Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease:
Writing in the March 2004 issue of the journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis & Other Motor Neuron Disorders, investigators at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported that the administration of THC both before and after the onset of ALS symptoms staved disease progression and prolonged survival in animals compared to untreated controls.[2]
Additional trials in animal models of ALS have shown that the administration of other naturally occurring and synthetic cannabinoids can also moderate ALS progression, but not necessarily impact survival.[3-4] One recent study demonstrated that blocking the CB1 cannabinoid receptor did extend life span in an ALS mouse model, suggesting that cannabinoids’ beneficial effects on ALS may be mediated by non-CB1 receptor mechanisms.[5]
Preclinical data has also shown that cannabinoids are neuroprotective against oxidative damage both in vitro[6] and in animals.[7] Cannabinoids’ neuroprotective action may be able to play a role in moderating ALS, which is characterized by excessive glutamate activity in the spinal cord.[8] At least one cannabinoid, delta-9-THC, has been shown to protect cultured mouse spinal neurons against excitotoxicity.[9]
As a result, some experts now recommend that “marijuana … be considered in the pharmacological management of ALS,”[10] and they believe that “further investigation into the usefulness of marijuana and … synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists is warranted.”[11]
That's another journal ..
Using pot for ALS in humans may be premature at this time.
However, consider this:
Efforts to reschedule cannabis have been ongoing since 1972, when the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) petitioned the Drug Enforcement Administration to move the substance out of Schedule I so physicians could legally prescribe it. Sixteen years later, the hearings were complete, and then DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young ruled marijuana no longer qualified as a Schedule I drug. After declaring cannabis to be "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man," he was roundly ignored by John Law, then-DEA administrator, and overruled.
end quote
Sixteen years ... while sick people continued to suffer.
lsureveille.com
BTW .. the got rid of that judge and left pot in the same legal classification as heroin.
Since the result of a sixteen year study by the DEA concluded that cannabis is "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man" it would make sence to have ALS folks use it now while waiting for the results of further studies.
More about the DEA and THC (the primary active drug in marijuana) in my next post. |
