MARIJUANA-LIKE DRUG EASES PAIN, STUDY SAYS

American researchers have shown that a synthetic drug that mimics the
main active ingredient in marijuana works like morphine to reduce
pain, they said Wednesday.

In a letter to the science journal Nature, Dr.Ian Meng and researchers
from the University of California, San Francisco, explained how
compounds in marijuana, known as cannabinoids, affect cells in an area
of the brain that controls pain.

Marijuana has been touted as a painkiller for a variety of medical
conditions, but studies of humans have produced inconsistent results
and its use for medicinal purposes is still controversial.

Meng's finding from his research on rats raises the possibility that
marijuana-like drugs could be used to treat pain.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry