cannabisnews.com: Scientists May Use Cannabis to Devise New Drugs





Scientists May Use Cannabis to Devise New Drugs
Posted by FoM on July 04, 2000 at 10:02:22 PT
Cannabis is Medicine
Source: ABCNews
British scientists are closer than ever to developing drugs based on cannabis that will take away pain -- but also take away the "high." Researchers from Imperial College in London have separated cannabinoids, the active components of the drug, and shown that they act on both the brain and spinal cord. 
The findings will allow scientists to develop cannabinoid-based drugs designed to target the spinal cord to relieve pain, but bypass the brain to prevent the often euphoric high associated with using cannabis. "We have achieved a really important step in terms of divorcing the psychoactive side effects of cannabis from their pain-relieving effects," Dr. Andrew Rice told Reuters. "What we've done is to identify the fact that there are receptors for the cannabinoids in the pain areas of the spinal cord," he said. In their research, scientists used receptors for cannabinoids on the spinal cord, particularly the areas concerned with pain processing. By delivering drugs directly to the spinal cord to relieve pain they bypass the brain so there are no psychoactive effects. New drugs based on cannabis are still years away but the findings, published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, are an important first step. Better Than Morphine For A Certain Type Of Pain:Rice and his colleagues said cannabinoid-based drugs would be more effective than opioid analgesics, such as morphine, for pain caused by spinal cord injuries and nerve damage. "When you injure a nerve you lose the opioid receptors in the spinal cord. That is why morphine does not work well in those situations," said Rice. "What we have shown in this paper is that when you injure the nerve the cannabinoid receptors stay," he said. The British researchers followed a similar course to the development of morphine-like drugs in the 1970s. The epidural drug delivery system, commonly used to relieve the pain of childbirth and for chronic and cancer pain, was developed after scientists discovered its receptors on the spinal cord. NewsHawk: Sledhead London (Reuters) Web Posted: July 4, 2000Copyright ©2000 ABC News Internet Ventures. Related Articles & Web Site:U/K. Medicinal Cannabis Projecthttp://www.medicinal-cannabis.org/Company Developing Marijuana for Medical Useshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5344.shtmlPatients To Test Cannabis Medicineshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5309.shtmlPot Shrinks Tumors: Government Knew in 74http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5972.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by CD1 on July 06, 2000 at 11:18:50 PT
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES
This is interesting. The pharmaceutical companies, who are fighting so hard to keep marijuana illegal, want to use a processed version of the drug to so they can profit. I heard the same story about Marinol, which is suppose to encourage hunger for those suffering from nausea. Marinol users report that Marinol effects are more disorienting than smoking marijuana. Do you want proof that pharmaceutical companies are behind the conspiracy to keep marijuana illegal? Look no further than Al Gore's presidental stand on medical marijuana. He stated in a speech in California that he does not support medical marijuana becuase he hasn't seen anything to convince him it would help,(even though it seemed to help him deal with stress in Vietnam). Keep in mind that pharmaceutical companies contributed at least $1.4 million over the course of his political career. This also explains his stance of compulsory licensing for AIDS drugs in South Africa (denying the South African government a chance to search for the cheapest alternative to AIDS treatment, in an attempt to force South Africa to buy drugs from U.S. drug companies.) The lives of 3.2 million infected South Africans are little concern to Mr. Gore. (If they all would donate a dollar to his campaign, I bet his opinion would change quite quickly.) This disgusts me. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 04, 2000 at 22:58:34 PT
That was good!
Oh dddd, That was just too funny! Get rid of that nasty, annoying high! They do make suppositories too! I knew they could figure out how to make them real fast! LOL! It really is pathetic isn't it?Peace, FoM!
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Comment #1 posted by dddd on July 04, 2000 at 20:46:57 PT
Way out
 I think it's most peculiar to hear this....British scientists are closer than ever to developing drugs based on cannabis that will takeaway pain -- but also take away the "high."...Well,,what a surprize,cannabis does have some medicinal value...Sure am glad they are finally figuring out ways to get rid of that nasty,annoying high.....dddd 
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