Cannabinoid system and neuroinflammation:therapeutic perspectives in multiple scleros
 

Cannabinoid system and neuroinflammation:therapeutic perspectives in multiple sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION. The endocannabinoid system consists of cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands and the enzymatic elements involved in their synthesis and breakdown. AIM. To report on currently held knowledge about the functioning of the system as a modulator of the neuroinflammatory processes associated with chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis. DEVELOPMENT. Cannabinoids are synthesised and released on demand and their production increases in times of neuroinflammation and neural damage. In this context then, their actions in the microglial cells and in the astrocytes are characterised by a lowered expression of inflammatory mediators and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, cannabinoids can play a role as neuroprotectors by means of different types of mechanisms and, in experimental models of multiple sclerosis, they slow down the symptoms, reduce inflammation and can favour remyelination. CONCLUSIONS. The clinical use of cannabinoids or pharmacological agents that affect the endogenous cannabinoid system during inflammation of the central nervous system and in multiple sclerosis is currently under consideration and subject to debate. Detailed analysis of the results obtained over the past decade has made it possible to establish the existence of several mechanisms of action of cannabinoids in pathologies affecting the central nervous system that are accompanied by chronic inflammation. Likewise, they also clearly show that the cannabinoid system is an interesting proposal as a new therapeutic tool.

PMID: 17072810 [PubMed - in process]

:joint:

He said pot.

I say prophylactic pot. You can't be too careful.

How the hell do you smoke pot out of a condom? Do you get better effects?

THC: tetra hubba-hubba condominol

It's funny that there is an H in THC, considering when you pass a big old hooter the only thing you say is "ere"

... and don't Bogart it.

The case for cannabis as pain relief and in cases on Multiple Sclerosis has been used in British courts to avoid custodial sentences for a few years now. One of the first to hit the headlines was Lezley Gibson, and this 2005 link from the BBC gives information on what she is doing now.

I also remember hearing about a cannabis nasal spray which is legal in Canada, but don't want to be searching too many cannabis related items right now....

Sorry, just found this - more recent & therefor more relevant
From here:

Back in my day...I had a friend who said her boyfriend drove halfway to Florida holding a burned out joint in his hand . Of course, you could get the good shit back then, or so I've been told!

I don't see decriminalization happening any time soon around here. Our state just passed an issue where they can shoot you if you light up a cigarette while standing within a mile of a public place.

For those in need of additional cannoids, we do not get high when using... our bodies assign those cannoids to where they are needed. They do not get stored in the brain, your body uses them.
There are cannoids in mother's milk to help growing bodies deal with pain and nervous system growth. Marinol only helps 40% of those who take it (I am in the 60% it makes more nauseous). There is NO medication that helps with muscle spasms and/or nervous system pain. The AMA spends a lot of money and time keeping that out of the press.

So glad the Feds have their priorities straight on this one, "knowing what's best" for the States, and all. [/sarcasm]

The case of Lezley Gibson mentioned above has come to trial. Initial article from Times Online

Highlights:

I really really see no reason whatsoever for cannabis to be prohibited. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

It does if you are in the textiles or pharmaceuticals industries...
Yeah... I posted about that, and you guys have absolutely no meth problems to be taking those cops away from when calling cops on smokers strolling down the sidewalks, riiiiiiigt?

It is, however, reluctantly acknowledged that marijuana can have therapeutic uses, in particular to bring relief to those suffering from radiation or chemotherapy treatments for cancer. It becomes bracingly difficult to hear from anti-drug fundamentalists that they would rather see a patient suffering from cancer vomit in pain than permit him to smoke a marijuana cigarette.
--William F. Buckley, June 1993 (via the cellar 1/2/06)

rkzenrage - did you mean cannabinoid instead of cannoid? I have been way out of the loop on pot for years, and I've never heard that term before.

Well it's a shame about those that are suffering but we can't risk it spilling over to the stupid masses, er...uh...general population. After all, it's for the children.

Why just the other day, my neighbor Fred...you know Fred, he works for that pharmaceutical company,..well anyway, Fred was telling me about how the gorillas in Africa eat marijuana and go crazy.... they eat their children, and everything!
:mad:

The plot sickens. Most bars are business as usual because this tricky little law was devised with no idea how to enforce it, no idea who will enforce it, and no idea what the repercussions should be.

My feeling is that if I ever were arrested for smoking a cig, I am not paying the fine; let them take me to jail. I'll take a couple vacay days at work, the taxpayers who saw fit to pass this damn law can pay for me. It's my own civil disobedience.

So many people voted on the issue, then when it was passed they were like "WHAT? I didn't know it would do all that!" Part of it is that people believe the freaking commercials and don't read the letter of the law that is available, and part of it was sneakiness on the part of the cig-nazis.

Two glaring examples: Truck drivers passing through Ohio in a corporate owned truck are not allowed to smoke in their cabs.

Also, I am an auxialiary member of a fraternal organization...private club, right? Not since they defined private club as having NO PAID employees and no one under 18 can ever set foot in the building (they have a lot of parties and receptions in the rented out hall.)

Next beer will be outlawed in bars.

Meanwhile, crack and meth are growing industries. :mad:

You must have missed the memo ... drug use is a disease now, and cigarette smoking is a character flaw punishable by fines and imprisonment.

If nicotine addiction were treated like a disease in the same way that illegal drug addiction is, I'm betting that the smokers would look wistfully back at the "character flaw" days...

Sooner or later all vices will be treated as diseases, and then it'll be clear: diseased is the basic human condition. We all have it, and it is fatal.

are you Bill Hicks?
 

I'll put it this way: I don't listen to Hicks, I study him.

Welcome to the new US attitude.
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