I need the marijuana to rember why I need the marijuana!

[BaliBabyDoc]

Reuters via CNN
It's not like I go looking for medical marijuana studies that make fools out of the FDA and Bush administration. But here's another one . . .

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) -- Good news for aging hippies: Smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer's disease.

New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana's active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.

THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer's patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

The researchers go on to say their research means drugs that activate cannabinoid receptors may be useful as treatments for Alzheimer. Granted that's not exactly new news.

PubMed Alzheimer + THC J Neuroscience 2005

Our results indicate that cannabinoid receptors are important in the pathology of AD and that cannabinoids succeed in preventing the neurodegenerative process occurring in the disease.

Alzheimer disease is a terrible way to die . . . granted, there aren't that many good ways, either. But our treatments to date have been pretty crappy. In fact, despite the expense and wide use of them . . . many MDs question the utility of drugs like galantamine, rivastigmine, and donepezl that primarily work by slowing the breakdown of acetylcholine in the brain.

Those afflicted with Alzheimer's suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.

I'm not a Reagan fan but I bet he would have been a riot hanging out at the ranch and smoking a bowl with the wife. I bet a couple of his kids would have visited more often, too.

 

[Thump553]

Alzheimer's killed my mother. It also killed her brother and two of her sisters, and contributed substantially to the death of another. Hopefully this avenue of research is pursued. Bush has already knocked back efforts to find a cure through stem cell research by at least the length of time he will preside in office.

-->also a quick plug for the Folding@Home project, where you can help by using spare cycles on your computer for medical research, run by Stanford University. Head over to the Distributed Computing forum for more info. So you can help find cures for Alzheimers, diabetes, etc.

<---- Back on point somewhat: I saw an interesting show on the History Channel earlier this week about pot. It was legal until the 1920s or so, then a few states started to outlaw it, then the feds in the thirties. According to this show, a major reason Texas and later the US outlawed pot was to use the arrests to get rid of Mexican migrants, who were the primary users of pot back then.

 

[K1052]

Our backasswards drug policy is hardly a partisan issue. Both sides claim that the WOD is somehow winnable and a good thing.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: K1052
Our backasswards drug policy is hardly a partisan issue. Both sides claim that the WOD is somehow winnable and a good thing.

Unfortunately both sides must pander to worrisome parents who are too lazy to actually parent their kids, as they make up the majority of the voter base.

 

[Darthvoy]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Alzheimer's killed my mother. It also killed her brother and two of her sisters, and contributed substantially to the death of another. Hopefully this avenue of research is pursued. Bush has already knocked back efforts to find a cure through stem cell research by at least the length of time he will preside in office.

-->also a quick plug for the Folding@Home project, where you can help by using spare cycles on your computer for medical research, run by Stanford University. Head over to the Distributed Computing forum for more info. So you can help find cures for Alzheimers, diabetes, etc.

<---- Back on point somewhat: I saw an interesting show on the History Channel earlier this week about pot. It was legal until the 1920s or so, then a few states started to outlaw it, then the feds in the thirties. According to this show, a major reason Texas and later the US outlawed pot was to use the arrests to get rid of Mexican migrants, who were the primary users of pot back then.

Yup...they wanted to make the Mexicans stop smoking it because it made them "crazy", but mainly because the cotton industry saw MJ as a threat because it was better, stronger, and og higher quality. If I remember correctly, at one point it was illegal to not grow it in the US.

EDIT: http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/mj005.htm link to proof

 

[Moonbeam]

I say that filthy stuff is a threat to beer. And enough beer and who cares if you got whatever that memory disease is.

 

[LunarRay]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I say that filthy stuff is a threat to beer. And enough beer and who cares if you got whatever that memory disease is.

Well... I don't care much for the taste of beer and most anything alcohol based except maybe Niquil... Now if they can only research into a use of Marijuana for Cryoglobulinemia.... hehehhehe

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: LunarRay

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I say that filthy stuff is a threat to beer. And enough beer and who cares if you got whatever that memory disease is.

Well... I don't care much for the taste of beer and most anything alcohol based except maybe Niquil... Now if they can only research into a use of Marijuana for Cryoglobulinemia.... hehehhehe

I spose you could do some tests.

 

[LunarRay]

Ah... Moonster... Moonster...

Sick bird.... Sick bird.... it is ill eagle... and I'd not do anything like that. Could you imagine... nah...

 

[CaptnKirk]

Yeah, Looney - and Nyquill is too hard to keep lit . . . anyway . . .

 

[ayabe]

The Declaration of Independence drafts were written on hemp paper. Thomas J grew it, blah blah blah. This has all been said before.

But the history of drug laws in this country is very simple.... whichever drug was associated with dark people was outlawed. This started with cocaine in the first part of the 20th century, where there was a bunch of propaganda about black guys getting amped up on coke and raping white women. Opium was outlawed because Chinese men were seducing white women with it. Eventually it progressed to marijuana and reefer madness. It's all a big joke.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: ayabe
The Declaration of Independence drafts were written on hemp paper. Thomas J grew it, blah blah blah. This has all been said before.

But the history of drug laws in this country is very simple.... whichever drug was associated with dark people was outlawed. This started with cocaine in the first part of the 20th century, where there was a bunch of propaganda about black guys getting amped up on coke and raping white women. Opium was outlawed because Chinese men were seducing white women with it. Eventually it progressed to marijuana and reefer madness. It's all a big joke.

Interesting take on our drug history . . . somewhat 'truthy' but I doubt it's that involved with white women.

 

[Termagant]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc

Originally posted by: ayabe
The Declaration of Independence drafts were written on hemp paper. Thomas J grew it, blah blah blah. This has all been said before.

But the history of drug laws in this country is very simple.... whichever drug was associated with dark people was outlawed. This started with cocaine in the first part of the 20th century, where there was a bunch of propaganda about black guys getting amped up on coke and raping white women. Opium was outlawed because Chinese men were seducing white women with it. Eventually it progressed to marijuana and reefer madness. It's all a big joke.

Interesting take on our drug history . . . somewhat 'truthy' but I doubt it's that involved with white women.

White women do figure into the opium bit, because they were becoming zombies on it.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: Termagant

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc

Originally posted by: ayabe
The Declaration of Independence drafts were written on hemp paper. Thomas J grew it, blah blah blah. This has all been said before.

But the history of drug laws in this country is very simple.... whichever drug was associated with dark people was outlawed. This started with cocaine in the first part of the 20th century, where there was a bunch of propaganda about black guys getting amped up on coke and raping white women. Opium was outlawed because Chinese men were seducing white women with it. Eventually it progressed to marijuana and reefer madness. It's all a big joke.

Interesting take on our drug history . . . somewhat 'truthy' but I doubt it's that involved with white women.

White women do figure into the opium bit, because they were becoming zombies on it.

The History channel did a series on different drugs and this is where most of that came from. I didn't know a lot of the history behind cocaine and such. But they used to hand it out to black dock workers to allow them to work harder without getting tired.

Everything I posted was directly from that series, in fact it was on again last week.

 

[LunarRay]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Yeah, Looney - and Nyquill is too hard to keep lit . . . anyway . . .

 

[Mudbone]

I would prefer sticking to the topic of the medical benefits of marijuana and misguided policy on that substance.

But . . . I like the History Channel as much as anyone. But it's a bit 'truthy' for anyone to say our prohibition policies are intimately linked with the plight of white women. To the contrary, the pattern of 'regulating' substances that are favored by minorities seems reasonably well established.

 

[Mudbone]

^^Holy crap! How did that happen? That's my post!

 

[Mudbone]

OK, what Mod is smoking marijuana?


<----BaliBabyDoc

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Hello? Now that was kinda funny . . .

 

[miketheidiot]

lol thats like the 2nd time i've seen that today