"PROOF CANNABIS IS A GATEWAY DRUG, CANNABIS CAN MAKE YOUR BRAIN GROW, CANNABIS AFFECTS BABIES IN THE WOMB, CANNABIS CURES CANCER"

Just a few of the headlines cannabis has made since the year 2000, so when it comes to news about cannabis, it can be difficult to be objective at times. For anyone using cannabis it is a delight to occasionally read positive news about his ancient medicine, with the hope it might contribute towards legalisation. With that in mind it is logical to refute bad news about cannabis as unfounded rubbish, while accepting any positive news as proof that cannabis is harnless and should therefore be legalised. But, what exactly are the headlines above based on?  Research done on rats.

"CANNABIS GATEWAY DRUG, CANNABIS LEADS TO HEROIN, WHY TEENAGERS SHOULD STAY CLEAR OF CANNABIS, DOPE SMOKERS MORE LIKELY TO USE HARD DRUGS." The headlines screamed in summer 2006.

It is the year of the rat according to chinese medicine, time to take a look what rats have meant against and in some cases for cannabis. But do the positive headlines really contribute towards legalisation? 

Very worrying headlines of course, the right use of words to put the fear of god into parents of teenagers. It took 12 rats exactly.

New Scientist reported:

 Neuroscientists have found that rats are more likely to get hooked on heroin if they have previously been given cannabis. The studies suggest a biological mechanism -at least in rats- for the much-publicized effect of cannabis as a "gateway" to harder drugs. The discovery hints that the brain system that produces pleasurable sensations when exposed to heroin may be "primed" by earlier exposure to cannabis, say researchers of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, who carried out the study. To rule out social factors, the researchers turned to an animal model. They dosed some rats with the active ingredient of cannabis and others with a neutral compound during their adolescence (when they were about four to six weeks old). After that, they gave the rats intermittent access to heroin for several weks, obtained by pressing a lever. Although all rats helped themselves to heroin, the ones given cannabis's key compound, called -9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), during their formative years showed a greater escalation in their self-dosing experiment. By the end, rats that had been given cannabis in their "teens" were pressing the lever that delivered heroin about 1.5 times more that the rats that had previously been drug free. 

"CANNABIS BOOSTS BRAINPOWER, POT SMOKING CAN IMPROVE MEMORY AND REDUCE DEPRESSION, CANNABIS ACTS AS ANTIDEPRESSANT."  Headlines were on a positve note for cannabis in autumn 2005. 

New Scientist reported:

A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The result suggests that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain. 

In mammals, new nerve cells are constantly being produced in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is associated with learning, memory, anxiety and depression. Other recreational drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine and cocaine, have shown to suppress this new growth. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and colleagues decided to see what effects a synthetic cannabinoid called HU210 had on rats' brains. They found that giving rats high doses of HU210 twice a day for 10 days increased the rate of nerve cell formation, or neurogenesis, in the hippocampus by about 40%. 

How many rats were used? It is hard to deduct from the research document itself, but it seems to be 15.

In spring 2003 headlines surely must have worried pot smoking mothers: CANNABIS AFFECTS BABIES IN WOMB, EXPOSURE TO CANNABIS IN WOMB MAY HARM UNBORN BABIES, MARIJUANA USE IN PREGNANCY DAMAGES KID'S LEARNING, SMOKING POT MAY HURT BABY." 

The report from New Scientist:

Children born to mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy may suffer a host of lasting mental defects, suggests a new study in rats. Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug among women of reproductive age. The offspring of pregnant rats given a low dose of cannabinoid were found to perform poorly in learning tests throughout their lives, compared to rats that were not exposed. The Italian research team found that long-term learning in rats was damaged by the cannabinoids irreversibly disrupting chemical and electrical processes in the brain during gestation. The exposed rats were also more hyperactive as infants, although this effect wore off as the rats reached adulthood.

Vincent Cuomo, at the La Sapienza University in Rome, and colleagues suggest that similar brain effects could explain learning problems in children born to mothers who use the soft drug during pregnancy. "This is absolutely relevant," says Peter Fred, a psychologist at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, who has done similar work in humans. "What they have found is very consistent with what we have found in humans."

18 rats. 

"CANNABIS MAY HELP TREAT BRAIN TUMOURS, CANNABIS HOPE FOR TUMOUR VICTIMS, CANNABIS COULD TREAT BRAIN TUMOURS." We will finnish on a high, because back in 2000, those were the promising headlines for cannabis.

The BBC reported: 

 A substance found in marijuana has been found to attack a rare kind of brain tumour, say experts.

In experiments carried out on rats, the treatment eradicated the malignant glioma in one-third of cases, and another third lived longer than expected. Malignant gliomas, cancers which usually affect the brain stem, are hard to treat.

Gliomas often develop in childhood, and, depending on the size and type of tumour, may prove difficult to remove. Although some patients are cured, the usual average survival time from diagnosis is only 40 to 50 weeks. However, researchers at Complutense University in Spain are hopeful that the cannabis extracts could translate ito effective treatments.

They injected these cannabinoid chemicals directly into gliomas which had been implanted into the brains of rats.

However, the study only focused on 30 rats and was described as "incomplete" by commentators. One of the researchers said he hoped to start trials on human subjects next year. Dr manuel Guzman said: "we are quite happy with the findings and we believe we can at least try to see what happens in humans."

The researchers believe that the cannabinoids set off a complex chemical chain reaction in the brain which led to the destruction of the cancer cells. The cannabis extracts led to an increase of a fat called ceramide, which led to protein reactions and eventually the destruction of the tumour. Testing programmes are currently underway to check how effective cannabis extracts are against various illnesses.

There is strong anecdotal evidence that it can ease the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and inflammatory illness, as well as post-operative pain. In addition some patients choose to smoke cannabis to relieve the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

But just when you thought you might be finally allowed to grow your own weed, think again, as the article continues in a different direction.

However, studies have shown that smoking cannabis carries health risks in the same way that tobacco does. The British Medical Association strongly advises people not to smoke or eat cannabis for medical reasons.

A spokesman said: "Doctors are awaiting the reults of trials currently being carried out to see if extracts of cannabis are safe and effective. We would want to see it produced as a prescription only medicine." Part of the ungoing research is to identify the "active components" among the hundreds of ingredients of cannabis, and produce a pure version. In that way, patients would be able to enjoy the benefits without getting "high".

"Enjoy the benefits without getting high"...sounds familiar? Yes ofcourse, it goes hand in hand with Sativex, the cannabis derived product of GW Pharmaceuticals, the only company in the UK growing cannabis  with a government licence. It could be a mere coincidence though, untill you realise the picture the BBC uses with the article is one of GW's CEO standing in a field of weed.

Next time you clap your hands in delight when reading positive news about cannabis, think again...The only ones to benefit might very well be the pharmaceutical industries. 

Sources:

Cannabis Gateway drug:

http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v32/n3/abs/1301127a.html

http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2634

Cannabis Brain Power:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8155

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/JCI125509

Cannabis danger to babies: 

http://www.pnas.org

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2871901.stm

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/drugs-alcohol/dn3543

Cannabis Tumour cure: 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/health/661458.stm 

---

Comments (5)

1. Written by NightShade, on 27-02-2008 14:01 ROFL...Kindof explains the herioin-addict rat problem my city has been having... Report

3. Written by Goddess Supreme, on 27-02-2008 23:57 Quote: With the rat study, I wonder if there wasn't a social factor with the rats, which involved them simply being more accustomed to a reward via the drug administration mechanism, so the were already trained to use drugs. Scientists sometimes are guilty of believing that rats are incapable of learned behavior, and every result in an experiment using animal subjects directly relates to a specific biochemical reaction, and learned/social behaviors play no role.     I think you are mistaken Zam. I did not realize he was that young when he was one of 4 profs teaching just a 2wk portion of my intro psychobiology course @UCLA back around '77 or '78, was one of the wettest years for rainfall in LA, IIRC. I would have though Prof Ellison was in his late 40's instead of just about twice my teenage years, and I believe he already was a tenured prof after 10yrs. He had his class office hours mostly in his lab, which is where I became interested in the research he was doing on madness and the brain, volunteering for many weekend shifts observing his rat colony in room dimly light by a few flouroscent tubes, high sensitivity b/w video cameras on tracks movable with remote wired joystick panel. I fed the rat colony waste food from the local cafeteria and had a clipboard with chart of common rate behaviors I would tally off---how many times fights broke out, how many male rats were being aggressive in trying to hump other male rats, lol etc.     This was one of his earliest amphetamine psychosis projects for which he had a $100k grant. He was already divorced from his wife, or separated. I recall his excitement over obtaining a surplus military syntillation machine radio-isotope counter/detector which cost $100k new at the time. Recall him telling me the small battery powered lab grade digital scale cost $4k just so that he could accurately measure micrograms of pure Sandoz Labs LSD from 25mg tiny glass ampules he received at the Med center, for which the receiving personnel where panic stricken (too much Haze I suppose ) about that, telling him to come on down and get it right away.    IIRC, also got 4gm of pure pharmacutecal mescaline in that shipment. I recall him leaving his small safe open in the lab one time, and he had stepped out for 1/2hr, no other grad students in the lab, the box of 3 or 4 LSD ampules easily grabbed by *someone* , I said joking to him.    Unfortunately the time release capsule distribution of LSD model did not work. The 1st rat his grad. PhD candidate lab assist. administered the LSD to, he showed me how that poor animal was lost in another reality, eyes open, but not eating, just plain catatonic, he pinched it's tail and the rat didn't even notice, so far spaced out it was . Not a good model for schizophrenia Prof. Ellision was looking for. LSD increases amount of serotonin neurotransmitter levels in the brain, as schizophrenia patients have an imbalance of this in their brains. I don't recall the science, if psychoactive/hallucinations attributed to some cannabis strains are related to similar serotonin levels, or other NT's are involved.    Read this (shame he died young)-    http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/GaylordEllison.htm    But as to cannabis being a 'gateway' because of increased sensitivity (not proven, by their inconclusive, not backed up by scientific study-peer review, data published) I'll bet similar studies of rats or monkey's might show that other drugs including alcohol, or that notoriously dangerous drug administered by the insidious cigarette, nicotine, may have just as much if not more influence in this regard.    The one thing I do recall in his article that was published in a scientific journal, were the pictures of portions of rat brains from prolonged amphetamine administration, the fine web of nuerons in a healthy rat brain (which is similar in structure, if much smaller, to that human brain) as compared to the severely damaged brain cells that were few and very much thicker than normal (from relentless overdriven release of dopamine/norepinephrine caused by amphetamine, from the synaptic ends of nerves).    Yeah, you could say I spent some of my college years around some crazy rats! But then again, that wasn't nearly as *nerve wrecking* as the unstable nut case women I have unfortunately run across then and later, lol. Report

4. Written by Goddess Supreme, on 28-02-2008 00:24 Sorry, that was 4g not Mega-grams, lol of pure mescaline :D    One of required text books was "Madness & the Brain" (1974) by Solomon Snyder MD, who in that book admitted to a one time use of LSD ...and was surprisingly, the same age as Prof Ellison at the time, studied under the one and only J. Axelrod.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Axelrod    http://www.fnih.org/aboutus/snyderbio.shtml    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_H._Snyder    http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Model+for+madness:+engineered+mice+have+schizophrenia-like+symptoms-a0143249004 Report

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved