Researchers have long been intrigued by the intoxicating effects of the world's most popular illicit drug. Here's how pot affects your body and mind When neurologist Frances Ames began testing the effects of a single dose of cannabis sativa on a group of her medical colleagues who were, on the whole, "articulate and fairly stable people," the onset of abnormal sensations "was always abrupt and immediate." One was sustained hilarity. "The whole idea of the experiment," Ames reported in 1958 in the Journal of Mental Science, "would suddenly seem enormously amusing." Researchers have long been intrigued by the intoxicating effects of the world's most popular illicit drug. Here's everything you need to know about how pot affects your body and mind. [continues 1328 words]
Canada is about to legalize POT, yet how we'll detect high DRIVERS is more than a little HAZY About half of pot-smoking Canadians who get behind the wheel while high believe the drug doesn't impair their ability to drive safely - and 20 per cent say nothing would make them stop driving while stoned. That's the conclusion of a new survey, suggesting considerable nonchalance about marijuana and driving. It comes as the federal government is studying the idea of setting legal limits for driving under the influence of weed, similar to those for alcohol. [continues 625 words]
The Liberal government's vow to legalize pot is a flagrant violation of international drug laws, a global health law expert says - making it an ideal time to either renegotiate international drug-control treaties or pull out of them altogether, he suggests. In a commentary in this week's Canadian Medical Association Journal, the University of Ottawa's Steven Hoffman says efforts to de-penalize, decriminalize and legalize marijuana can be good for public health, "if done right." However, the Liberal government's pot bill, expected to be introduced next spring, would almost certainly run up against three UN treaties requiring marijuana possession to remain a criminal offence, and that Canada, as a signatory, is legally obliged to follow, writes Hoffman. [continues 340 words]
The nation's doctors are under no obligation to prescribe marijuana to patients seeking it for pain relief or other medical purposes, Canada's federal health minister says. Marijuana isn't an approved drug, Health Canada has not endorsed its use and it has not been proven safe or effective, Rona Ambrose said Monday at the opening day of the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association. "The majority of the physician community do not want to prescribe it, they don't want to be put in a situation where they're pressured to prescribe it and I encourage them to not prescribe it if they're not comfortable with it," Ambrose told reporters. [continues 591 words]
Health Minister Defends Proposed Anti-Pot Ads Doctors should not feel obliged to prescribe marijuana to patients seeking it for pain relief or other medical purposes, says the federal health minister. "Health Canada does not endorse the use of marijuana, nor is it an approved drug in this country, nor has it gone through any of the clinical trials that other pharmaceutical products that are approved in this country have gone through," Rona Ambrose said Monday after her opening address to the Canadian Medical Association's annual general meeting in Ottawa. [continues 481 words]
The nation's doctors are under no obligation to prescribe marijuana to patients seeking it for pain relief or other medical purposes, Canada's federal health minister says. Marijuana isn't an approved drug, Health Canada has not endorsed its use and it has not been proven safe or effective, Rona Ambrose said Monday at the opening day of the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association. "The majority of the physician community do not want to prescribe it, they don't want to be put in a situation where they're pressured to prescribe it and I encourage them to not prescribe it if they're not comfortable with it," Ambrose told reporters. [continues 593 words]
While there "may well be" legitimate uses for medical marijuana, doctors have been thrust into an "untenable" position by being made the sole gatekeepers to legal pot, says the incoming president of the nation's most powerful doctors' lobby. "We have Health Canada telling us that marijuana is not a medicine, we have our malpractice insurance company telling us to be very cautious because nobody is taking responsibility for the safety of it," says Queen's University cardiologist Dr. Chris Simpson, who will assume the helm of the Canadian Medical Association at the organization's annual general meeting in Ottawa later this month. [continues 608 words]
While there "may well be" legitimate uses for medical marijuana, doctors have been thrust into an "untenable" position by being made the sole gatekeepers to legal pot, says the incoming head of the Canadian Medical Association. "We have Health Canada telling us that marijuana is not a medicine, we have our malpractice insurance company telling us to be very cautious because nobody is taking responsibility for the safety of it," says Queen's University cardiologist Dr. Chris Simpson, who assumes the helm Canada's most powerful doctors' lobby at the CMA's annual general meeting in Ottawa later this month. [continues 192 words]
MDs left with 'untenable' position on medical marijuana While there "may well be" legitimate uses for medical marijuana, doctors have been thrust into an "untenable" position by being made the sole gatekeepers to legal pot, says the incoming president of the nation's most powerful doctors' lobby. "We have Health Canada telling us that marijuana is not a medicine, we have our malpractice insurance company telling us to be very cautious because nobody is taking responsibility for the safety of it," says Queen's University cardiologist Dr. Chris Simpson, who will assume the helm of the Canadian Medical Association at the organization's annual general meeting in Ottawa later this month. [continues 673 words]
While there "may well be" legitimate uses for medical marijuana, doctors have been thrust into an "untenable" position by being made the sole gatekeepers to legal pot, says the incoming head of the Canadian Medical Association. "We have Health Canada telling us that marijuana is not a medicine, we have our malpractice insurance company telling us to be very cautious because nobody is taking responsibility for the safety of it," says Queen's University cardiologist Dr. Chris Simpson, who assumes the helm Canada's most powerful doctors' lobby at the CMA's annual general meeting in Ottawa later this month. [continues 96 words]
CMA's incoming chief: ' we need to find the truth' While there "may well be" legitimate uses for medical marijuana, doctors have been thrust into an "untenable" position by being made the sole gatekeepers to legal pot, says the incoming president of the nation's most powerful doctors' lobby. "We have Health Canada telling us that marijuana is not a medicine, we have our malpractice insurance company telling us to be very cautious because nobody is taking responsibility for the safety of it," says Queen's University cardiologist Dr. Chris Simpson, who will assume the helm of the Canadian Medical Association at the organization's annual general meeting in Ottawa later this month. [continues 416 words]
Injuries often not reported, study says Alcohol and drugs can damage a teenager's brain in more ways than people think. A new study has found that youths who said they frequently consume booze or pot were up to five times more likely than abstinent youths to report having suffered at least one traumatic brain injury that left them unconscious for at least five minutes or hospitalized overnight. Overall, the survey of nearly 9,000 Ontario high school students found that, in general, one in five teens said they had had a brain injury at some time in their lives. [continues 579 words]
MDs Reluctant to Have Role As 'Gatekeepers' Doctors in Canada are so skittish about the medical use of marijuana that a third of MDs who have been asked to endorse a patient's access to the drug never agree to it, a Canadian Medical Association survey suggests. A further 25 per cent of doctors who responded to the survey said they would "seldom" be willing to support a patient's access to medicinal pot; 64 per cent are worried that patients who request medical marijuana might only want it to get high. [continues 899 words]
Survey Reveals Reluctance to Assume Gatekeeper Role Doctors in Canada are so skittish about the medical use of marijuana that a third of MDs who have been asked to endorse a patient's access to the drug never agree to it, a Canadian Medical Association survey suggests. Another 25 per cent of doctors who responded to the survey said they would "seldom" be willing to support a patient's access to medicinal pot; 64 per cent are worried patients who request medical marijuana may only want it to get high. [continues 784 words]
Ottawa prepares to publish proposed new regulations to its medical marijuana access program Doctors in Canada are so skittish about the medical use of marijuana that a third of MDs who have been asked to endorse a patient's access to the drug never agree to it, a Canadian Medical Association survey suggests. Another 25 per cent of doctors who responded to the survey said they would "seldom" be willing to support a patient's access to medicinal pot; 64 per cent are worried that patients who request medical marijuana may only want it to get high. [continues 897 words]
Doctors in Canada are so skittish about the medical use of marijuana that a third of MDs who have been asked to endorse a patient's access to the drug never agree to it, a Canadian Medical Association survey suggests. Another 25 per cent of doctors who responded said they would "seldom" be willing to support a patient's access to medicinal pot, and 64 per cent are worried that patients who request medical marijuana may only want it to get high. [continues 134 words]
Doctors in Canada are so skittish about the medical use of marijuana that a third of MDs who have been asked to endorse a patient's access to the drug never agree to it, a Canadian Medical Association survey suggests. Another 25 per cent of doctors who responded to the survey said they would "seldom" be willing to support a patient's access to medicinal pot; 64 per cent are worried that patients who request medical marijuana might only want it to get high. [continues 453 words]
Expectant mothers' use of opioids has risen dramatically and children suffer, doctors say The newborn babies are inconsolable, their frantic, high-pitched cries a telltale sign of a newborn in the throes of drug withdrawal. Canada's baby specialists are witnessing an alarming new phenomenon: growing numbers of infants being born dependent on prescription painkillers and other opioids. Rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, have doubled in Canada, the latest fallout of the rise in legitimate and illicit use of prescription opioids across the country. Most of NAS is due to opioids, drugs that include oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin and its successor, OxyNEO. [continues 954 words]
Driving under the influence of pot nearly doubles the risk of a serious or fatal car crash, a Canadian study finds. The number of Canadians confessing to driving within an hour of using pot is growing, researchers from Dalhousie University write in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal. In addition, "surveys of young drivers have also shown that rates of driving under the influence of cannabis have surpassed rates of drinking and driving in some jurisdictions," the Halifax team reports. [continues 192 words]
Psychomotor Skills Impaired by Cannabis Driving under the influence of marijuana nearly doubles the risk of a serious or fatal car crash, a Canadian study finds. Cannabis is the most widely consumed illicit substance in the world, and the number of Canadians confessing to driving within an hour of using pot is growing, researchers from Dalhousie University write in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal. In addition, "surveys of young drivers have also shown that rates of driving under the influence of cannabis have surpassed rates of drinking and driving in some jurisdictions," the Halifax team reports. [continues 644 words]
Cannabis impairs psychomotor skills for driving Driving under the influence of pot nearly doubles the risk of a serious or fatal car crash, a Canadian study finds. Cannabis -- marijuana -- is the most widely consumed illicit substance in the world, and the number of Canadians confessing to driving within an hour of using pot is growing, researchers from Dalhousie University write in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal. In addition, "surveys of young drivers have also shown that rates of driving under the influence of cannabis have surpassed rates of drinking and driving in some jurisdictions," the Halifax team reports. [continues 724 words]
Pain Relief May Be Just the Beginning of the Potential Contained In Medical Marijuana, Reports Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News After all the usual and proper medical approaches did nothing for her pain, Cheryl Campbell, a nurse and mother, says she finally built up the courage to ask her doctor, "How do you feel about prescribing me marijuana?" The 30-year-old Ottawa woman suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Her pain is body-wide - a constant, sometimes stabbing ache in her back, hips, knees, shoulders and virtually every joint. Doctors once put her on morphine. It cut the pain, but she couldn't function. She says her mind felt so heavy with fog she couldn't carry on a conversation. [continues 1552 words]
Can Science Confirm Marijuana's Medical Benefits? After all the usual and proper medical approaches did nothing for her pain, Cheryl Campbell, a nurse and mother, says she finally built up the courage to ask her doctor, "How do you feel about prescribing me marijuana?" The 30-year-old Ottawa woman suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Her pain is body-wide - a constant, sometimes stabbing ache in her back, hips, knees, shoulders and virtually every joint. Doctors once put her on morphine. It cut the pain, but she couldn't function. She says her mind felt so heavy with fog she couldn't carry on a conversation. [continues 1798 words]
But Scientists and Doctors Are Divided on the Medicinal Benefits Of Smoking the Drug After all the usual and proper medical approaches did nothing for her pain, Cheryl Campbell, a nurse and mother, says she finally built up the courage to ask her doctor, "How do you feel about prescribing me marijuana?" The 30-year-old Ottawa woman suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Her pain is body-wide - a constant, sometimes stabbing ache in her back, hips, knees, shoulders and virtually every joint. Doctors once put her on morphine. It cut the pain, but she couldn't function. She says her mind felt so heavy with fog she couldn't carry on a conversation. [continues 1053 words]
There's A Surge in Interest on Marijuana Research With Evidence Emerging of Its Ability to Relieve Pain and Its Apparent Safety After all the usual and proper medical approaches did nothing for her pain, Cheryl Campbell, a nurse and mother, says she finally built up the courage to ask her doctor: "How do you feel about prescribing me marijuana?" The 30-year-old Ottawa woman suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Her pain is bodywide: a constant, sometimes stabbing ache in her back, hips, knees, shoulders and virtually every joint. Doctors once put her on morphine. It cut the pain, but she couldn't function. She says her mind felt so heavy with fog she couldn't carry on a conversation. [continues 1625 words]
For Some, the Conclusion Is Clear: Marijuana Is Bad Medicine. but As Sharon Kirkey Writes, New Evidence Is Emerging About Its Ability To Ease Suffering, and Its Apparent Safety, Too After all the usual and proper medical approaches did nothing for her pain, Cheryl Campbell, a nurse and mother, says she finally built up the courage to ask her doctor, "How do you feel about prescribing me marijuana?" The 30-year-old Ottawa woman suffers from fibro-myalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Her pain is body wide - a constant, sometimes stabbing ache in her back, hips, knees, shoulders and virtually every joint. Doctors once put her on morphine. It cut the pain, but she couldn't function. She says her mind felt so heavy with fog she couldn't carry on a conversation. [continues 1568 words]
Drug Companies, Government and Doctors Remain Divided on Plant's Medical Future A decade after Canada legalized the medical use of marijuana, most doctors are still refusing to sign the declarations patients need to get legal access to pot - meaning patients in pain risk being jailed if they use a drug that helps them function. It's a predicament that threatens to become worse because of proposed changes to how Health Canada regulates access to the drug. At first glance, it appears the government is easing up on strict rules for obtaining medicinal marijuana. Health Canada has proposed removing itself as the ultimate arbiter in approving or rejecting applications to possess. [continues 1421 words]
When the 55-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis asked her doctor to sign her Health Canada declaration for medical marijuana, the neurologist put her hands over her ears. "La, la, la, la," she sang, "I can't hear you." As a result, the woman is left to hide her illegal use of pot to control her pain, which she says on most days ranks nine on a scale of 10. If she's out shopping and a major pain attack hits, she says she'll drive her wheelchair to the alley behind the mall, and smoke behind a trash bin. [continues 1024 words]
Drug Companies, Government and Doctors Divided on Plant's Medical Future A decade after Canada legalized the medical use of marijuana, most doctors are still refusing to sign the declarations patients need to get legal access to pot -- meaning patients in pain risk being jailed if they use a drug that helps them function. It's a predicament that threatens to become worse because of proposed changes to how Health Canada regulates access to the drug. At first glance, it appears the government is easing up on strict rules for obtaining medicinal marijuana. Health Canada has proposed removing itself as the ultimate arbiter in approving or rejecting applications to possess. [continues 1422 words]
When the 55-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis asked her doctor to sign her Health Canada declaration for medical marijuana, the neurologist put her hands over her ears. "La, la, la, la," she sang, "I can't hear you." As a result, the woman is left to hide her illegal use of pot to control her pain, which she says on most days ranks nine on a scale of 10. If she's out shopping and a major pain attack hits, she says she'll drive her wheelchair to the alley behind the mall, and smoke behind a trash bin. [continues 1363 words]
Patients Left in Pain; Some Users Risked Being Jailed for Using a Drug That Helps Them Function. and Proposed Health Canada Changes Could Make the Situation Worse, Writes Sharon Kirkey A decade after Canada legalized the medical use of marijuana, most doctors are still refusing to sign the declarations patients need to get legal access to pot - meaning patients in pain risk being jailed if they use a drug that helps them function. It's a predicament that threatens to become worse because of proposed changes to how Health Canada regulates access to the drug. [continues 1353 words]
Part One: The Silent Epidemic One in five Canadians -- about six million people -- is living with chronic pain of some kind. Over the next two decades, as the population ages, that figure is expected to grow to one in three. Sometimes, when the pain drugs don't reach her, Lous Heshusius lies on the floor as still as a corpse. "Please," she'll whisper to herself, "Please, let it pass." She says there have been moments when she's imagined taking a knife and cutting through the muscles and tissues in her shoulder and neck, just to ease the unbearable tightness. [continues 2959 words]
Part 2: Canada Leads Research Revolution Three months after breaking the fourth cervical vertebra in his neck in a freak hockey accident at the age of 17, Kurt Gengenbach began experiencing a new and spectacular kind of torment. He started feeling pain in his left pectoral muscle -- a constant burning, pinsand-needles sensation that slowly spread to his right shoulder, across his chest, down into his abdomen and finally through his legs and into his feet. Gengenbach is a quadriplegic. He cannot move his arms or his legs. But he can feel pain. His ankles feel as if they're bound in thick, bone-crushing casts. A Kleenex against his bare shoulder can feel like a blowtorch. The skin on his chest is so hypersensitive he can't breathe deeply to relax when the pain hits, the way his therapist told him to, because expanding his chest makes his skin stretch, and it's torture. "Basically I'm paralyzed by pain," he says. [continues 1747 words]
Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. Three different potencies (2.5 per cent, six per cent and 9.4 per cent) of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, were tested against a placebo, or "dummy" pot in 21 patients with neuropathic pain, none of whom had responded to standard treatments. [continues 816 words]
Cannabis found to relieve neuropathic pain in patients who had failed conventional treatments Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 334 words]
Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. Three potencies (2.5 per cent, six per cent and 9.4 per cent) of THC, marijuana's active ingredient, were tested against a placebo in 21 patients with neuropathic pain, none of whom had responded to standard treatments. [continues 125 words]
Treatment Also Improved Mood, Helped Patients Sleep Briefly inhaling cannabis just three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 515 words]
Smoking Marijuana Relieves Chronic Suffering, Study Reveals Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 600 words]
Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. Three different potencies (2.5 per cent, six per cent and 9.4 per cent) of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, were tested against a placebo, or "dummy" pot in 21 patients with neuropathic pain, none of whom had responded to standard treatments. [continues 347 words]
Study Used Cannabis From Prairie Plant Systems Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 755 words]
Trial Participants Reported Better Sleep, Less Anxiety At Low Doses Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 525 words]
'K' Reduces Symptoms Quickly A new antidepressant being tested in Canada appears to do what no other drug can -- increase connections between brain cells within hours to improve symptoms. The finding by Yale researchers may explain how one dose of ketamine can reduce symptoms of depression within 40 minutes among the hardest-to-treat cases, and could help spur development of quick-acting antidepressants. Prozac-like drugs and other antidepressants take at least two weeks to produce an effect, and sometimes months for a full effect. [continues 178 words]
Ketamine is mainly used as an anesthetic by vets but shows promise in treating depression A new antidepressant being tested in Canada appears to do what no other drug can -- increase connections between brain cells within hours to swiftly improve symptoms. The finding by Yale University researchers may explain how one dose of ketamine can reduce symptoms of depression within 40 minutes among the hardest-to-treat cases, and could help spur development of quick-acting antidepressants. About 17 per cent of the Canadian population will experience major depression at some point in their lives. [continues 703 words]
Asking About Unsafe Sex, Drinking, Using Drugs May Lead Youths To The Activities Asking teens about risky behaviour is risky, according to U.S. researchers who say merely asking about unsafe sex, drinking or using drugs may make teens more likely to engage in the activities. "When we ask questions, it can actually change people's behaviours," says Gavan Fitzsimons, professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Reporting in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Fitzsimons says the reality of teen life is sobering. In the past 30 days, 43.3 per cent of our children have drunk alcohol, 9.9 per cent have driven a car or other vehicle when they had been drinking alcohol and 20 per cent have used marijuana, he and co-author Sarah Moore write. In Canada, 12 per cent of boys and 13 per cent of girls have sex by age 14 or 15, according to Statistics Canada. [continues 373 words]
"These are your gums. These are your gums on drugs." That may become the newest TV spot on dope's dangers with a new study linking regular marijuana use with a significant risk of destructive gum disease and tooth loss. Researchers found that young people who smoke cannabis 41 or more times per year -- or almost once a week -- are up to three times more likely than non-users to have serious periodontal disease by age 32. "People lose the support around the bone, the support around their teeth and they may lose their teeth to periodontal disease," says Dr. James Beck, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry. [continues 287 words]
"It's This Idea of Having a Smouldering Infection in Your Mouth" "These are your gums. These are your gums on drugs." That may become the newest TV spot on dope's dangers with a new study linking regular marijuana use with a significant risk of destructive gum disease and tooth loss. Researchers found that young people who smoke cannabis 41 or more times per year -- or almost once a week -- are up to three times more likely than non-users to have serious periodontal disease by age 32. [continues 523 words]
THC, the active component in marijuana, may protect the brain from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. scientists reported. In lab experiments, investigators from Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., found THC appears to block an enzyme in the brain that causes plaques to form better than currently approved drugs. Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly. An estimated 290,000 Canadians over 65 have the disease -- a number expected to double over the next two decades. Women account for more than two-thirds of cases, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. The progressive, degenerative brain disease has no cure. [continues 149 words]
THC, the active component in marijuana, may protect the brain from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. scientists reported. In lab experiments, investigators from Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., found THC appears to block an enzyme in the brain that causes plaques to form better than currently approved drugs. Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly. An estimated 290,000 Canadians over 65 have the disease -- a number expected to double over the next two decades. Women account for more than two-thirds of cases, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. The progressive, degenerative brain disease has no cure. [continues 273 words]
U.S. Tests Suggest THC Stops Damaging Plaque THC, the active component in marijuana, may protect the brain from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. scientists reported. In lab experiments, investigators from Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, found THC appears to block an enzyme in the brain that causes plaque to form more effectively than approved drugs. Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly. An estimated 290,000 Canadians over 65 have the disease -- a number expected to double over the next two decades. Women account for more than two-thirds of cases, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. [continues 333 words]
The pain strikes without warning in the middle of the night, an explosive shot of pain on one side of Doug Wright's head that feels "like a red hot poker suddenly stuck through my eye." He bolts from bed. He can't lie down, he can't sit still; he paces and moves, and if he can't abort the headache instantly by inhaling high-dose, high-flow oxygen from the tank he keeps in his house, he drops to his knees, screaming in agony. Twice he has blacked out from the pain. [continues 378 words]
