There are actually positive effects of smoking marijuana. It can give you recall and ward off superbugs. Unfortunately, mental impairment and disorientation also result. If this weren't the case, marijuana could use its THC to aid sick people. Lakshmi Devi, a researcher at mount Sinai school of medicine, calls this "a major problem." If we could safely treat people with marijuana, we could use it as an anti-inflammatory drug for arthritis patients and as an appetite-restorer for chemo patients. Devi and her partners have been trying to create a drug with these positive effects that does not include the negative effects that pot currently contains. They think it may be possible for one to create these drugs in their heads independently. This would supposedly be done with THC-mimicking proteins in the brain. Devi and her partners conducted a study with mice that suggested it could be done one day. Coincidentally, Devi's study was published on April 20, or national pot day. She said, however, that as for when humans would learn how to do this, it "could be months... could be years... could be never."
link: http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=on-pot-smokers-day-a-study-showing-2009-04-28
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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2 comments:
GIven the intensifying drug war in Mexico and the "controversy" in the US of legalizing marijuana this is an interesting development. The idea of a new and potent anti-inflammatory drug is great. Like the scientist said the only draw back is the unknown timeframe.
Spencer I feel like all of your recent articles have been borderline-sketchy. Or just flatout sketchy.
This is really interesting. I've never really heard of anyone trying to bypass the side effects to use pot for purely medicinal purposes. Even if this is developed, I wonder how difficult it will be to get it out on the market. There's such a stigma attached to pot in some powerful communities, and I wonder if they wuld be unable to overlook the potential applications of this product simply because of where it comes from.
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