Marijuana Keeps the Brain Young

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by Mike Adams

While modern medicine has not yet managed to develop successful treatments for the aging brain, there is new research pointing towards the use of marijuana as a gateway to remedies for brain degeneration diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Researchers from the University of Dublin claim the answer to slowing down or even curing these progressive disorders could lie in the way marijuana targets the body’s endocannabinoid system. In a recent study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, doctors Veronica Campbell and Steve Fagen write, “The endocannabinoid system has been identified as a possible therapeutic target against neurodegeneration as a number of alterations in the endocannabinoid system have been noted in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.”

Both researchers concur that THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana, has already been shown to have benefits for Alzheimer’s patients, adding that prescription forms of the stoner compound have been studied to some extent to draw these conclusions.

“Dronabinol, derived from the phytocannabinoid THC, is beneficial in reducing anorexia, increasing body weight and improving behaviour in elderly Alzheimer’s disease patients. Dronabinol has more recently been assessed in a pilot study with Alzheimer’s patients where it improved nocturnal motor activity and reduced agitation and aggression, without undesired side effects,” according to the doctors.

Doctors Campbell and Fagen say that while cannabis-based research for the development of treatments for brain degenerative diseases is limited, the research currently underway at GW Pharmaceuticals in regards to their drug, Sativex, is the perfect example of how cannabis-based medicine holds healing potential.

Sativex, which is approved in 25 countries as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, recently received fast track approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for cancer patients.

Yet, the same federal government promoting cannabis-based medicine still considers marijuana to be a dangerous substance with “no medicinal benefit.”

Mike Adams writes for stoners and smut enthusiasts in HIGH TIMES, Playboy’s The Smoking Jacket and Hustler Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @adamssoup and on Facebook/mikeadams73.

VIA High Times

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