DOPE HOPE FOR STROKE VICTIMS

Extracts from cannabis could help reduce brain damage in stroke victims,
according to new research.

American scientists say they have found that several of the chemicals in
cannabis or marijuana help to prevent damage to brain tissue.

But the scientists at the US National Institute of Mental Health in
Bethesda, Maryland, are not recomending smoking dope after a stroke.

The report is likely to lead to increased pressure to make marijuana and
its derivatives more widely available for use on prescription.

Preventing Cell Damage

A stroke happens when a blood clot blocks one of the branches of the artery
supplying the brain with blood and oxygen. If brain cells are deprived of
oxygen for more than a few minutes they die.

But recent research has shown that most of the damage to the brain after a
stroke is caused not directly by lack of oxygen but by the release of
destructive oxidising agents which break down cells as if they were being
burnt.

The Maryland team have shown that this type of damage can be largely
prevented by chemicals known as cannabinoids which are found in marijuana.

Dr Aidan Hampson of the NIMH said: "We have found that cannaboids are very
powerful anti-oxidants. In fact they appear to be more powerful than
vitamin C or vitamin E."

What is not clear is whether smoking marijuana will release enough of the
cannaboids to do any good.

Instead scientists hope to use synthetic cannabinoids to reduce brain
damage after strokes, and possibly to slow up the progress of Alzheimers
disease and Parkinsons disease as well.

It is likely that patients would take the drug using an inhaler of the type
used by asthma sufferers.

Checked-by: Richard Lake