Marijuana chemical may treat depression: study

[mull]

Marijuana chemical may treat depression: study

 

Posted Tue Nov 6, 2007 11:15am AEDT

Updated Tue Nov 6, 2007 11:18am AEDT

High hopes: Researchers say the mood-elevating properties of marijuana could be harnessed to treat depression

 

High hopes: Researchers say the mood-elevating properties of marijuana could be harnessed to treat depression (Reuters: Mark Blinch)

 

A drug that boosts levels of the brain's own "bliss" chemical can help reverse symptoms of depression in rats, US and Italian researchers reported.

 

The drug helps maintain high levels of a compound called anandamide, named after the Sanskrit word for "bliss," which is chemically similar to the active ingredient in marijuana.

 

"These findings raise the hope that the mood-elevating properties of marijuana can be harnessed to treat depression," said Daniele Piomelli, director of the Centre for Drug Discovery at the University of California, Irvine, who led the study.

 

"Marijuana itself has shown no clinical use for depression. However, specific drugs that amplify the actions of natural marijuana-like transmitters in the brain are showing great promise," he added in a statement.

 

Mr Piomelli's team used a drug patented this year, called URB597. It interferes with another compound called fatty acid amide hydrolase or FAAH, which in turn breaks down anandamide.

 

Dialling back FAAH makes more anandamide available in the brain, Mr Piomelli said.

 

Writing in the journal Biological Psychiatry, Mr Piomelli and colleagues said they gave URB597 to chronically stressed rats, which act in a way similar to depressed people.

 

After five weeks of treatment, treated rats acted more like unstressed rats, Mr Piomelli's team said.

 

Mr Piomelli, who patented URB597 with colleagues at the Universities of Urbino and Parma in Italy, licensed the drug to European drugmaker Organon BioSciences. He said Organon will begin clinical studies on the drug in 2008.

 

Organon is a unit of Dutch chemical group Akzo Nobel, which is in the process of selling it to Schering-Plough Corp.

 

- Reuters

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/06/2082792.htm

 

 

Couldn't find this yarn on the site yet. Just having a look, see the part in bold? There's Mr Piomelli lying to protect his new product - URB597.

Cannabis has shown no clinical use for depression, yet shows an overwhelming practical efficacy for it in the real world!

 

Next to follow the trail of URB597 to patent, then sale to Akzo Nobel. Who funny enough, have this to say on their site -

 

"Akzo Nobel is a Fortune Global 500 company and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. It is also the Chemicals Industry leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and Akzo Nobel is included on the FTSE4Good Index.

 

Based in the Netherlands, we are a multicultural organization serving customers throughout the world with coatings, chemicals and human and animal healthcare products. We employ around 62,000 people and conduct our activities in these four segments, with operating subsidiaries in more than 80 countries.

 

Consolidated revenues for 2006 totaled EUR 13.7 billion."

 

http://www.akzonobel.com/com/Our+company/aboutakzonobel.htm

 

Sounds like asset protection again.. how depressing

[oilburner]

I agree whole heartedly with the statements and claims above.

year 2000, i tried to take my life and were classified clinically depressed. 7 years down the track, still on 1/2 an Aropax!

I smoked marijuana the entire time[and still do..but prefer oil..its stronger] and found my mind in a happy state, far from depression, but who can you tell in the medical world? No one, because of it's legal standing, because they can't govern it to make money from it, yet it's the most natural thing out there,not man-made!. Other drugs, booze, all that crap is man made.

I'm in my early 40's and also suffer with Osteo-athritis in most of my body, Kleinfelters and a host of other shit.

I smoke for pain relief and mood changeing.

To top it all off, i have dragged myself away from self pitty and have built a very lucrative ebay business where i sell 2nd hand junk and earn up to $1100 some weeks to my amazement!

For me, all this would not be possible without my good friend MJ! HAIL ALMIGHTY MJ...then toke it baby!

 

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA NOW !

[torture]

Hey good to hear someone else that pulled themselves out of a hole oilburner.

 

I myself had the same problem, except from the age of 14. They tried me on several medications, all of which had several unwanted side effects. By 15 I was self medicating cannabis and have never looked back. The worse side effect marijuana has ever caused for me is the occasional chest infection, and at the very worse of the spectrum some short term memory loss.

 

It was quite strange when the doctor found out i was self medicating marijuana. I was told that this would make my depression 100x worse and could lead to schizophrenia. Personally for myself, this couldnt be any further from the truth. I havent touched an anti depressant since i was 15, and never will while im still able to inhale my choof.

 

I have made myself a successful career, been working full time in the civil industry. Even with the loss of my previous girlfriend to a workplace accident, not once did i try self harming. It amazes me that even though i know whats best for my body, we have people who we pay and voted for to be in power, making decisions that bar me from having my medicine.

 

I have noticed that i can have small periods of time off using marijuana, but the depression does sneak back. So for me personally i have no choice but to self medicate. I must also mention that with my depression comes a fair amount of anger, and without my cannabis i have a tough time controlling that to. I found alcohol just made that problem 100x worse for me, causing me to become pretty violent and picking fights at random. For that reason i seldom drink.

 

Surely it must be against our constitution to be doing more harm than good by leaving my medicine prohibited.

 

Free my plant you arrogant bureaucratic bastards.

[bufo marinus]

The worse side effect marijuana has ever caused for me is the occasional chest infection, and at the very worse of the spectrum some short term memory loss.

 

It was quite strange when the doctor found out i was self medicating marijuana. I was told that this would make my depression 100x worse and could lead to schizophrenia. Personally for myself, this couldnt be any further from the truth. I havent touched an anti depressant since i was 15, and never will while im still able to inhale my choof.

 

I have made myself a successful career. It amazes me that even though i know whats best for my body, we have people who we pay and voted for to be in power, making decisions that bar me from having my medicine.

 

I have noticed that i can have small periods of time off using marijuana, but the depression does sneak back. So for me personally i have no choice but to self medicate. I must also mention that with my depression comes a fair amount of anger, and without my cannabis i have a tough time controlling that to. I found alcohol just made that problem 100x worse for me, causing me to become pretty violent and picking fights at random. For that reason i seldom drink.

 

Surely it must be against our constitution to be doing more harm than good by leaving my medicine prohibited.

 

Free my plant you arrogant bureaucratic bastards.

 

Man that story is almost word for word my story.

I know what grog does and did for me, I can show you the scars.

My battle with depression has been ongoing for 20 years, I posted why I smoke in my profile the day I joined OzStoners.

I have argued with numerous doctors over the years and refuse to be put on anti depressants.

The only truly calm periods I have found my cannabis use to fall is when I have pulled off a decent crop and don't have to worry about scoring

I've been 'mentally evaluated' under a court order, let me tell you what that does for an already low self esteem

Apart from being depressed with an obsessive compulsive nature I'm ok apparently

On one occasion, after 2 months dealing with a court appointed shrink, she wanted me to get political and campaign for decriminalisation!! How fucked up is that? She could see when I was going downhill, she knew when I was smoking too. She could see when it helped.

My friend HeatherBud was staying with me the last few months, we met when she had the Cannagenetics web site. Heather also has her own demons to deal with. Being a nutter with a record, she also has to show up and lie to the doctors she is ORDERED to go and see. She is like the rest of us, unable to speak the truth to a doctor.

When asked by one why she smoked she replied well it's a better option than suicide, he thought she was being melodramatic, she was being deadly serious.

I really don't know what the answer is

I am really grateful, I'll say it once again, to Oz Stoner and Pure for what they provide here. Thanks

[oilburner]

It's a real touchy subject this and everyone's opinions differ, but i never went to alcohol because up until the age of 20 all i ever saw was my closet drinker mother crying all the time.Heavily depressed and no one knew. My mum drunk heavily and mixed mogodon and valium committed suicide and succeeded. What a fucken useless way to die..month's before my 21st.

Shit happens guy's. My mum drank to get happy and i smoked cones to get happy[back then a 25er would last me a week!!]. My old man was loaded, she had the best of everything, but nothing helps unless you want to help your self! that was her answer, booze and drugs.

As a self medicator, you just know how much you need to get the right effect [still using it for pain relief..i have a cupboard full of oxynorms and other heavy duty painkillers prescribed to me, the Medical profession thinks i take this shit]!! it didn't grow naturally [or with hydro help]..it aint going in my mouth!

I love me cougars and coke,my old man at the age of 83 is still making moonshine in the banana bending state and drinks a nip every morning and has customers for the rest, but he doesn't abuse it!.

Too many of my mates in Melbourne used to hammer the mull and binge drink, it's not on, one or the other for me and not both together! my theory is if you have to mix the 2 together, you obviously need to ditch the mull and go the Cousin's way..go Cocaine!

I have tried speed a couple of times and could have got really used to it, like another mate in Melbourne, who now at the age of 40 looks to be 60 and has no hair, and still lives at home with his mum and dad fuck that!, i'm a long term smoker and now what to expect. I have a huge Anxiety problem and it's the only thing i find gives me good relief and confidence.

I'm growing for the 1st time, ever, in-laws live next door [makes it awkward sometimes] and a cop lives over the back fence...hmmm, that couldn't be helping my anxiety!!

Chill guy's..looking forward to some more talk on the subject..cheers oilman.

[jonx]

Very interesting to read your stories, I'll try and keep mine brief.

 

Have struggled with anxiety and depression since I hit puberty and I would agree that pot helps more than anything else.

 

My problem is that over the years my alcohol intake has gradually increased, to the point where I'm drinking and smoking most nights. This is, as you say oilburner, kinda stupid. On the other hand, I reckon cocaine would be worse in the long term!

 

If I can just increase my mull intake and reduce my alcohol intake I'm sure I'll be happier and healthier further down the track.

 

I do have a host of other medical problems though and am taking a bizarro cocktail of pharmaceuticals every day (including two different anti-depressants, both at high dose).

 

It's probably obvious, but I don't buy that whole "man made = bad" idea. Yeah, there's plenty of good examples, but then there's plenty for the other side. If you're really sick does such a stance mean you'll refuse anti-biotics? I kinda doubt it...

 

Anyway, the herb is great for my depression and is undoubtedly one of the reasons I'm still walking the planet!