cannabisnews.com: US Turns To PGI Docs for Info on Pot
US Turns To PGI Docs for Info on Pot
Posted by CN Staff on July 14, 2004 at 23:04:48 PT
By Priya Yadav
Source: Times of India
Chandigarh: A one-way ticket to a life of madness and despair or just a harmless giggle? That is what Americans want to know about marijuana and are now turning to experts at PGI to help them search answers. The prestigious National Institute of Health USA has joined hands with PGI's Department of Neurology and Psychology to initiate extensive research in ascertaining what are the effects of marijuana on functioning of the brain. The reason why America's National Institute of Health is concerned about 'joint' or 'pot' as marijuana is fondly known, are not hard to find.
On an estimate, joint is still the most-used illegal drug in America. More than 71 million Americans have tried it, according to national surveys, and about 11 million smoke it regularly. The National Institute of Health, steward of medical and behavioural research for the nation, an agency under the US Department of Health and Human Services, is giving $80,000 for the research project. Dr S Prabhakar, head of PGI's department of Neurology, told Times News Network, "Nobody knows all the intricacies of how the brain works in the first place. And we know even less about how it works with a big load of marijuana inside it. Our research will focus on what effect marijuana has on functioning of the brain, what are the structural changes it produces, if at all there are changes." NIH is the steward of medical and behavioral research for the US. PGI has become the second centre in the country to get funds from the prestigious agency after Bangalore. "Although a number of joint smokers in America are high, but multi-drug use by smokers makes it difficult to study the effects of marijuana in isolation. Here we have ample number of cases who do not use any form of intoxication except joint," said Dr Prabhakar. Marijuana triggers a mild euphoria and increased sensitivity to bodily sensations, along with a range of other perceptual distortions that are usually experienced as pleasant. It is not a single drug molecule, like alcohol or cocaine, but a mix of more than 420 different chemical components. They are so different, in fact, that 61 of them are unique to marijuana. What doctors know now is that components of marijuana act like a feel-good chemical bomb that explodes on contact. But pot changes more than just the way people feel. It also triggers a number of changes in brain function and behaviour. It tilts the balance of chemicals in the brain that regulate mood, energy, appetite and attention, affects memory and learning processes and can cause forgetfulness and reduced concentration. "Research will include detailed memory testing of the sample, detailed psychological functioning, magnetic resonance imaging and sophisticated bio-medical tests," Dr Prabhakar added. Times News NetworkSource: Times of India, The (India)Author: Priya YadavPublished: Wednesday, July 14, 2004Copyright: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2004Contact: toieditorial timesgroup.comWebsite: http://www.timesofindia.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #19 posted by Zero_G on July 15, 2004 at 20:02:15 PT
NIH outsourced
Not that the studies need to be done, but it sounds like a case of Gov't outsourcing!
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Comment #18 posted by Virgil on July 15, 2004 at 19:31:07 PT
Yeah, but did Ron say...CPicp or
Cannabis Prohibition is cannabis persecution." Does someone want to say it in black? Come on. Say at once what must be said at once. Once is calling. Once is UpOn the times.
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Comment #17 posted by 420toker on July 15, 2004 at 18:59:48 PT
already decided
sounds like this "scientific evaluation" of marijuana has already been decidedWhat doctors know now is that components of marijuana act like a feel-good chemical bomb that explodes on contact. But pot changes more than just the way people feel.It also triggers a number of changes in brain function and behaviour. It tilts the balance of chemicals in the brain that regulate mood, energy, appetite and attention, affects memory and learning processes and can cause forgetfulness and reduced concentration.check out the barthwell link
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-illinois-senate-haras
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Comment #16 posted by JustGetnBy on July 15, 2004 at 17:01:43 PT
Comment#11
Ron
Cannabis Persecution,,,,,,,,,,,,,,right-on,,,,,
I think you are coining a phrase that will be heard in courtrooms in the near future,
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Comment #15 posted by JustGetnBy on July 15, 2004 at 16:56:10 PT
Comment # 12
Virgil I compliment you on your clarity of thought, presentation of same, and how the hell did you know how I felt.
Good job!!!!
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Comment #14 posted by Dankhank on July 15, 2004 at 14:12:56 PT
Hey ...
Isn't FauxNews' new plug: News at the speed of Lies?As much stuff as they have received from me they should just give up ...Alas, they persist ...
Truth
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Comment #13 posted by ron on July 15, 2004 at 12:07:02 PT
I DARE cops to go alone and dogless into a high
school. Let them try to justify their shameful persecution to post pubescents. The first teenager who asks about Harry Anslinger will expose their ignorance. "Shameful persecution" frames the issue strongly. Like O'Reilly's repetitive "media elite".Or "media lite" as the non dittoheads are starting to call them.
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Comment #12 posted by Virgil on July 15, 2004 at 09:49:35 PT
I'll toke to that.
Cannabis persecution is very descriptive of what we have. It is madness in search of preserving madness. It's not harmless. It's not harmless. Now what leap takes it to life in prison for a plant or whatever for a pound. I agree with the re-legalize terminology. It is that most people here already understand that legalization is re-legalization. For news sources speaking to the general public re-legalize is much more informing. But they are insiders and distraction and disinforming is their game, although it exposes the failing of the press everytime they play the party tune.Jail sure as hell is not harmless and again harm has nothing to do with the whole situation of cannabis persecution. The biggest question out there is "On an intellectual level, what is the proper classification of cannabis and individual cannabinoids on the Schedule of Narcotics?" The second biggest question is "How can they Constitutionally enforce a prohibition on an almost benign but highly usefull plant like cannabis, when alcohol prohibition required a Constitutional amendment. The third biggest question is "How much more harmful is Cannabis Prohibition/persecution-prosecution than having Free Cannabis For Everyone.?I dare D.A.R.E. to ask those questions to the students.
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Comment #11 posted by ron on July 15, 2004 at 08:09:16 PT
Re: Relegalization
I agree RasAric. Words are important. Grover Norquist and other right wing zealots have spent years "framing" debate on their terms. Millions have poured into the coffers of the rich because they cleverly "framed" one issue as tax "relief". I think we should also replace "prohibition" with "persecution", as the War on Some Drugs goes far beyond the futile attempts to control alcohol. The Volstead Act never sent casual users or fully addicted alcoholics to jail. Anybody willing to toke to that?
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Comment #10 posted by RasAric on July 15, 2004 at 07:48:15 PT
Paul Peterson as well
The studies have been going on for hundreds of years. This is just another attempt to mis-lead(See:"Lie to")the public.Another word used to mis-lead the public when used in conjunction with cannabis is "Legalize". As we all know, cannabis(not "marijuana" as Hearst would prefer)was already legal; both for recreation and medicine. We need to speak accurately when speaking the truth, so when speaking of this issue, it is time we fully replace the term "legalize" with the correct term, "Re-legalize".I know many will think I am splitting hairs on this but it will make an impression as most people aren't even aware that cannabis was legal.Interesting(and very suspicious) that Alaska's supreme court appears to be the only court to acknowledge that constitutional rights CANNOT be repealed(and yet the government as well as some citizens keep trying).
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Comment #9 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on July 15, 2004 at 07:44:17 PT:
PREDISPOSED AGAINST CANNABIS TO RECEIVE FUNDING
I like what Paul Peterson has written in Comment #1, below, suggesting that the NIH may be predisposed to find medical problems from Cannabis use so that they may continue to receive funding from the federal government.
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Comment #8 posted by medicinal toker on July 15, 2004 at 07:43:46 PT
now research is being outsourced too???
What is going on here? do they expect different results if they contract the research overseas?
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Comment #7 posted by goneposthole on July 15, 2004 at 07:43:02 PT
9000 years of cannabis history
Should be able to handle all of the questions.Just another whack on a dead horse.
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Comment #6 posted by RasAric on July 15, 2004 at 07:31:54 PT
Billos is right on
These "studies" are a joke. They jsut keep studying and studying, hoping to find something. Regardless of what they may or maynot find our drug laws are antiquated and unconsitutional(therefore illegal).
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Comment #5 posted by ekim on July 15, 2004 at 05:42:43 PT
be one with the plant
India is making billions off the fiber and more on the oil and med value.
http://www.leap.cc
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Comment #4 posted by billos on July 15, 2004 at 03:09:28 PT
Studies have been done before...................
Nixon got reports that recommended decriminilization due to pot being so benign.However, and unfortunately, when Nixon figured it was time to take heed, the local news would remind him of how the "hippies" were staging anti-war protests again and disrupting society.I envision Nixon swearing out loud at the hippies - God he hated them so - and simultaniously throwing the commission report in the trash.I believe it was Nixon who asked Congress to put pot in Schedule I...................was it not?
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Comment #3 posted by WolfgangWylde on July 15, 2004 at 02:21:44 PT
Found It!
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/1/thread1305.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by WolfgangWylde on July 15, 2004 at 02:20:13 PT
Oh yeah....
...I'm sure this will be an unbiased study. There was a study not too long ago that showed no cognitive differences in long-term marijuana smokers. Amybody have a link?
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Comment #1 posted by paulpeterson on July 15, 2004 at 00:46:31 PT
US Studies already have proven harmlessness of Pot
Three years ago I spoke with researchers at the University of Iowa, who use PET scans to study Pot Brains (chronic users). They said even constant usage does not cause ANY STRUCTURAL CHANGES in the brain, especially distinct from cocaine, which rewires the "stimulus-reward center" (pot doesn't, meaning that reformed "addicts" of pot can easily return to typical daily reward systems (other than pot, that is). They said pot DOES increase blood flow to the Ventral areas of the frontal lobes, where emotional thoughts originate (any girl knows the kind of guy who will ONLY talk about love and feelings when high, etc.)University of Chicago researchers told me their chronic usage studies (trying to establish "safety in the hands of the unregulated public") found NO deliterious effects from even heavy usage, other than a mild irritation/congestion in the lungs and NO SOCIAL DEFICITS or loss of EARNING CAPACITY from chronic usage.Both groups of researchers told me THEY HADN'T PUBLISHED ANY FINDINGS BECAUSE BOTH SCHOOLS WERE TRYING TO GET THEIR DEA GRANTS RE-ISSUED and it is common knowledge that any POSITIVE RESULTS PUBLISHED kills the golden egg!So here, in this article, we find evidence of the INSTITUTE OF HEALTH TRYING TO TILT THE FINDINGS, by finding some third world country desperate enough for money to COOK THE BOOKS and make marijuana look bad for the photo op, eh? And by the way, memory deficits have already been ruled out by quality English language studies, but of course, expect something to be lost in the translation on this one, baby, since it appears that the NIH wanted this info leaked out (and the government leaks what the government wants leaked out, right?).Just checking in, from Illinois, again. PAUL PETERSON
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