Harvard Scientists Build Very Cool Bong
At last, a solution to the problem of not being able to get high during a brain scan:
Smoking during a brain scan is not easy. Why would you want to? Because functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows researchers to observe activity in the brain, and doing so while smoking tobacco or pot could enhance our understanding of addiction and how to treat it.
…Displaying skills that would put MacGyver to shame, Frederick constructed a makeshift water pipe inside of a picnic cooler, then ran 2.4 meters of tubing to a plastic facemask that rests inside of the scanner. Since the mask is made from materials that are not magnetic, it will not interfere with the imaging. [Wired]
In college, my friend Derek conducted some remarkably similar research. Lacking an MRI scanner, he simply conducted informal interviews to see how the device affected participants.
To be sure that the contraption can get people high, Lindsey and her associates asked nine volunteers to inhale smoke from a marijuana cigarette with exactly 3.51 percent THC, then checked to see how much of the drug made it into their blood. Using the mask, the subjects got almost as high as if they had puffed on a joint directly. The researchers suggested using stronger weed to achieve more realistic effects.
These people are geniuses. Next they need to build a device to administer nachos during a brain scan. Hypothesis: Scott Morgan will experience feelings of contentment.
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redditBrain Research and cannabinoids
Comment posted by David Dunn on Tue, 10/02/2007 - 3:09amBrain research ought to be allowed to test the role of its cannabinoid receptors and cannabinoids and their effects on the brain.
The methods of ingesting cannabinoids ought to be free to be researched. American universities ought to be allowed to grow, research and test their own cannabinoids.
Another question that ought to be researched is the question that cannabinoids played in human evolution.
For example, why did humanoids continue to use the same tools for over a million years? Then, when cannabis was discovered and used, why did human evolution accelerate so rapidly?
And why, after marijuana became more widely available did human evolution seem to accelerate even more? We've gone from transcontinental air travel to sending man to the Moon and space craft to Mars and other plants as well.
And the Internet! The world wide web? Isn't this absolutly fantastic! Who, when I was growing up would have even thought that anything like this would even be possible in our lifetime?
This kind of stuff was thought to be more like 500 years into the future -- you know, Buck Rogers, etc.
And its relationship to the increased use of marijuana! Wha's the connection? Shouldln't this be thoroughly researched?
The motto of the DEA and Congress must be:
Backward turn backward,
Oh time in thy flight!
The future's unpleasant
The present's unbright.
Sorry, I don't know who these words were first penned by.
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
— Thomas Jefferson
drug war
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 12/06/2008 - 8:51pmThe drug war causes alot of damage to families and the people of the USA. It hurts more peopel than its supposed to help.
Federal Government involvement in marijuana research
Comment posted by toconnor53 on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 12:30amI believe that this type of research is appropriate in understanding the interactions between smoked marijuana and observed brain functions. I commend those involved in this endeavor.
Given the federal government’s history of interference in Schedule 1 substances research, I was curious about the federal government‘s involvement or endorsement of any of these research projects. Could we be setting a precedent?