By "Radical" Russ Belville on September 4, 2008
Marijuana Ingredients May Fight MRSA
Sept. 4, 2008 — Chemicals in marijuana may be useful in fighting MRSA, a kind of staph bacterium that is resistant to certain antibiotics.
Researchers in Italy and the U.K. tested five major marijuana chemicals called cannabinoids on different strains of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). All five showed germ-killing activity against the MRSA strains in lab tests. Some synthetic cannabinoids also showed germ-killing capability. The scientists note the cannabinoids kill bacteria in a different way than traditional antibiotics, meaning they might be able to bypass bacterial resistance.
At least two of the cannabinoids don’t have mood-altering effects, so there could be a way to use these substances without creating the high of marijuana.
Posted in ACTIVISM, SCIENCE | Tagged MRSA, WebMD
I am the host of the NORML SHOW LIVE and The NORML Stash Blog. I'm married, live in Portland, Oregon, and I am a registered medical marijuana caregiver in this state. I've worked days as an IT geek and nights as a professional musician. Previously, I have been the host of my own political talk radio show on satellite radio. I've been the High Times "Freedom Fighter of the Month" for my work producing Oregon NORML's TV show, "A Cannabis Community Forum", and for helping to institute Portland's wildly successful medical marijuana cardholders meetings, where we help sick and disabled Oregonians acquire cannabis plant starts, learn gardening, and understand the medical marijuana law. I've dedicated my life to bringing an end to adult marijuana prohibition and re-legalizing cannabis hemp, and I'm honored to be chosen by NORML to be our daily voice.
To date there’ve been literally thousands of studies proving the safety and medical efficacy of marijuana. It is beyond all question that marijuana contains major medical benefits and that its risks are minor, even when smoked.
But this makes not the slightest difference to the DEA and ONDCP. It is not their job to determine whether marijuana has medical benefits or whether its risks are so minor that it is “far safer than many foods we commonly consume” (DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young, 9/6/1988).
Their job is simply to *oppose the legalization of marijuana* at any cost, and to enforce the federal marijuana prohibition, regardless of the amount of misery it causes, the number of lives it costs and the fact that it has not reduced the rate of marijuana use in our country one bit.
But it is not their job to worry about that. They are legally mandated to not only quash every attempt to legalize the production and sale of marijuana, but also every attempt to reschedule it out of Schedule I (where it resides alongside Heroin).
So we live with the prohibition. But after thirty years we’ve learned one thing clearly about it, and that is it does *not* have the ability to remove the demand for marijuana from our country. Ten thousand years from now, a hundred thousand years from now, there’ll *always* be demand for marijuana in our country. And where there’s demand there will be supply.
What are we going to do? ..allow the drug dealers and narco-cartels to control this product, or take control of it ourselves by certifying reputable businesses to produce and sell it?
As a country we need to stand up and demand an end to the federal prohibition. Research into the medical uses of marijuana should *not* be illegal, medically-prescribed marijuana should *not* be illegal, personal consumption of marijuana by adults in their own home or in specified establishments (“coffeeshops”) should *not* be illegal, and the growing of industrial hemp for making into clothing and other purposes should *not* be illegal.
Don’t be silent, demand the legal production and sale of marijuana by certified businesses!