From: [cadx 721] at [ccsun.strath.ac.uk] ("Inigo Ruiz")
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 11:54:19 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Cannabis as a treatment for Brain disorders

	I found an article in a local newspaper and I thought all you people may
find it interesting.


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		The Herald (Monday, February 15, 1993:

SCIENTIST SAYS CANNABIS WILL BE USED TO TREAT BRAIN DISORDERS

	A SCOTISH scientist has said it is only a matter of time before cannabis
is used to treat brain related disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease.
	Dr Roger Pertwee, who is leading research into the drug, says marijuana
will stop being regarded as a drug of abuse and become a substance which can be
used positively.
	Dr Pertwee, of Aberdeen University's department of bio-medical science,
has been studying cannabis since the late 1960s, and is secretary of the
International Cannabis Research Society.
	He and collegues in Israel have discovered a naturally occurring compound
in the body which mimics the effects of cannabis on the brain.
	The genetic material, he sasys, produces what are known as cannabis
receptors which affect certain parts of the brain in exactly the same way as
cannabis.
	The effect is most marked in those parts of the brain which deal with
memory loss, muscle movement and body temperature, all of which are affected by
cannabis.
	Scientists in the United States "cloned" the genetic compound last year.
	Dr Pertwee says the receptors are found in the brain areas where it is
known that cannabis produces many of its effects.
	"They are not found in equal amounts throughout the brain, and there is a
good correlation between where they are found and the effects which we know
cannabis has.
	"The cannabis field has moved away from the drug abuse side of things. It
has expanded in a very exciting way, so we are not dealing just with pharmacology
but with physiology.
	"We are actually now dealing with a substance which affects us all, not
just the few people who take cannabis for recreational purposes."
	Dr Pertwee said it could be that the genetic substance is helping the
human memory to function properly, and having a controlling or modulatory role on
the brain.
	"Moving on from there, it could be that we find out more about how
certain diseases occur, and we could maybe find new ways of treating diseases."
	He said that, when looking at potential positive uses, there are clues in
the effects which cannabis has on certain body functions.
	"It has an effect on perception, it has an effect on mood and on the
ability to move the muscles, memory, to name just a few. So possibly it might be
used to deal with disorders of those effects.
	"Memory and cognition are affected in old age, particularly in
Alzheimer's Disease. It could be that one could use cannabis related compounds to
deal with disorders of those phenomena, like memory and so on."
	Dr Pertwee says there is no longer a stigma attached to cannabis research
in the scientific world, although pharmaceutical companies have been less willing
to be seen to be working with cannabis-like substances.

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Inigo Ruiz 	 "Etzanda nengoela nire gelan
		 ta besteak diskutitzen sukaldean
		 peta bat egin nuen lo egiteko
		 ta nire ondamenaz ahastutzeko..."