Cannabis shown to help repair and regrow damaged brain cells

[grace]

Cannabis shown to help repair and regrow damaged brain cells

http://pr.cannazine.co.uk/content/view/356/1/

10 June 2008

 

 

Scientists link cannabis use with a damaging "shrinking" of certain parts of the brain, which is remarkeable for a number of reasons, not least of which as recent as 2005, scientists were hailing the benefits of cannabis, and its ability to repair damaged brain cells. Quite the connundrum?

 

A team of Canadian researchers reported that cannabis use appears to spur the development of new brain cells in rats and to have further beneficial anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects.

 

While it has been known for more than 100 years that cannabis does no discernible damage to brain cells, only in the past ten years have reports demonstrated a direct neurological benefit.

 

The results support the anecdotal claims of thousands of patients, contradict decades of anti-marijuana propaganda used to prop up the foundering Drug War and suggests more social benefits to be had by legalizing cannabis for adults.

 

Because many social drugs, including opiates, alcohol, nicotine and cocaine, have been shown to suppress the formation of new brain cells when used chronically, cannabis had been suspected of doing so in a form of “guilt by association.” However, researchers in Israel found that cannabinoid drugs are helpful in cases of nerve damage and trauma. The US Department of Veteran Affairs found similar results working with veterans suffering from PTSD in the 1980s and suppressed the results.

 

Now, a team at the University of Saskatchewan department of psychiatry in Saskatoon, led by Xia Zhang, may have found evidence the drug promotes new brain cells to form in the hippocampus region of the brain, which reduces anxiety and depression.

 

Zhang and his colleagues wrote in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation that cannabis appears “to be the only illicit drug whose capacity to produce increased ... neurons is positively correlated with its (anti-anxiety) and anti-depressant-like effects.” The paper was posted online at the Journal’s website.

 

Rats in the study were injected twice per day for 10 days with HU210 -- a synthetic form of a cannabinoid found naturally in smoked cannabis. This is equivalent to “a high dose” of smoked cannabis, Zhang said, but given the variables of potency and cigarette size, he is not certain how many joints it would take for a human to match the dosage.

 

http://www.oaksterdamnews.com

[spaceleaf]

Science is a wonderful industry when its in the appropriate hands......I beleive there are many more beneficial facts to be found in the near future ,to help those in desperate need medically speaking. CANNABIS will save mankind.

..........spaceleaf.............

[Low_ryder]

 

On this video filmed in 2006, Dr. Robert Melamede, Professor of Biology at the University of Colorado, explains how the body's Endo-Cannabinoid system (and plant based Cannabinoids as suppliment) kills cancer cells and inhibits tumor growth.

 

A good watch

 

edit: More videos of Dr. Melamede

 

And a good video of Raphael Mechoulam speaking on the issue:

 

 

Also look at this video if you do not know what free radicals are:

Edited June 12, 2008 by Low_ryder

[PGHGreek420]

hell yeah science finally does something worth while, i know old head:harhar: stoners that have been sayin that shit for years tho. too bad all the conservative tight ass politicians in the US wont listen to a damn thing any real scientists have too say they are to traumatized by the eggs in the skillet "thius is your brain on drugs"....it works better...

[Low_ryder]

A good watch is also: The Third National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics 2004 conference

 

I specially enjoyed:

Cannabinoid System in Neuroprotection, Raphael Mechoulam, PhD

Holistic Biochemistry of Cannabinoids, by Robert Melamede, PhD