RATS GET HIGH FOR POT STUDY

John McKenna would be the first to admit his scientific research has gone
to pot.

Over the next four years, the St. Francis Xavier University psychology
professor will study how rats in pain react to doses of marijuana's active
ingredient, THC.

"The same molecule that gets people high is assumed to be the same molecule
that makes it a useful analgesic for people who are in chronic pain,"
McKenna said.

Both rats and people have cannabinoid receptors in their bodies, which seem
to limit the pain of normal "wear-and-tear" experiences such as stubbing a
toe, he said.

"The marijuana chemicals plug-in to these natural cannabinoid receptors
that we have in our body, but we don't understand that very well at all,"
said McKenna, who will get $80,000 from the National Sciences and
Engineering Research Council to study the matter.

Tiny Drops

McKenna will inject tiny drops of THC directly into different parts of rat
brains. Then he'll examine how they react to cold, stings and small cuffs
compressing their nerves.

He's looking for "optimal pain-killing," with no side effects.

"People who are in chronic pain want to feel normal; they don't want to
feel high," he said.

McKenna suspects the drug will be particularly effective on "dull, aching
deep pain."

And it may prove useful in treating people with nerve damage.

"Very often they do not respond to opiate drugs," McKenna said.

"Even our best pain killers don't help somebody who has nerve damage pain.
But there are some drugs that are related to the cannabinoids which have
been very promising."

Scoring Pure THC

Scoring pure THC is a lot more expensive than buying pot on the street corner.

McKenna is paying a U.S. supplier $800 for a 10th of a gram of the
substance, which can be found in less than $10 worth of marijuana.

In April, Canada unveiled plans that will make it the only country in the
world with a government-regulated system for using marijuana as medicine
But a lot of people, especially older folks, won't be willing to smoke
marijuana, even if they're in pain, said McKenna, who's hoping THC in a
pill form might provide an acceptable alternative.

"I have an 80-year-old aunt who, if she was in pain and was given a
marijuana perscription, she wouldn't be able to smoke it," he said.

"It would be harder for her to learn how to smoke than it would be to put
up with the pain."