villageidiot
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May-08-2002
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Message #173370 posted by villageidiot (Info) March 15, 2008 10:25:35 ET
New study of cannabis compound helps memory loss for Alzheimer's patients...
Posted: March 12, 2008 05:16 PM EDT
Updated: March 12, 2008 05:16 PM EDT
NATIONAL - Using marijuana to help improve memory may seem like an oxymoron, because the drug is known to cause short-term memory loss. But experiments on mice have shown the drug can actually improve an Alzheimer's patient's memory. And there are now plans to begin trials on humans.
A plant so controversial for its mind altering qualities - cannabis - better known as marijuana. But it's exciting experts about its possible clinical benefits.
One of the compounds in the plant is about to be tested in human trials to see if it can delay the onset of memory loss. Professor Tony Moffat says, "Cannabis as it is normally smoked has mind-blowing properties and there are compounds in there which has these hallucinogenic properties. However, some of the indications for Alzheimer's in a mouse model is just a single compound that's used from cannabis plant material which is extracted and it can stop the memory loss. Now if you take that single compound and apply it to humans in clinical trials, we could prove for those 400,000 Alzheimer's patients that it could be used for those."
Studies of mice have shown that the cannabis derivative, which is not hallucinogenic, can prevent the progression to memory loss of Alzheimer's disease.
For patients with this devastating degenerative condition, the chance to take part in the clinical trial may offer their best hope. Dr. Suzanne Sorenson of the Alzheimer's Society says, "I'm sure there will be people who want to enter the trial. The treatment opportunities for Alzheimer's disease are so few, it is incurable. The drugs that exist at the moment aren't suitable for everybody. So there being other drugs available, I'm sure will be a positive thing for patients."
So it's interesting that medicine to protect nerve cells in the brain may be made from from a plant known to be damaging to the mind.
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