THE YEAR IN MEDICINE FROM A TO Z

M

MARIJUANA

Research into the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis
continued to bolster the case for the medicinal use of marijuana,
making the "patient pot laws" that have passed in 11 states seem less
like a social movement than a legitimate medical trend. One
trial--the first controlled study of its kind--showed that a medicine
containing cannabis extracts called Sativex not only lessened the
pain of rheumatoid arthritis but actually suppressed the disease. An
earlier study published in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that
synthetic cannabinoids, the chemicals in marijuana, can reduce
inflammation in the brain and may protect it from the cognitive
decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.