(RedOrbit) Injections of THC, the active principle of cannabis, eliminate dependence on opiates (morphine, heroin) in rats deprived of their mothers at birth. This has been shown by a study carried out by Valérie Daugé and her team at the Laboratory for Physiopathology of Diseases of the Central Nervous System (UPMC / CNRS / INSERM) in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. The findings could lead to therapeutic alternatives to existing substitution treatments.
Previously, Daugé and her colleagues had shown that rats deprived of their mothers at birth become hypersensitive to the rewarding effect of morphine and heroin (substances belonging to the opiate family), and rapidly become dependent. In addition, there is a correlation between such behavioral disturbances linked to dependence, and hypoactivity of the enkephalinergic system, the endogenous opioid system.
To these rats, placed under stress from birth, the researchers intermittently administered increasingly high doses of THC (5 or 10 mg/kg) during the period corresponding to their adolescence (between 35 and 48 days after birth). By measuring their consumption of morphine in adulthood, they observed that, unlike results previously obtained, the rats no longer developed typical morphine-dependent behavior. Moreover, biochemical and molecular biological data corroborate these findings. In the striatum, a region of the brain involved in drug dependence, the production of endogenous enkephalins was restored under THC, whereas it diminished in rats stressed from birth which had not received THC.
Ah, the possibility that marijuana doesn’t lead to heroin, it may lead away from heroin! Put this in the Hall of Fame with Michael Phelps killing the amotivational slacker myth, Barack Obama slaying the admitted marijuana users can’t get elected rule, and Dr. Tashkin searching for a link to marijuana and lung cancer and instead finding anti-tumoral properties.
The evil thing is to think of how much our government already suspects many of these medical marijuana miracles (they knew about the anti-tumoral properties of THC since the 1970s) and has actively been suppressing all attempts to research the good marijuana can do (plenty of money for “demon weed” research, however.)
[...] who says you can't be productive while baked), in rats it lead to decreased dependence on heroine (THC eliminates heroin dependence in lab rat tests | The NORML Stash Blog), shrinks brain tumors (Pot Shrinks Tumors), delays Huntington's Disease (Marijuana Delays [...]
sensemilla says:
July 6, 2009 at 4:57 pm
“…Simply examine the points that Russ makes all the time about how HELPFUL Cannabis is and HARMFUL everything else we have had shoved down our throats and the only rational conclusion to come to is that Congress and our representitives would rather us DIE than LIVE…”
RE:
- Considering that compounds in cannabis fulfill
unique, life-sustaining, metabolic roles, the act of making / keeping cannabis illegal / outlawed
is the same, in essence, to making life itself,
illegal. A slow-motion version of
death-by-starvation…
Call the White House to let your voice be known that in the Health Care Reform….for Government to be considerate to the Medical Marijuana patients…White House Voter Comment Line number is…202-456-1111
I think that the Cannabis issue should be RIGHT NEXT to the healthcare issue. In both cases our government is acting against the will and best interests of the people.
In 1937, when Cannabis was made illegal in country, the Congress ignored all science and medicine and took away the most inexpensive and efficient means for the people to produce food, fuel, fiber and medicine.
To replace these basic elements of civilization, the CORPORATIONS forced crude oil, lumber, cotton and pharmacudicals down the public’s throat.
We now discover that the virtually everything we have replaced Cannabis with is bad for humans and their enviornment. And that the use of Cannabis in all of these areas makes so much more sense and is many times more efficient and effective than their “artificial” counterparts that it is clear WHY corporations had to get Cannabis out of the way.
So, just as it is clear from the fight going on in Washington, DC over healthcare that your Congresscritters have SOLD YOU OUT. Not just you, but your Father before you, and your children after you.
Simply examine the points that Russ makes all the time about how HELPFUL Cannabis is and HARMFUL everything else we have had shoved down our throats and the only rational conclusion to come to is that Congress and our representitives would rather us DIE than LIVE.
They would prefer us to go hungry, be sick and cold rather than stand up to the CORPORATIONS that bribe them.
We can stop this, but we need to see the reality of the situation: we have to FORCE our government to give us our rights back. They are more addicted to the lobbies money than a heroine junkie.