MARIJUANA MAY RELIEVE CHEMO PATIENTS' NAUSEA

Marijuana may help prevent nausea in certain situations -- relief
many cancer chemotherapy patients can't obtain from existing drugs,
says a University of Guelph psychology professor.

Linda Parker's research was published in recent issues of the journal
Physiology and Behavior.

Many chemotherapy patients vomit walking into clinics in anticipation
of treatment. The symptoms can deter some patients from continuing
with recommended treatment, said Parker, a behaviour neuroscientist.

"Known antiemetic drugs aren't effective in treating this learned
nausea," she said.

Medication can control vomiting in 60 to 70 per cent of chemotherapy
patients, but many still suffer from nausea.

Using rats and shrews, Parker has been able to determine how two
compounds found in marijuana -- THC (the chemical that makes people
feel high) and cannabidiol (CBD) -- can treat vomiting and nausea.

"People report that if they smoke marijuana before they go for
chemotherapy treatment, they don't experience the anticipatory nausea
or vomiting," Parker says.

She's been collaborating with THC discoverer, Raphael Mechoulam, at
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Mechoulam also discovered the natural chemical in the body that acts
on the same brain receptor (cannabinoid receptors) responsible for
marijuana making people high - the equivalent of endorphins for
morphine. It's called anandamide, known as "the brain's own THC," and
Parker is looking at the role it plays in nausea and vomiting.