" Bowel study backs cannabis drugs" (more medical uses of marijuana)

[DELUSIONAL]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4728605.stm

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease may benefit from cannabis-based drugs, UK scientists believe.

The Bath University team found people with the gut disorder had an abundant number of a type of cannabinoid receptors in their body.

They believe this is part of the body's attempt to dampen down the inflammation and that giving a drug that binds to these receptors could boost this.

Their findings appear in the journal Gastroenterology.

Cannabinoids

When people have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis - collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease or IBD - their immune system goes into overdrive, producing inflammation in different areas of the digestive tract.

But it doesn't look like pot will be used any time soon for the sufferers of IBS etc.

It also seems as if the pharm companies will have to chemically manipulate pot -- "However, it might be possible to make a synthetic cannabis-like drug that has all of the therapeutic benefits and none of the other actions of cannabis. "

I've never smoked pot -- however it does seem that marijuana has medical benefits for several hard to treat diseases (M.S. for example) -- I just don't understand the opposition to medical marijuana.


Also helps with bipolar or manic depressive symptoms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4606475.stm

[bitchkitty]

1. I understand it perfectly - it's all about money.

They can't have you growing your own medicine, can they? That cuts into the profits of whatever pharmaceutical company develops this drug that has the therapeutic benefits and "none of the other actions". Meaning the buzz, I guess. Those other actions happen to be a therapeutic benefit - especially in dying patients, who need all the feelings of well-being they can get.

[lvx35]

2. Good. The ban on medical marijuna was poitlical from the start.

Its good to see studies like this coming out bringing that to our attention.

[Scout1071]

3. It's easy to understand why they are opposed to medical marijuana.

By they, I mean the pharmaceutical companies and the government.

They are opposed because it is something that everyone could grow in their home for nothing. They could make billions by selling it in a pill and kickin' back to Uncle Sam.

[bitchkitty]

4. I'm sure that's why they busted

Marc Emery - eliminating the competition because they are getting ready to start perverting a natural medicine and selling it for a profit.

I grow marijuana - legally! I am quite ill, but can't get health insurance. They won't provide health insurance to me, but they want to take the only medicine that is available to me. Even if I could afford other medicines, I would still grow marijuana. There is something about using an herb that you produce with loving care with mother nature, to stop your pain. It is deeply satisfying.

[alfredo]

7. The same logic is used with

solar energy. Nobody owns the sun.

Here is the New Scientist article on cannabis.

Cannabis may soothe inflamed bowels
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7766
Cannabis-based drugs could offer treatment hope to sufferers of inflammatory bowel disease, UK researchers report.
Cannabis smokers with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have often claimed that smoking a joint seems to lessen their symptoms. So a group of researchers from Bath University and Bristol University, both in the UK, decided to explore the clinical basis for the claims.
“There is quite a lot of anecdotal evidence that using cannabis seems to reduce the pain and frequency of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, so we decided to see if we could find out what was going on there,” says Karen Wright, a pharmacologist at Bath University. “Historically, it was smoked in India and China centuries ago for its gastrointestinal properties.”



BTW, I have Crohn's

[stepnw1f]

5. I Have Had Stomach Problems My Whole Life

When I used cannibas, it helped tremendously.

[noonwitch]

6. I had an aquaintance who had ulcerative colitis

The doctors gave her all kinds of pain meds, especially after her illeostomy, and most of them took away her appetite (Darvocet, coedine, etc.). If she smoked a little weed, she could at least eat a decent meal once in a while during her recovery.

[bitchkitty]

9. Some strains work for seizures too -

I am part of a community of patients and activists. We have a member in a nursing home who used to have multiple seizures every day, until he got his OMMA card and we started running tinctures and edibles to him. He goes for weeks without a seizure, and the staff was so amazed that they made allowances and allow him to medicate without restriction.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I wonder if my bro, who used to smoke ever noticed if

the mary jane was helping his IBD or not?

I have ulcerative colits and am curious about this. I hear nicotine patches are supposed to be helpful too.