[Headstrong]

This one mentions Schizophrenia several times;-)

$1:

A compound found in marijuana can treat schizophrenia as effectively as antipsychotic medications, with far fewer side effects, according to a preliminary clinical trial.

Researchers led by Markus Leweke of the University of Cologne in Germany studied 39 people with schizophrenia who were hospitalized for a psychotic episode. Nineteen patients were treated with amisulpride, an antipsychotic medication that is not approved in the U.S., but is comparable to other medications that are.

The rest of the patients were given cannabidiol (CBD), a substance found in marijuana that is thought to be responsible for some of its mellowing or anxiety-reducing effects. Unlike the main ingredient in marijuana, THC, which can produce psychotic reactions and may worsen schizophrenia, CBD has antipsychotic effects, according to previous research in both animals and humans.

Neither the patients nor the scientists knew who was getting which drug. At the end of the four-week trial, both groups showed significant clinical improvement in their schizophrenic symptoms, and there was no difference between those getting CBD or amisulpride.

“The results were amazing,” says Daniele Piomelli, professor of pharmacology at the University of California-Irvine and a co-author of the study. “Not only was [CBD] as effective as standard antipsychotics, but it was also essentially free of the typical side effects seen with antipsychotic drugs.”

Antipsychotic medications can potentially cause devastating and sometimes permanent movement disorders; they can also reduce users’ motivation and pleasure. The new generation of antipsychotic drugs also often leads to weight gain and can increase diabetes risk. These side effects have long been known to be a major obstacle to treatment.

In the German study, published online in March by the journal Translational Psychiatry, weight gain and movement problems were seen in patients taking amisulpride, but not CBD.

“These exciting findings should stimulate a great deal of research,” says Dr. John Krystal, chair of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, who was not associated with the research. He notes that CBD not only had fewer side effects, but also seemed to work better on schizophrenia’s so-called “negative symptoms,” which are notoriously hard to treat.

Negative symptoms include social withdrawal, blunting of pleasure and lack of motivation, which commonly occur in schizophrenia. Since current antipsychotic medications can themselves cause the same problems, however, it wasn’t clear whether CBD was better than amisulpride at treating these symptoms, or whether CBD simply caused fewer side effects to begin with.

Nevertheless, the new research helps elucidate the intricate complexities of the brain’s natural cannabinoid system and how CBD may work to alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia. Years ago, Piomelli and his colleagues discovered that people with schizophrenia have elevated levels of anandamide — a neurotransmitter that activates the same receptor activated by THC — in their cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting that they also had higher levels of it in the brain.

The difference was huge: anandamide levels were nine times higher in schizophrenic people than in mentally healthy controls, Piomelli says.

The researchers theorized that these radically high levels would correlate with hallucinations and delusions: the more anandamide bathing patients’ brains, the worse their disease would be. The thinking was, in essence, that people with schizophrenia are constantly high on their own natural THC.

But what the researchers actually found was the opposite. “What you get is not a positive correlation, but a negative one. The higher the levels of anandamide, the lower the symptoms,” Piomelli says.

It didn’t seem to make much sense at first, but research in both animals and humans now shows that anandamide is a natural stress reliever and antipsychotic. Piomelli thinks that the high levels seen in people with schizophrenia aren’t the cause of the problem, but the result of the brain’s attempts to solve it.

The new study confirmed that as CBD relieved patients’ symptoms, anandamide levels rose in concert. “It looks like anandamide is a signaling molecule that has evolved to help us cope with stress,” Piomelli says. “In the brain, everything it does seems to be related to ways of relieving stress. It can relieve anxiety and reduce the stress response. It is involved in stress-induced analgesia [when you stop feeling pain while fighting or fleeing]. These are all mechanisms to help us prevent [negative outcomes related to stress],” says Piomelli.

“If Dr. Piomelli is right, then the brain is exquisitely sensitive to changes in anandamide levels,” says Krystal.

This raises another question, however. THC itself mimics anandamide. If high levels of anandamide are helpful for schizophrenia, why does marijuana smoking intensify psychotic states?

Here’s where it gets complex. THC mimics not only anandamide, but also another cannabinoid, 2-AG, which fits the same receptors and is far more common. “There is 200 times more 2-AG than anandamide in the brain,” Piomelli says. “At the end of the day, the complexity is such that 2-AG has a whole cluster of effects. Anandamide has completely different effects, sometimes even opposite effects. That is why with THC you get a big mess.”

Complicating matters further, when chronic marijuana smokers build up a tolerance to THC, it may down-regulate the entire system, making it harder for anandamide to have its positive effects. This may be why some studies find that people with schizophrenia who smoke marijuana get worse.

So, where does CBD fit in? It doesn’t attach to a receptor like THC, or fool the brain into thinking that it’s getting extra anandamide or 2-AG. “What CBD seems to be doing is preventing anandamide from being destroyed,” says Piomelli. That allows the substance to exert its stress-reducing and antipsychotic effects on the brain longer, without the negative effects of THC.

If replicated, the results suggest that CBD may be at least as effective as existing drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia, without the severe side effects that make patients reluctant to take medication. The catch: “The real problem with CBD is that it’s hard to develop for a variety of silly reasons,” says Piomelli.

Because it comes from marijuana, there are obvious political issues surrounding its use. Extracting it from the plant is also expensive. But the biggest barrier may be that CBD is a natural compound, and therefore can’t be patented the way new drugs are. That means that despite the possibility that it could outsell their current blockbuster antipsychotic drugs, pharmaceutical companies aren’t likely to develop it — a particularly striking fact when you consider that every major manufacturer of new generation antipsychotics in the U.S. has so far paid out hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in fines for mismarketing these drugs. Yet they still reaped huge profits.

Piomelli and others are working to develop synthetic versions of CBD that would avoid such hurdles. “We have one and are hoping to move forward in the near future,” he says.

For people with schizophrenia and their families, of course, it is likely to be infuriating that non-scientific issues like marijuana policy and patenting problems could stand in the way of a treatment that could potentially be so restorative. While it’s possible that these study results may not hold up or that researchers could discover problems related to long-term use of CBD, it’s hard to imagine that they could be any worse than what patients already experience.

http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/30/m ... cal-trial/

[Headstrong]

$1:

The traditional use of Cannabis as an analgesic, anti-asthmatic, and anti-rheumatic drug is well established. This British study also suggests that cultivation of Cannabis plants rich in Cannabidiol (CBD) and other phenolic substances would be useful not only as fiber producing plants but also for medicinal purposes in the treatment of certain inflammatory disorders. CBD was found to be more effective than aspirin as an anti-inflammatory agent. "Analgesic and Anti-inflammatory Activity of Constituents of Cannabis Sativa L.," E.A. Formukong, A.T. Evans, and F.J. Evans, Inflammation, Vol. 4, 1988, pp. 361-371.

Cannabidiol, CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid of Marijuana, was given to 5 patients with dystonia disorders. Improvement occurred in all 5 patients by 20-50%. "Open Label Evaluation of Cannabidiol in Dystonic Movement Disorders," Consroe, et al, International Journal of Neuroscience, 1986, Vol. 30, pp.277-282.

Three patients with Huntington's Disease who had been previously unresponsive to therapy with neuroleptics, were given Cannabidiol, (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid of Marijuana. After the second week improvement in choreic movement occurred by 20-40%. Except for transient, mild hypo-tension no side effects were recorded."Effects of Cannabidiol in Huntington's Disease," Sandyk, Consroe, Stern, and Snider, Neurology, 36 (Suppl. 1) April, 1986, p.342.

In this Brazilian study of 8 Epileptic patients receiving Cannabidiol, (CBD), 4 were free of convulsions, 3 had partial improvement, and 1 was unchanged. No serious side effects were found. This is quite important, as complex partial seizures with secondary generalization are difficult to treat with currently used drugs. The potential use of CBD as an anti-epileptic drug and its possible potentiating effect on other drugs are discussed. "Chronic Administration of Cannabidiol to Healthy Volunteers and Epileptic Patients," Pharmacology, 21: 1980, J.M. Cunha, et al, pp.175-185.

Subjects receiving 160 mg. Cannabidiol reported having slept significantly more than those receiving placebo; seven out of eight epileptics receiving Cannabidiol had improvement of their disease state. (Brazil) "Hypnotic and Antiepileptic Effects of Cannabidiol," Carlini, E.A., and Cunha, J.A., Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 1981: 21: pp. 417S-427S.

Three patients with TS who experienced incomplete responses to conventional anti-TS drugs but noted a significant amelioration of symptoms when smoking marijuana. The effects of marijuana on TS may be related to its anxiety-reducing properties, although a more specific antidyskinetic effect cannot be excluded. Eliminating the psychoactive properties of marijuana while retaining the antidyskinetic effects (Cannabidiol) could prove beneficial. "Marijuana and Tourette's Syndrome," (letter), Sandyk and Awerbuch, Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Vol. 8, No. 6, Dec. 1988, pp.444-5.

"Anti-dyskinetic effects of cannabidiol," Conti, L.H., Johannesen, J., Musty, R.E., Consroe, P., Proceedings of the International Congress on Marijuana. 1987: 21. Melbourne, Australia.

This Brazilian study Investigates the possible anti-psychotic activity of CBD by studying the effect of this cannabinoid on animal models used in research with potential anti-psychotic properties. CBD seems to compare favorably with haloperidol as an anti-psychotic. "Effects of CBD in animal models predictive of anti-psychotic activity," Zuardi, A.W., Rodrigues, J.A., Cunha, J.M., Psychopharmacology 1991: 104: pp. 260-264.

CBD blocks some of the effects of THC in mice but potentiates some other effects. (Brazil)"Pharmacological Interaction between Cannabidiol and Tetrahydrocannabinol," Karniol, I.G., Carlini, E.A., Psychopharmacologia 1973: 33: pp. 53-70.

CBD was effective in blocking most of the effects of THC, increased pulse rate, disturbed time tasks, and psychological reactions. CBD also decreased the anxiety components of THC. (Brazil) "Cannabidiol Interferes with the effects of Tetrahydrocannabinol in Man," Karniol, I.G., Shirakawa, I., Kasinski, N., Pfeferman, A., Carlini, E.A., European Journal of Pharmacology 1974: 28: pp. 172-177.

One of the first studies that clearly shows that hemp grown for fiber is very low in THC, the psychoactive component that gets people high. The drug-type marijuana is very high in THC. Cannabidiol (CBD) which is not psychoactive, is very high in fiber-type hemp but low in drug-type marijuana. This is important as CBD is known to block the effects of THC.

This makes the hemp doubly useless for drug effects. "Chemistry of Marijuana," Coy Waller. Pharmacological Reviews, Vol. 23, No. 4, 1971.

Wild 'marijuana' growing in Riley County Kansas was found to be very low in THC content. (Below the European threshold for fiber hemp.) The leaves and flowering tops averaged from 0.01-0.49% THC with a mean of 0.14% THC. CBD which blocks the psychoactive effects of THC was as high as 1.7%. "Seasonal Fluctuations in Cannabinoid Content of Kansas Marijuana," R.P. Latta, and B.J. Eaton. Economic Botany, 29: April-June, 1975, pp. 153-163.

Researchers for the Canadian Department of Agriculture tested over 350 varieties of Cannabis in Ottawa, Ontario. They determined that there were two basic types of Cannabis based on genetic characteristics: a drug-type which originates in hot climates such as India and is high in THC but low in CBD and a fiber-type which originates in temperate climates and is low in THC but high in CBD and is used industrially for fiber and food. This awareness of the separateness of the two phenotypes has vast agronomic potential. It means fiber hemp can be grown without the drug effect of 'marijuana.'"The Evolution of Cannabinoid Phenotypes in Cannabis," Ernest Small, H.D. Beckstead, and Allan Chan, Economic Botany, 29: 1975, pp. 219-232.

Ten mg. of THC is required to get a psychoactive effect from 'marijuana.' It would require 50-100 cigarettes of the French hemp cultivated for paper to get a psychoactive high. "Paper-making type of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivated in France: Constituents compared to those of marijuana," Fournier and Paris, (French) Plantes Medicinales et Phytotherapie, Vol. 13(2) April, 1979, pp. 116-121.

http://www.ukcia.org/research/cbd.php

[DrCaleb]

I see a pattern developing. Have you met Curt?

[jj2424]

It's the new and improved cut n paste Curtman.

[DrCaleb]

At least Curt gives us an opinion we can use to debate with.

[Headstrong]

Do you b1!ches belong to stratos?

[dino_bobba_renno]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Pot is probably the most studied drug in history, next to alcohol. And it has been extensively used, at one time or another, for probably 5, 10 maybe even 15% of the population. This makes me view alarming numbers like this (young pot smokers 4 x more likely to be schizophrenic) with some skepticism.

That said, kids shouldn't be using it.

I think those numbers are probably a bit low. 15% that openly admit to using pot maybe but I would suspect that the percentage of those who have actually tried pot or who occasionally smoke it is probably higher (no pun intended )

Personally I think it should be treated like cigarette smoking. Same rules about where you can smoke it, who can buy it etc etc. I'm no ragamuffin, patchouli smelling, dreadlock wearing stoner by any stretch of the imagination but I don't think it's the root of all evil either.

[DrCaleb]

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

Personally I think it should be treated like cigarette smoking. Same rules about where you can smoke it, who can buy it etc etc. I'm no ragamuffin, patchouli smelling, dreadlock wearing stoner by any stretch of the imagination but I don't think it's the root of all evil either.

Ditto.

But I also don't think it's harmless. But then, neither are cigarettes or alcohol.

[DrCaleb]

Headstrong Headstrong:

Do you b1!ches belong to stratos?

Thanks for playing! HAND.

[dino_bobba_renno]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

Personally I think it should be treated like cigarette smoking. Same rules about where you can smoke it, who can buy it etc etc. I'm no ragamuffin, patchouli smelling, dreadlock wearing stoner by any stretch of the imagination but I don't think it's the root of all evil either.

Ditto.

But I also don't think it's harmless. But then, neither are cigarettes or alcohol.

Oh I'm not saying it's harmless either so I fully agree with you on that. Just as you mentioned I think its health effect are probably closely related to cigarette smoking even though the died hard pro-pot crowd claim it has no negative effects (or is actually beneficial according to some *yeah right *).

[DrCaleb]

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

Personally I think it should be treated like cigarette smoking. Same rules about where you can smoke it, who can buy it etc etc. I'm no ragamuffin, patchouli smelling, dreadlock wearing stoner by any stretch of the imagination but I don't think it's the root of all evil either.

Ditto.

But I also don't think it's harmless. But then, neither are cigarettes or alcohol.

Oh I'm not saying it's harmless either so I fully agree with you on that. Just as you mentioned I think its health effect are probably closely related to cigarette smoking even though the died hard pro-pot crowd claim it has no negative effects (or is actually beneficial according to some *yeah right *).

It might have benefits. But it's also a drug, and has side effects. We aren't even sure what all it in it yet, nor what all the compounds do and in what concentrations do they do it.

[Headstrong]

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:

Personally I think it should be treated like cigarette smoking. Same rules about where you can smoke it, who can buy it etc etc. I'm no ragamuffin, patchouli smelling, dreadlock wearing stoner by any stretch of the imagination but I don't think it's the root of all evil either.

Ditto.

But I also don't think it's harmless. But then, neither are cigarettes or alcohol.

Oh I'm not saying it's harmless either so I fully agree with you on that. Just as you mentioned I think its health effect are probably closely related to cigarette smoking even though the died hard pro-pot crowd claim it has no negative effects (or is actually beneficial according to some *yeah right *).

Smoking is not the only way of ingestion.

[Headstrong]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

It might have benefits. But it's also a drug, and has side effects. We aren't even sure what all it in it yet, nor what all the compounds do and in what concentrations do they do it.

It might have benefits? Do you live under a rock? Everything has a side effect, try ingesting copious amounts of sugar.

[Curtman]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

$1:

Teenagers who start smoking marijuana before the age of sixteen are four times more likely to become schizophrenic. That's the startling conclusion of some of the world's top schizophrenia experts, whose research is featured in the new documentary The Downside of High.

The scientists' groundbreaking work on the connection between marijuana and mental illness also reveals that, for all young adults, smoking marijuana nearly doubles the risk of developing recurring psychosis, paranoia and hallucinations - the hallmarks of schizophrenia.

Ben was first introduced to marijuana while at a high school in BC. His increasingly psychotic behaviour led to a year-long hospitalization. The Downside of High, directed and written by Bruce Mohun, tells the stories of three young people from British Columbia who believe - along with their doctors - that their mental illness was triggered by marijuana use. All three spent months in hospital psychiatric wards, and still wage a battle with their illness. Today's super-potent pot may be a big part of the problem. Modern growing techniques have dramatically increased the amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana - ramping up the threat to the developing teenage brain.

But there's an intriguing twist to the story: in the process of cultivating more potent strains of pot, growers have also been breeding out a little-known ingredient called cannabidiol that seems to buffer the effects of THC. So today's high-octane pot actually contains a double-whammy - more psychosis-producing THC, and less of the protective CBD or cannabidiol.

Tyler was 14 years old when he first started experiencing psychotic episodes. For many people, smoking marijuana is not a big deal - it is, after all, the most widely-used illegal drug in the world. The Downside of High provides a scientific perspective on some of the little-known and little discussed risks of marijuana, particularly for teenagers.

The Downside of High is directed and written by Bruce Mohun, story-produced by Maureen Palmer, and produced by Sue Ridout for Dreamfilm Productions of Vancouver.

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureo ... index.html

Watch the whole episode:

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureo ... video.html

Interesting thing about that relationship...

The Link Between Marijuana and Schizophrenia

$1:

But here's the conundrum: while marijuana went from being a secret shared by a small community of hepcats and beatniks in the 1940s and '50s to a rite of passage for some 70% of youth by the turn of the century, rates of schizophrenia in the U.S. have remained flat, or possibly declined. For as long as it has been tracked, schizophrenia has been found to affect about 1% of the population.

...

One explanation may be that the two factors are coincidental, not causal: perhaps people who have a genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia also happen to especially enjoy marijuana. Still, some studies suggest that smoking pot can actually trigger the disease earlier in individuals who are predisposed, and yet researchers still aren't seeing increases in the overall schizophrenia rate or decreases in the average age of onset.

In recent months, new research has explored some of these issues. One study led by Dr. Serge Sevy, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, looked at 100 patients between the ages of 16 and 40 with schizophrenia, half of whom smoked marijuana. Sevy and colleagues found that among the marijuana users, 75% had begun smoking before the onset of schizophrenia and that their disease appeared about two years earlier than in those who did not use the drug. But when the researchers controlled for other factors known to influence schizophrenia risk, including gender, education and socioeconomic status, the association between disease onset and marijuana disappeared.

[dino_bobba_renno]

Headstrong Headstrong:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

It might have benefits. But it's also a drug, and has side effects. We aren't even sure what all it in it yet, nor what all the compounds do and in what concentrations do they do it.

It might have benefits? Do you live under a rock? Everything has a side effect, try ingesting copious amounts of sugar.

I think as a general rule of thumb in life; If you in any way derive enjoyment from something then it's probably bad for you in some way or another. That goes for just about any and everything *If you enjoy eating Kale that might be the only exception*