national debt. He called the misadministration for marketing the debt at $455 billion by including the Social Security surplus to hide their own number of $698 billion. He would go on to say that even the $455 billion was a known lie as the day before on July 14, the government announced the deficit for the year was already $478 billion. The deficit will eventually call for a day of reckoning that changes the WOD and everything else as we realize that our standard of living will fall. From http://hollings.senate.gov/~hollings/statements/2003717555.html This also goes to prove the misadministration as chronic liars.Compute that and the deficit will not be an estimated $455 billion; it will be $698 billion. They estimate a $698 billion deficit for the year 2003. But, wait, we have actual numbers as of this minute. As of July 14th, yesterday, the Treasury says the debt to the penny is $478 billion. So it is already more than the $455 billion they say it will be at the end of the year. I guess that is why Paul O'Neill left town, too. They are all leaving if they have anything to do with fiscal matters, and so now we have John Snow as Treasury Secretary.
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Comment #6 posted by BGreen on August 12, 2003 at 11:38:33 PT
Is this the story, Virgil?
"The White Colin Powell?"Marc Racicot: Bush's Main ManBy JEFFREY ST. CLAIRWhen the Florida recount fiasco was in full- throttle, the Bush team called in one of its top fixers to deal with the media and help put the finishing touches on the brusque strategy that helped seal the election. That man was Marc Racicot, the former governor of Montana. Many thought would be rewarded for his efforts with a top post in the Bush White House. Although he was on the short list for both Secretary of the Interior and Attorney General, Racicot ended up in the cushy post as head of the Republican National Committee, where his deft fundraising abilities fattened the RNC vaults with a record $250 million in soft money contributions for the 2002 election cycle.snippedThe Rev. Bud Green
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
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Comment #5 posted by delariand on August 12, 2003 at 11:15:45 PT
Plain as day
These chemicals will treat pain and disease as well as Cannabis without those nasty side effects like widespread availability, low cost, and inability to establish a monopoly.
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Comment #4 posted by Virgil on August 12, 2003 at 08:34:50 PT
Majority rule v Largest Minority Rule
Here is a link to a Buzzflash editorial from the executive director and senior analyst of Center for Voting and Democracy calling for a majority in all elections. They are advancing the idea of an instant runoff and calling into view the California recall vote- http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/08/11_instant.htmlI wish I could find the article that leveled the former Montana governor, Racicot, for overbuilding the prisons for his construction buddies, his slashing of the budget that hurt education and the cutting of forest to fund the school crisis. It seems like they sold that program under "pulp for pupils." This guy met Bush when both were governors and now gets a $100,000 a year from a law firm without doing much of anthing and is head of some big Republican organization that does fund raising with offices very close to the White House. It is like the article just disappeared as I know plenty of search words but get no Google results. There is enough bad stuff on Racicot and the electric company that was parceled out and got them the highest electric rates in the country, but it was nothing like this article that was at buzzflash, maybe on Sunday.The lock on political power is cornerstoned with the Largest Minority Rule. Maybe California will bring it into focus. You would think a Green Party candidate would have the best chance ever.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 12, 2003 at 08:31:57 PT
Exactly afterburner
I agree! Cannabis should be removed immediately from being a Schedule I drug. Over and over again we see it has MEDICINAL properties! That means it is in the wrong Schedule! How do they get away with keeping it in Schedule I?
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on August 12, 2003 at 08:24:49 PT:
Logic
[1.] Lindsay Hough, associate director of the Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience, discovered a new drug, improgan, that might be the first in a class of drugs made from endocannabinoids. "It has only been appreciated recently that the brain has its own marijuana-like chemicals--called endocannabinoids--that it appears to use to relieve pain," Hough said in a release. [2.] The National Institute on Drug Abuse is interested in Hough's research because it could produce an effective pain reliever to replace morphine and other opium-related drugs that have a high potential for abuse. Therefore, NIDA is admitting that cannabis does have medical value to relieve pain. Time to take it out of Schedule One!ego transcendence means being able to admit you made a mistake in the past and to move on; ego destruction means stubbornly clinging fearfully to programs and punishments and ideas which do not work!
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Comment #1 posted by druid on August 12, 2003 at 08:02:35 PT
a message from the SSDP on the HEA
The following is an alert from our friends at Students for Sensible Drug Policy about efforts to reform the Higher Education Act. NORML has worked closely with SSDP on this important issue and will continue to do so as HEA reform bills work their way through Congress.*********************************************************************************Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, is planning to soon introduce a bill in the Senate to repeal the Higher Education Act drug provision, a law that has stripped more than 100,000 students of their college financial aid, mostly for minor drug convictions. Sen. Kennedy is in the process of seeking a Republican to join him, to give the bill a better chance at passage in the narrowly Republican controlled Senate.There are seven Republican Senators who we believe might be open to introducing this legislation, including one from your state. These seven include three members of HELP, Senators Mike DeWine (OH), Jeff Sessions (AL) and John Warner (VA). Other Republican moderates, including Sam Brownback (KS), Lincoln Chafee (RI), Olympia Snowe (ME) and Arlen Specter (PA) -- chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee which oversees the Dept. of Education -- could also be interested in the legislation.Because the Senate is split 51-49, a single Republican backer could be enough to repeal the drug provision, and each of these members are independent minded enough to hear the voice of reason. To contact your Senator, please click on one of the links below. (You are encouraged to personalize the sample letter or replace it with your own.)Alabama -- Jeff Sessions
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/sessions.htmlKansas -- Sam Brownback
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/brownback.htmlMaine -- Olympia Snowe
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/snowe.htmlOhio -- Mike DeWine
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/dewine.htmlPennsylvania -- Arlen Specter
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/specter.htmlRhode Island -- Lincoln Chafee
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/chafee.htmlVirginia -- John Warner
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/warner.htmlIf you are with an organization or institution, you may instead wish to print out your letter on letterhead and fax it in. (E-mail and fax are better now than US mail because of the delays and effects of irradiation on mail to Congress since the 2001 anthrax attacks.) So following are links to Microsoft Word versions of the sample letters, with your Senator's fax number. (Please also fax us a copy at (202) 293-8344.)Alabama -- Jeff Sessions
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/sessions.doc
fax number: (202) 224-3149Kansas -- Sam Brownback
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/brownback.doc
fax number: (202)228-1265Maine -- Olympia Snowe
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/snowe.doc
fax number: (202) 224-1946Ohio -- Mike DeWine
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/dewine.doc
fax number: (202) 224-6519Pennsylvania -- Arlen Specter
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/specter.doc
fax number: (202) 228-1229Rhode Island -- Lincoln Chafee
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/chafee.doc
fax number: (202) 228-2853Virginia -- John Warner
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/senate/warner.doc
fax number: (202) 224-6295Also, as discussed in our national action alert last week (http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/actionalerts/), August is the ideal time to seek to meet with your Senator, who is in-state while Congress recesses. Please consider making an appointment to discuss this and perhaps other issues with your Senator during the next three weeks. Please write us at alert-feedback to let us know you've taken action and what feedback you get from your Senator.Please help students with drug convictions regain their federal financial aid and be able to better themselves through college education. More than 100 student governments nationwide have called for repeal of the drug provision in full. With Congress considering the Higher Education Act for reauthorization this fall, it's important to gain early support for full repeal as soon as possible. Support from Republicans in both the House and Senate will be necessary to repeal the drug provision.So please take action and write your Senator today! Also, please forward this alert to other like-minded people in Alabama, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. And tell all your friends anywhere in the US to visit http://www.raiseyourvoice.com to write to their US Reps and Senators and to get involved in the campaign. With your help we can win!Benjamin S. Gaines
Legislative Director
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
PH: (202)293-4414 Fax: (202)293-8344
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