Wonder drug: The complex human cannabinoid system is thought to hold great potential for the control of chronic pain, and could also prove useful in the treatment of anxiety, depression and even obesity.
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PARIS: Scientists have found a way to unlock the pain-relieving potential of one of the same proteins in the body activated by marijuana, says a new study.
The complex human cannabinoid system is thought to hold great potential for the control of chronic pain, and could also prove useful in the treatment of anxiety, depression and even obesity (see, Marijuana: What science has to say).
In experiments on mice, U.S. researchers have now found a chemical that prevents a naturally occurring enzyme from blocking a pain relieving cannabinoid receptor, called 2-arachidonoylgylcerol (2-AG).
Difficult task
Once the enzyme, known as MAGL, is deactivated, the protein is more effective in dampening pain, say the team, led by Benjamin Cravatt of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
Their research is published in the current issue of the British journal Nature Chemical Biology.
In earlier research, Cravatt and colleagues decoded the chain of chemical reactions that acted on another cannabinoid receptor, AEA, paving the way for the development of pain-relieving medications.
But finding the key for unlocking 2-AG proved more difficult. The tools – selective and efficacious MAGL inhibitors – just weren't there, said Jonathan Long, a graduate student at Scripps and lead author of the study.
The breakthrough came thanks to a new technique for rapidly testing large numbers of chemical compounds – all potential inhibitors – called Activity-Based Protein
Profiling.
Reducing pain
One of the 200 compounds the researchers created was particularly effective in blocking MAGL, and did not appear to interfere with any of several dozen other brain enzymes.
Tests on mice showed that the new molecule – dubbed JLZ184 – increased the concentration of 2-AG in the brain, significantly reducing pain in the lab animals.
The molecule did, however, have at least two drawbacks, highlighted by the complex web of reactions in neurochemical pathways: JLZ184 also caused hypothermia, a lowering of the body temperature; and reduced movement.
These side-effects would have to be managed in any treatments developed for humans, the researchers said.
Damnation
Recently the Pope added drug abuse to the list of Deadly Sins. This obviously includes the use of Cannabis for recreational purposes.
There used to be seven Deadly sins but they have been refined to more reflect the modern world. Now there’s ten I think?
So beware Damnation those pot heads out there; unless of course it’s for medicinal use (which I hear is quite common).
Seriously, if it can be used for chronic pain, then it should in whatever form. We don’t treat dogs as bad as we sometimes treat our own sick and dying!
Because it makes you more opened minded
I guess some people are not liberal minded enough to appreciate it. This is a plant that God put on the earth. Asking why people smoke marijuana is just like asking why some people drink alcohol. I heard that consuming alcohol makes you age prematurely!
cannibus
but- it's good for you. and fun? you can't say what is fun for one isn't fun for another.
Why do...
It helps my arthritis.
why do people do cannabis you ask?
Because it has a plethora of medical uses, from pain management to relief from nausea to anti-depressant properties to treatment of anorexia by stimulation of appetite to its antimicrobial and anti-carcinogenic properties; because it stimulates creativity, feelings of empathy, tolerance, calmness, and love; and because it provides a euphoric rush and just something to do.
Cannabis has a long history of ritual use from ancient Thrace to Germany to eastern Asia--in the latter case it even continues today in India and Nepal. Cannabis was the #1 painkiller of choice until aspirin was introduced and cannabis was criminalized at the behest of several industrial interests, chief among them paper manufacturing industries who were threatened by the possibility of exponentially cheaper and easier to produce paper from cannabis fibers. Incidentally, cannabis (as hemp) has a long use worldwide as a fiber for textiles and paper. One of the earliest recorded instances of this is in 4000 BCE in China.
Academics aside, I owe cannabis my life. Before I started smoking, I was a committed Nazi. I had the combat boots and the shaved heads and went to the lame drink'n'cook barbecues they put on out here and everything. I was hateful, angry, and bitter (and not just at non-whites but at life in general). I had always been a melancholy kid but when I was 16 I began to manifest symptoms of bipolar disorder culminating in a diagnosis at 18. When I was 19, I smoked pot for the first time. At first it was just fun, but I began to relax and see the world in a different way. No longer did I react with knee-jerk bitterness to everything, no longer did I automatically think the worst of every situation, and most importantly I began to realize that there was more to life than anger and hate. This may sound cliched and shallow to you but my god, it was such a revelation to me. I never knew any differently! I began to use cannabis as a way for me to explore myself, my feelings, my thoughts, and I came out on the other side something very antithetical to what I was before.
I'm 21 now and I gave up all that Nazi crap a long time ago. Better yet (for me personally), I have been off of my medication for over a year now and have not had any major mood disturbances since. It's nice to just be sad and not suicidal, to just be happy and not hypomanic. If you haven't experienced what I have, then you just won't be able to understand. But I do hope that you can take out of it that smoking pot isn't just about "getting high," but that there is a long history of its use both as a recreational chemical, as a spiritual aid, and as a plant with practical use. Most of all I hope that you will think twice before voting against medical marijuana after hearing how it helped me.
Peace to all.
pot
thats a really cool story, i think that pot has changed my world view as well. i used to be depressed and very pesimistic about life, i dont think i was suicidel but i may have become that if i continued down that path. ive been smoking for about a year now and im just happier. i enjoy life, i enjoy people and i really think that it has made me closer to god (as weird as that sounds) it has made me think more, about everything, life, god, people, the meaning of everything, and life is just better now, i dont know how else to describe it.
Excellent
(this is the person with the OP) I'm glad to hear that cannabis has been helpful to you as well. I like how you mentioned that you enjoy people and have become closer to god from it. Pot has helped me to open up a lot to other people too. I think some of this is the empathy it has allowed me to feel but a lot of it is just that it has helped me to see that bitterness and cynicism gets you no where. I like to tell people that I found god in a plant when I talk about how cannabis has helped me. I think it's true. Sometimes it like there's a motherly feel to its effects.
Thanks
Thanks for the info, glad to hear your success story!
Kudos
Major kudos to you. Your story is an excellent one. We are straying from the intended point of the article, but there are many people who lack the intelligence and courage to make the positive transformation that you have - and yet you made it at a relatively young age as well. I think you are probably smart enough to have realised the value of peace and harmony at some stage in your life without the use of pot; but if pot indeed was the catalyst for this remarkable about-face in your attitude toward your fellow humans, then I am all for it.
Well done to you!!!!
weed
I used to enjoy it, now I can't get that feeling back anymore. Smoking just makes me paranoid.