New Study: Marijuana Might be Good for Your Memory
It’s hard to overstate the extent to which marijuana does the opposite of what the government says it does:
The more research they do, the more evidence Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.
…
"When we're young, we reproduce neurons and our memory works fine. When we age, the process slows down, so we have a decrease in new cell formation in normal aging. You need those cells to come back and help form new memories, and we found that this THC-like agent can influence creation of those cells," said Yannick Marchalant, a study coauthor and research assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State. [Physorg.com]
Over and over again, research finds that marijuana appears to prevent the exact conditions we were told it might cause. It’s amazing and we’re only just getting started. Not long from now, it’s quite likely that we’ll be faced with a new climate in which marijuana’s seemingly endless medical applications become impossible to ignore, even among those most determined to do so.
In the meantime, how do we explain to skeptics that marijuana is something completely different than they’ve been led to believe? Even the most sympathetic people look at me like I’m crazy when I explain that marijuana doesn’t cause cancer and may even cure it. We’re conditioned to instinctively reject a notion such as that and it usually takes a considerable amount of personal research and reflection to even become receptive to the reality that marijuana is a fascinating substance of untold potential.
If nothing else, it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to understand why marijuana users so often report wonderful outcomes in their lives. Many of the drug’s effects are decidedly positive and the only way to obscure that fact is to constantly obstruct users from participating in public discussions of what marijuana actually is.
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All those non-narcotic painkillers
Comment posted by Malkavian on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 2:36pmIs there even one non-narcotic painkiller/nsaid that doesn't damage the liver or something else vital? Recently ibuprofen has been shown to even cause heart disease (in addition to the "usual" internal bleedings and ulcers). Of course that sort of thing doesn't happen with just a couple of over-the-counter pills, but they're frequently prescribed in far greater doses for those with more chronic ills.
As far as I know there's no natural opiod that causes this sort of damage. I'm not even sure there are any of the popular synthetic ones that does so (but maybe you guys know more regarding those?).
narcotics
Comment posted by mlang52 on Sun, 11/23/2008 - 2:29pmOpiod containing pain pills are among the safest medications known to man. Tylenol and Nsaids likely kill many more people (NSAIDS estimated at 16,000 per year from the bleeding you mentioned,alone!) each year.
My mother gets inadequate pain care and takes, way too many, Tylenol tablets every week, along with her Tylenol containing prescriptions! I worry for her safety!
The synthetic opiods do not have similar damaging affect on the liver or kidneys, either.
go back to school?
Comment posted by mlang52 on Sun, 11/23/2008 - 2:23pmIn response to your demeaning comment!
Doctors, hopefully continue their schooling with every day of their lives. I graduated in 1979 and finished a five year surgical residency in 1984. I also took a two year university course in the practice of pain management. I really doubt your qualification to question my education! I don't even know why I bothered responding to it!? I guess because there are so many out there that know more than me without any education at all!
Musicians' brains
Comment posted by Malkavian on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 5:49amI recently heard of a brain study that proved that musicians seemed (for reasons unknown) to have healthier brains that the general population. This was explained by the researchers that maybe using your brain to compose music all day somehow has some positive effect on the brain.
I just can't helpt thinking that musicians are reknowned for using cannabis more than the general population, so that's where the correlation is. At least the above study is circumstantial evidence for my hypothesis.
misinformed?
Comment posted by mlang52 on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 1:00pmI agree that the medications you recieved may have damaged your liver. Even Howrad Hughes may have had kidney failure and related problems form the medication he took for years. But it was not the codeine (narcotics are likely the safest when it comes to this) But it was a result of a thing called phenacetin. Most likley, the reason you developed the trouble you did was the over-prescription of tylenol, chronically, that is in the pain pills given to most people.
I had a chronic pain patient who broke his leg once. When admitted to the hospital his Polish born internist proclaimed "the pain medication is damaging your liver because your liver enzymes are very elevated". Being a trauma surgeon, I would have never made such a claim. The fact is a broken leg also results in damage to the surrounding musculature, whose enzymes apprear to be the same as in the liver! If properly studied, one can determine that it was from the muscle injury. But, there was a much simpler way. Watch them, as they precipitously drop to normal, as the muscle starts to heal. It happened in his case!! Within two days, the "liver" enzymes were back to normal! The elevated GOT and LDH were result of the trauma and not "narcotics affecting his liver". If a doctor is this ignorant, how can one expect a laymen to know the difference. Science has proven the safety of opiods that have been used for centuries. And the addiction rate among chronic intractable pain patients is likey less than one per cent (some studies show less than .001%) Just a little FYI to let you know the us doctors are not always right about other things, as well.