DISEASE TREATMENT GONE TO POT

Good news for aging hippies and new age bohemian rhapsodies, marijuana
may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease and may even prevent
the disease.

Reportedly the active ingredient in marijuana, THC
(delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) preserves brain levels of the key
neurotransmitter acetylcholine and in turn could protect the brain
from the ravages of Alzheimer's.

Funny how a drug that helps you lose your set of keys on a daily basis
could prevent one of the leading causes of dementia among the elderly.

Now before you jump up and rummage through your basement to dust off
your old bong from your college days it's important to know the facts.

The study released on August 9, by the Scripps Research Institute in
the U.S. found that the cholinergic system, the nerve cell system in
the brain that uses acetylcholine, as a neurotransmitter is the
transmitter most dramatically affected by Alzheimer's disease.

Levels of acetylcholine are abnormally low in the brains of
Alzheimer's patients.

Now there are four FDA approved drugs that treat Alzheimer's by
inhibiting the enzyme responsible for the degradation of
acetylcholine.

Lab experiments by scientists at Scripps found that THC appears to
block the enzyme in the brain better than the leading FDA approved
treatments.

THC not only blocked the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine more
efficiently and at lower concentrations than existing drugs, but also
blunted the formation of fibrils, long, thread-like fibres that get
woven into healthy brain cells.

Now if I lost you in a haze and maze of science and facts, put down
that joint and listen up.

Scientists have not done experiments on human cells or even mice yet,
so don't donate your brain to free experimental testing yet, but it
does, as one journalist put it, hammer another nail into the coffin on
Richard Nixon's War on Drugs.

I am not in favour of stopping the fights against hard drugs, alcohol
and even nicotine, but I have always felt that stuffing the peace pipe
only lead to intense snacking and good conversation.

Beyond recreational use of marijuana, medical marijuana now approved
in Canada, can benefit many people who are suffering from chronic
illness or debilitating disease.

The Canadian Institute for Health Research (CHIR) Medical Marijuana
Research program, started in 1999, identified that marijuana is said
to relieve symptoms associated with varied medical conditions.

These include: nausea and vomiting associated with cancer and AIDS
therapies; wasting syndrome (to stimulate appetite and produce weight
gain in AIDS and cancer patients); multiple sclerosis (relief of
muscle pain and spasms); epilepsy (to reduce frequency of seizures);
glaucoma (to lower intraocular pressur); and chronic and severe pain
due to several medical conditions.

So it's not all lava lamps and psychedelic music - marijuana can be a
safe and effective treatment for many Canadians.

I don't know about you, but I would rather see my grandparents smoking
a fattie, rather than hopped up on every pharmaceutical under the sun.

The Scripps Institute is not advocating the use of the illegal drug,
but they are another contributing factor to the medical advances that
look at botanical plants like marijuana which was used for treatment
of ailments for thousands of years.

Advancement of western medicine and practice is not the only way to
save lives and treat illness, in fact a lot of alternative medicine
practices that have been suppressed by western ideology are springing
up in subcultures throughout North America, Canada and even in Central
Alberta.

I know something is up when my ultra-conservative mother phones me up
and asks me if marijuana can help with her menopausal symptoms.

So that is the story; whether you agree with it or not marijuana
research continues to prove that it is safe, effective and even
preventative.

And hey, if you end up with lung cancer from smoking marijuana, at
least you will remember how you got it.

Then you can drop your criminal status and be eligible to use the drug
for medical use.