THC shown to help patients with schizophrenia
Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 9:20 am | By: Radical Russ
First they said marijuana would cause brain damage. Turns out that it actually may protect brains and stimulate nerve growth in the brain.
Next they said marijuana would cause cancer. Turns out that it actually may have anti-tumoral properties that help halt cancer.
Nowadays they like to say that smoking pot increases your risk for schizophrenia. Any bets on where I’m headed with this?…
(NORML) Orangeburg, NY: Daily administration of oral synthetic THC significantly improves symptoms of schizophrenia, according to the findings of an open-label case series published this month in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Investigators at the Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, New York, and the New York University School of Medicine, administered 2.5 to 5 mg doses of oral THC (dronabinol) for a period of eight weeks to six patients diagnosed with chronic, refractory schizophrenia. All of the patients enrolled in the study had reported previously using cannabis to mitigate their condition.
“Four of the 6 patients improved to a clinically significant extent (after taking dronabinol),” researchers reported. “Three of the six patients had a robust response, with modest to marked reductions in core psychotic symptoms. Patients 1 and 2 showed improvement within several weeks of beginning the medication, whereas patient 3 required 8 weeks to reach significant improvement. In addition, robust improvement in overall functioning was also observed, with patients 1 to 3 changing from being gravely ill to being functioning individuals able to be discharged. Patient 4 had more limited improvement in that he was calmer, cooperative, and less aggressive but had persistence of his core psychosis. Nevertheless, his overall functioning was significantly improved. … There were no clinically adverse effects.”
Investigators concluded, “These results … open a possible new role for cannabinoids in the treatment of schizophrenia.”
Previous studies assessing the use of marijuana in patients with schizophrenia have produced mixed results. A 2007 German study reported improved cognition in patients who used cannabis, and a 2008 Australian study found that patients diagnosed with schizophrenia report experiencing subjective relief from pot. Critics of medical cannabis use have argued that heavy marijuana use may exacerbate psychosis in patients with mental illness. However, the largest trial ever conducted comparing cannabis using and non-using schizophrenic patients reported no statistically significant “differences in syptomatology between schizophrenic patients who were or were not cannabis users” after controlling for patients’ age, sex, and ethnicity.
I find it very interesting that in this study, pure, synthetic THC seems to be beneficial for schizophrenics, wheras whole cannabis sometimes seems to be connected to initial onset of symptoms in those pre-disposed to developing schizophrenia.
At the same time Cannabis, though possibly the most higly effective anti-emetic available and certainly the safest, seems to somehow be linked to cyclic vomiting synrome in a small number of chronic, heavy users.
Another similar situation is the tendency of Cannabis to ease anxiety in most users especially with smaller doses. Yet it can apparently apparently cause anxiety and or panic attacks in some users, especially with larger doses, and certain strains.
All of this points to cannabis being a medicine that deserves alot of research as to specific AND systemic actions of all of the plant’s cannnabinoid compounds and characteriztion of strains for specific cannabinoid profiles, as well as research into contra-indications for specific conditions and to develop a means of determining when conditions are present in a patient’s physiology that may make cannabis use less than beneficial.
Just as all of our bodies are different in appearance and other genetically small ways, yet generally the same in form and function, the effects of cannabinoids on them may vary.
I have found that different people have very different reactions to pot. Most, like me, experience generally only positive effects, but I know quite a few people who say “it just makes me sleepy” or “I get anxious and paranoid”
Generally the people who experience positive effects outnumber the others greatly, and have exposure to many more strains and therefore cannabinoid profiles due to years of use, while those who did not experience positive effects outwieghing the negative ones almost invariably do not continue to try cannabis of different varieties.
The anxiety sufferers might have just tried strains whose cannabinoid profiles had the anxiety producing effect for them while other strains might not.
Those who experience drowsiness might have been making the mistake of trying to keep up, hit for hit, with a seasoned smoker who had a much higher tolerance, or might be unusually sensitive to cannabinoids and need a smaller dose than most.
I have also met one person who is actually allergic to cannabis, however I don’t think it is cannabinoids she is allergic to, as her allergy extends to hops as well (a botanical relative of cannabis) which, as far as I know, contain no cannabinoids.
Given my understanding of the hypotheses of Dr Melamede that cannabinoids act as effectors in systems of homeostatic regulation throughout our bodies, from the cellular to the macro level,
Cannabis represents an amazing trove of medicinal value that needs to be researched and provided to our citizens in need.
This needs to be done with whole cannabis as the source, no syntheics (or patents!), even if specific cannabinoids are refined and concentrated for application to treat specific conditions/imbalances. We want medicine from organically, sustainably grown cannabis, not more synthetics from the petro/pharma monopoly that kills our planet while telling us what we “need” to buy from them (including 70+ years of telling us we don’t need cannabis, using whatever deceptive means they could muster to keep this beautiful, healing plant down)
Just my thoughts on the subject, I would love to hear from anyone as to their thoughts on my speculation and observations.
My son has schizophorenia…..cannabis truly helps…we live in a state that does not allow it….so he gets pee tested and they take his other medicines away…which of course creates psychotic swings…..Jehovah please help us, because our government surely isn’t.