Marijuana Research
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Scientist: Marijuana May Treat Diabetes
Cannabis plant extracts could potentially form the basic ingredients for a market-leading diabetes drug, the scientist who developed a former world-beating treatment for the condition believes. Professor Mike Cawthorne led the team that developed GlaxoSmithKline's...
Cannabinoid Treatments: Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Investigators at the University of California at San Diego reported in 2008 that inhaled cannabis significantly reduced objective measures of pain intensity and spasticity in patients with MS in a placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. Investigators concluded that “smoked cannabis was superior to placebo in reducing spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis and provided some benefit beyond currently prescribed treatment.”
Cannabinoids cool the intestine | Published by George Kunos and Pál Pacher
Abstract Cannabinoids inhibit motility and secretion in the intestine. They are now assigned the additional task of curbing excessive inflammation, suggesting that drugs targeting the endogenous cannabinoid system could be exploited for inflammatory bowel disease....
BBC Video: How Cannabis Works
A brief explanation of why cannabinoids are so well received by the human body.
Cannabinoids Reduce ErbB2-Driven Breast Cancer Progression Through Akt Inhibition
THC-based medicine, when used as an experimental drug of treatment, significantly reduced breast cancer tumor growth, tumor numbers, induces cancer cell suicide (called apoptosis), and stopped the breast cancer cells from spreading to the lungs.
NCBI: Cannabinoids reduce symptoms of Tourette's syndrome
Abstract Currently, the treatment of Tourette's syndrome (TS) is unsatisfactory. Therefore, there is expanding interest in new therapeutical strategies. Anecdotal reports suggested that the use of cannabis might improve not only tics, but also behavioural problems in...
Marijuana: Gateway effects or Developmental Trajectory
This rather complicated study looks at the "gateway theory" through data collected from 510 pairs of twins who participated in a very large, long-term health study -- and the gateway theory doesn't emerge with much backing. The authors write, "... although the gateway...
NBC NEWS: Medical Marijuana Stops Spread of Breast Cancer
“Cannabidiol enhances the inhibitory effects of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol on human glioblastoma cell proliferation and survival: The cannabinoid 1 (CB(1)) and cannabinoid 2 (CB(2)) receptor agonist Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been shown to be a broad-range inhibitor of cancer in culture and in vivo, and is currently being used in a clinical trial for the treatment of glioblastoma.”
Treating Depression with Cannabinoids
Kurt Blass, "Treating Depression With Cannabinoids," Cannabinoids 3, issue 2 (2008): 8-10. Prohibitionists sometimes claim marijuana causes depression and scoff at marijuana as a treatment for depression. Here a Viennese doctor describes repeated clinical successes...
Cannabis Treatment: Glaucoma
In 1971, during a systematic investigation of its effects in healthy cannabis users, it was observed that cannabis reduces intraocular pressure. In the following 12 years a number of studies in healthy individuals and glaucoma patients with cannabis and several...
What if Cannabis Cured Cancer, Documentary Film
“What if Cannabis Cured Cancer summarizes the remarkable research findings of recent years about the cancer-protective effects of novel compounds in marijuana. Most medical doctors are not aware of this information and its implications for prevention and treatment. If we need more evidence that our current policy on cannabis is counterproductive and foolish, here it is. An excellent film. ” ~Andrew Weil, M .D
ABC News: Marijuana and Autism
Struggling with a cocktail of prescription medications which left her 10 year old autistic son fighting to keep on weight as he withered away at just 46lbs. As a result she began giving her son medicated brownies under a doctors supervision and not only has Joey...
BBC NEWS: Cannabis effects on MS trialled
Patients are being recruited for a trial to determine whether chemicals in cannabis can slow the impact of multiple sclerosis. Evidence suggests the drug may relieve symptoms but the three-year national trial is also to determine whether it slows the disease's...
Cannabinoids for Treatment of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain; a Systematic Review of Randomized Trials.
Abstract Effective therapeutic options for patients living with chronic pain are limited. The pain relieving effect of cannabinoids remains unclear. A systematic review of RCTs examining cannabinoids in treatment of chronic non-cancer pain was conducted according to...
Autism and Medical Marijuana
Some families have found marijuana (mmj) to be nothing short of miraculous. Some of the symptoms MMJ has ameliorated include anxiety--even severe anxiety--aggression, panic disorder, generalized rage, tantrums, property destruction and self-injurious behavior. One...
Cannabis Treatment: Psychiatric Symptoms
An improvement of mood in reactive depression has been observed in several clinical studies with THC. There are additional case reports claiming benefit of cannabinoids in other psychiatric symptoms and diseases, such as sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, bipolar...
Multiple sclerosis changes man's outlook on marijuana
Today, at age 54, Timmons is mostly bedridden and rarely sees the outside of his Garland home. What he lacks in physical ability, however, he more than makes up for with his ardent support for legalizing marijuana for seriously ill people. In fact, he has become the...
Migraine May Be Related To Underproduction Of Cannabinoids, Study Says
December 13, 2007 - Perugia, Italy Perugia, Italy: Patients with a history of migraine headaches may be suffering from a clinical deficiency of the endocannabinoid system, according to clinical trial data published in the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology....
Law professors argue that current classifications block medical marijuana research
Dan Pope has been using medical marijuana for six years to help control the muscle spasms and pain from muscular dystrophy. "I get very extreme hip, lower back pain and pain going to down to my leg -- it gets so bad I can't move," said Pope, 44, of Longmont, Colo. "I...
National Multiple Sclerosis Society: Marijuana
Some people with MS report that smoking marijuana relieves several of their MS symptoms. However, for any therapy to be recognized as an effective treatment, this kind of subjective, anecdotal reporting needs to be supported by carefully gathered objective evidence of...
Cannabis Treatment: Miscellaneous, Mixed Syndromes
There are a number of positive patient reports on medical conditions that cannot be easily assigned to the above categories, such as pruritus, hiccup, ADS (attention deficit syndrome), high blood pressure, tinnitus, chronic fatigue syndrome, restless leg syndrome, and...
Cannabis Treatment: Pain
Large clinical studies have proven analgesic properties of cannabis products. Among possible indications are neuropathic pain due to multiple sclerosis, damage of the brachial plexus and HIV infection, pain in rheumatoid arthritis, cancer pain, headache, menstrual...
Cannabis Rx: Cutting Through the Misinformation
If an American doctor of the late 19th century stepped into a time warp and emerged in 2010, he would be shocked by the multitude of pharmaceuticals that today's physicians use. But as he pondered this array (and wondered, as I do, whether most are really necessary),...
BBC NEWS: Cannabis may relieve chronic nerve pain
Smoking cannabis from a pipe can significantly reduce chronic pain in patients with damaged nerves, a study suggests. A small study of 23 people also showed improvements with sleep and anxiety. Writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the researchers said...
Marijuana Chemical May Slow Multiple Sclerosis
In lieu of curing a debilitating disease, the next best thing scientists can do is slow its progression and create better treatments. Armed with a $1.5 million National Institutes of Health grant, Temple researchers are studying more effective ways to treat multiple...
Medical Marijuana Raises Tough Questions for Nursing Homes
Every night before bed, Norma Winkler, 82, opens a small jar of cannabis oil and measures out a quarter-teaspoon to mix with homemade applesauce. Soon after she eats it, she drifts off to sleep. Ms. Winkler, who lives in Rhode Island, where medical marijuana is legal,...
Cannabinoids As Cancer Hope
“Cannabinoids possess ... anticancer activity [and may] possibly represent a new class of anti-cancer drugs that retard cancer growth, inhibit angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels) and the metastatic spreading of cancer cells." So concludes a comprehensive...
Cannabinoid Treatment: Sleep Apnea
Investigators reported that doses of delta-9-THC and the endocannabinoid oleamide each stabilized respiration during sleep and blocked serotonin-induced exacerbation of sleep apnea in a statistically significant manner.
Cannabis Treatment: Incontinence
Following cannabinoid therapy, “urinary urgency, the number of and volume of incontinence episodes, frequency and nocturia all decreased significantly,” investigators determined. “Cannabis-based medicinal extracts are a safe and effective treatment for urinary and other problems in patients with advanced MS.”
Cannabinoid Treatment: Hypertension
Emerging research indicates that the endogenous cannabinoid system plays a role in regulating blood pressure, though its mechanism of action is not well understood. Animal studies demonstrate that anandamide and other endocannabinoids profoundly suppress cardiac contractility in hypertension and can normalize blood pressure,[2-3] leading some experts to speculate that the manipulation of the endocannabinoid system “may offer novel therapeutic approaches in a variety of cardiovascular disorders.”