cannabisnews.com: Clearing The Haze





Clearing The Haze
Posted by CN Staff on April 28, 2008 at 05:23:14 PT
By Justin Gutierrez, Staff Writer
Source: UCSD Guardian
California -- Labs at UCSD and around San Diego are investigating the medicinal value and addictive qualities of cannabis, the drug that, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is used by approximately 162 million people each year. Like many other recreational drugs, marijuana binds to the brain’s receptors. Receptors are similar to keyholes, which release an effect throughout the body when the correct link is made. However, unlike many of the body’s other compounds, the brain has receptors that respond specifically to chemicals found in marijuana, called cannabinoid receptors.
These receptors trigger physical rewards in the body during exercise, in what UCSD School of Medicine professor of anesthesiology Dr. Mark Wallace likens to “the runner’s high.” The most common cannabinoid in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. According to Wallace, there are over 450 compounds within the plant that contribute to marijuana’s effects. Wallace’s most recent study on cannabinoids involved 15 healthy individuals who inhaled marijuana and endured pain from a forearm injection of capsaicin, the compound that produces the spicy sensation in chili peppers. Wallace found that if capsaicin was injected 45 minutes after a subject smoked marijuana, there was a significant decrease in pain. However, if capsaicin was administered five minutes after the subject smoked, there was no significant decrease in pain. In addition, Wallace found that task performance and motor skills in his study were not significantly impaired with a dose of 4 percent THC marijuana. “This study was conducted to put the debated pain-relieving quality of cannabis to the test,” Wallace said. “We were shown that there is a potential benefit in using cannabis moderately to treat patients with chronic pain.” Wallace’s study was funded by SB 847, a bill signed into effect by former Gov. Gray Davis in 1999. The legislation allowed the University of California to establish a California Medical Marijuana Research Program. With this bill, as well as the 1996 State Proposition 215, the Center for Medical Cannabis Research was established. Based in San Diego and affiliated with UCSD, the center gathers researchers to answer the ultimate question involving marijuana — is it genuinely therapeutic and effective enough for medicinal use? “The ultimate goal for the CMCR is to test the safety and efficacy of using cannabis and its compounds in medical treatment,” CMCR representative Heather Bentley said. “This goal holds particularly true in situations where there are no other solutions for patients who suffer from chronic pain and or illness.” Bentley said cancer, AIDS, obsessive-compulsive disorder, diabetes, multiple-sclerosis and depression have all been medically treated with the use of marijuana with some success. While UCSD heads many cannabis experiments, it receives all research marijuana from one government-funded source — the University of Mississippi — which is governed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the sole American contractor that has been growing legal marijuana since 1974. At the Scripps Research Institute, NIDA is supplying another project with drastically different goals. SRI Professor Barbara Mason is heading a study that will look at addiction as a reason for constant marijuana relapses. Participants in Mason’s study are required to be regular marijuana users and are paid to not smoke. They are given a medication which abruptly blocks cannabinoid receptors, creating a full-scale withdrawal from marijuana for day. This allows Mason and her colleagues to study marijuana withdrawal within a short period of time, whereas natural withdrawal usually lasts for months. “Our study focuses on abuse and dependence on cannabis and how it affects higher cognitive functioning, like reasoning, decision making and problem solving,” Mason said. “We are trying to characterize marijuana withdrawal.” Mason said one of the most prevalent symptoms of marijuana withdrawal is sleep disturbances, characterized by strange dreams and interruptions that can last months after a user quits smoking. Other symptoms include “violent outbursts,” such as aggressive behavior, anxiety attacks and difficulty concentrating. UCSD assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Susan Tapert will create magnetic resonance images of the brains of participants involved once the study moves past its initial stages. The participants include some of UCSD’s own students. Tapert is particularly interested in how cannabis use affects long-term development of the brain in adolescents and young adults. “This matter is important to me because marijuana is so widely used,” Tapert said. “About 5 percent of high school seniors report using marijuana daily. It is import to understand its neurological effects, so that young adults are rightfully informed about the effects of marijuana use.” According to Mason, despite marijuana’s widespread use, its effects on the body and mind are hardly understood. Because marijuana’s long-term effects are still unknown, researchers like Tapert are focusing their attention on teens and young adults, like undergraduates, whose learning abilities could be affected by the substance. “Like with any substance, overuse can bring undesired results,” Wallace said. “In the future, marijuana’s place in medicine will hopefully be understood, as well its adverse effects on the mind and body.” Note: Government-funded research at UCSD investigates marijuana's effects to better understand how the drug can both help and hurt its users. Source: Guardian, The (U of CA, San Diego, CA Edu)Author: Justin Gutierrez, Staff Writer Published: Sunday, April 27, 2008 Copyright: 2008 UCSD GuardianContact: editor ucsdguardian.orgWebsite: http://www.ucsdguardian.org/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by John Tyler on April 28, 2008 at 19:16:42 PT
junk science
Scientist after grant money are like a bunch of prostitutes looking for a rich john. If their funding source wants them to defame a good plant for reasons I don’t think they even comprehend, then so be it. Right or wrong or truth or lie has noting to do with it. It’s just you pay us, and we will give you what you want. Our white lab coat and Phd.s will validate it.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 28, 2008 at 18:12:19 PT
Sinsemilla Jones 
Oh Yeah! Stubborn men. I know you're right.Never, never, never take your computer for granted or it will turn around and crash on you. LOL!
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Comment #9 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on April 28, 2008 at 17:53:38 PT
FoM - And as stubborn as a man! LOL!
Actually, I think sometimes machines just want some attention, and don't like being taken for granted.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 28, 2008 at 17:21:41 PT
Sinsemilla Jones 
I'm glad it's ok now. Computers and web pages can be as tempermental as a woman! LOL!
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Comment #7 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on April 28, 2008 at 17:14:27 PT
FoM, it's working now for me, too.
Must of been a temporary server glitch or something.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 28, 2008 at 14:04:59 PT
Sinsemilla Jones 
I don't know why it isn't working. I checked just now and it worked for me.
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Comment #5 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on April 28, 2008 at 13:59:09 PT
FoM #3 - Link not working.
In fact, I keep getting an Under Construction page for all of drugpolicy.org.I think this is the same PR on Loretta Nall's blog -http://tinyurl.com/6b9pdg
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 28, 2008 at 12:39:38 PT
Politicizing Pain
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?0b89150f-e160-4954-964f-30addbfd9049
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 28, 2008 at 12:15:49 PT
Press Release From The Drug Policy Alliance
Bring Medical Marijuana Up for a Vote in AlabamaMonday, April 28, 2008Alabama residents: Alabama’s medical marijuana bill needs our help. After the bill was introduced last month, it was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. Supporters all over Alabama asked the Committee to hold a hearing, but the Committee has yet to act. 
URL: http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/042808al.cfm
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on April 28, 2008 at 11:29:32 PT
Sam Adams
Very well said. I agree.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on April 28, 2008 at 07:55:25 PT
best of luck to you people, really
Good luck to Dr. Tapert and her crew. yet another round of searching for cannabis withdrawal problems and developmental defects, after decades and many thousands spent have yielding nothing significant.But they'll keep trying! This time the new wrinkle is injecting people with some Big Pharma poison to induce "withdrawal". How that could be considered a useful study on withdrawal is totally baffling to me. They'd have to first do an exhaustive study to prove that the injection is 100% equal in all ways to real withdrawal of cannabis.And of course the comical thing is - they could just ask us! No need to simulate anything. As for the developmental defects.....we've got 5000 years of history with no sign of trouble. But maybe if we flush enough money down the toilet on these right-wing scientists and their games they can manufacture some of sort "risk" associated with cannabis. I seriously doubt it though.
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