Pubdate: Tue, 19 Feb 2008
Source: Daily Gleaner (CN NK)
Copyright: 2008 Brunswick News Inc.
Contact:  http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3857
Author: Sheryl Ubelacker
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

SMOKING POT TO TAKE EDGE OFF MS SYMPTOMS MIGHT AFFECT
MENTAL ACUITY, STUDY SUGGESTS

TORONTO - Some people with multiple sclerosis have  turned to street
marijuana in a bid to ease pain and  other symptoms of the disabling
neurological disorder,  but new research suggests smoking pot may
further harm  already vulnerable cognitive abilities.

The study compared mental skills and emotional status  of MS patients
who smoked cannabis for symptom relief  against others with the
disease who did not use the  illicit street drug.

"We found that the individuals who smoked cannabis  performed more
poorly on the tests that measured the  speed of thinking, speed of
cognition, speed of  information processing," said co-investigator Dr.
  Anthony Feinstein.

"So they were not as quick when it came to their  thinking."

Feinstein, a neuropsychiatrist at Sunnybrook Health  Sciences Centre
in Toronto, said study subjects who  partook of the weed were about
50-per-cent slower on  average in cognitive tests than non-marijuana
users.

"We also found that the group that smoked cannabis had  a higher
lifetime prevalence of psychiatric disorders  in general," he said,
referring to depression, anxiety  and other mood alterations.

"Now we don't know whether it was the cannabis that led  to this
disorder or the disorder was there before they  smoked cannabis, so we
couldn't really attribute the  direction of that relationship. It was
just an  association."

Multiple sclerosis affects an estimated 55,000 to  75,000 Canadians,
the majority of them female.  Depending on its severity, MS can cause
vision  disturbances, pain, co-ordination problems, muscle  stiffness
and spasticity, and partial or complete  paralysis. The disorder can
also impair mood and  cognitive abilities.

Feinstein said the researchers undertook the study of  cannabis, which
is even prescribed by some MS  physicians under Canada's Medical
Marijuana Access  Regulations, to determine its effects on patients.

To conduct the study, published online Wednesday in the  journal
Neurology, they enrolled 140 people with MS, 10  of whom had smoked
marijuana within the previous month  and were defined as current users.

The pot smokers were each matched by age, sex, length  of time they
had MS, and level of physical and  neurological disability with four
other MS patients who  did not use the drug.

Subjects had a mean age of about 35 and almost  three-quarters were
female.

The researchers then evaluated the participants for  emotional
problems such as depression, anxiety and  other psychiatric disorders.

They also tested the participants' thinking skills and
memory.

While pot users scored more poorly compared to  non-users, Feinstein
conceded the researchers don't  know for sure that it was the cannabis
and not the  natural progression of MS behind the toking patients'
reduced mental acuity.

"I don't think you can have any definitive result on  the basis of 10
subjects. It's just an interesting  observation," he
acknowledged.

"Having said that ... there were no differences between  the cannabis
smokers and the non-cannabis smokers when  it came to the MS disease
and there were no demographic  differences."

"But the one difference came when we tested them  cognitively. So
that's where the suggestion comes from,  that smoked cannabis might be
bad for your cognition."

Feinstein said that while the researchers are not going  to make any
"absolute statements" based on the findings  from 10 patients, the
study makes it clear a larger  study is needed to see if their
findings can be  replicated.

Dr. Virginia Devonshire, director of the University of  British
Columbia MS clinic, called the study  interesting, but agreed there
were too few participants  to draw a strong conclusion on the possible
negative  effects of marijuana.

"People who have cognitive impairment who are starting  to notice
those cognitive differences also tend to  report more anxiety, more
depression," she said from  Vancouver.

"Are they perhaps more likely to become cannabis users  because of
that?"
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MAP posted-by: Derek