schizophrenia
News Of Marijuana Benefit May be Weighed Down By Political Arguments
Despite political squabbling as to how America should handle its growing healthcare problem, millions remain uninsured. With mental disorders being diagnosed more frequently and skyrocketing treatment costs, we seem to be heading down a path of widespread medical disaster, where many still will not be able to afford treatment.
Repealing Obamacare (the goal of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney who ironically can be considered its architect) will be a huge topic for debate in the upcoming presidential election. We have witnessed the obsession with eliminating the president’s healthcare plan since it was passed. However, we have heard very few ideas as to how the next plan would provide help to so many who are in desperate situations. Marijuana activists have offered their own plans to provide relief for millions, though marijuana alone cannot address all of our healthcare needs. However, when it comes to affordable medicine with little side effects, marijuana could act as an viable alternative. Government sponsored clinical trials with cannabis could produce some of the most effective treatments from both a standpoint of financial accessibility and medical effectiveness.
Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney have embraced medical marijuana, but as their endless debate unfolds, we at marijuana.net want to make sure a new development does not get lost in the campaign squabbling. We were pleased to learn of even more evidence that cannabis holds more than just pain relief potential. In the journal titled “Psychiatry Research” a study was recently published that showed frequent cannabis users demonstrated higher neurocognitive performance when suffering from bi-polar disorder than those who did not use cannabis. The scientists were not willing to say that marijuana should be used specifically as a treatment for bi-polar disorder. Authors of the study were concerned about side effects and supposed links to possible psychological problems linked with marijuana use.
Scientists who were part of the study concluded that may need to develop treatments that mimic the positive effects of cannabis while limiting any negative side effects. Clearly more research is needed, but even if cannabis has some negative effects for those with mental disorders, lifting restrictions on marijuana research could eventually produce a strain of marijuana that could be ideal for bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, or other mental disorders. In Israel, where partisan politics have not restricted and severely hindered research, scientists were able to produce a strain of marijuana with high levels of CBD and low levels of THC (CBD and THC are both cannabinoids). The result is a strain that will address pain relief without creating the expected psychedelic effects commonly associated with marijuana. If our president and congress were to abandon the rhetoric, we may soon see scientists create treatments for the new age, medicine that is affordable, natural, and effective.
Marijuana May be Able to Help Weight Loss and Diabetes
New study findings are constantly providing us with surprising news regarding the potential of medical marijuana. The question we have to start asking is why are we still shocked to hear about these developments. No other treatment available has demonstrated such a wide variety of applications. Marijuana is producing results in areas that have baffled doctors and scientists. Recently we learned that cannabis appears to posses the potential to help combat the spreading of the AIDS virus. Additionally, new information is showing much promise for marijuana helping victims of PTSD and schizophrenia, two conditions where research has not been able to yield quality treatments. This of course, is beautifully combined with the older and more well known applications of medical marijuana such as pain and nausea.
New research actually shows that marijuana may be helpful in an area that could seem silly if only analyzed from the surface. While smoked cannabis is known for appetite stimulation (or the munchies as its more commonly referred as) GW Pharmaceuticals has found that two specific cannabinoids may be useful in appetite suppression and weight loss. Cannabidiol (more commonly referred to as CBD) and THCV (a homologue of THC) could help burn calories and reduce hunger. In tests, GW Pharmaceuticals found that animals introduced to the two cannabinoids displayed a boost in metabolic rates and fat burning. Professor Mike Cawthorne, who has been conducting the trials and director of metabolic research at the University of Buckingham said “Overall, it seems these molecules increase energy expenditure in the cells of the body by increasing the metabolism.”
This research builds on previous findings that the two cannabinoids were also effective in treating animals with type 2 diabetes. The two studies provide hope for a new avenue of treatment for heart disease, stroke and other conditions that can result from weight gain and a breakdown of the metabolism. Dr. Steph Wright, director of Research and Development at GW Pharmaceuticals agreed and recently said “We are interested in how these drugs effect the fat distribution and utilization in the body as a treatment for metabolic diseases.”
The pursuit of a magic weight loss pill has seemed as daunting as discovering the fountain of youth or spotting a unicorn. However this quest is usually undertaken for cosmetic reasons and not always to improve health. In either case, America’s obesity epidemic has reached dangerous levels with new and younger generations already dependent upon processed and unhealthy foods. New research is confirming that cannabis is not taking lives, but may hold the potential for saving lives.
CBD in Marijuana found to Treat Schizophrenia with few Side Effects
Within a matter of weeks the United States Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the controversial “Obamacare” program. In particular, the mandate that requires Americans to carry health insurance has drawn the most scrutiny and is being challenged on its constitutionality. Combining that with Mitt Romney’s campaign going national after winning the GOP nomination, the healthcare reform battle should be front and center as both Romney and Obama (often considered very similar plans) have enacted sweeping health care changes.
Luckily in the meantime we have less partisan political healthcare updates to lift our spirits. This week researchers at The University of Cologne in Germany have found that CBD (a cannabinoid found in marijuana) looks to have excellent potential in treating schizophrenia symptoms. Of the 39 patients who participated in the study, 20 were treated with CBD while the others were treated with amisulpride, a drug not legal in the U.S. but similar to medications used in America. Daniel Piomelli, co-author of the study was pleased with the results and said “The results were amazing. Not only was CBD as effective as standard antipsychotics, but it was also essentially free of the typical side effects seen with antipsychotic drugs.”
This development builds on many of the recent studies that have linked health and quality of life to marijuana. Soldiers have often reported that marijuana use has helped with their PTSD symptoms. Recently, marijuana.net reported on a study that showed cannabis relieved patient’s painful MS symptoms. Additionally, marijuana has been linked to help patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, Glaucoma, chronic pain, muscular dystrophy, migraines, and of course so many other ailments. We encourage readers in our comment section to share stories about these or other medical issues marijuana aids.
Schizophrenia has baffled medical professionals for centuries and perhaps even thousands of years. Egyptians have described ancient ailments over two thousand years ago that sound very much like what we call schizophrenia today. Treatments in the middle ages included exorcisms and even drilling holes in the head in order to draw out the “evil spirits”. In the modern times scientists came up with a new method that was not much more sophisticated. The lobotomy may indeed treat schizophrenia, with a major side effect being that the patient is turned into a zombie. Let us not forget that shock therapy which is still used today even as scientists have not been able to fully determine why it produces results, or often does not. These extreme treatments only highlight just how incredible the German discovery is for patients suffering from this long misunderstood condition.
The hope is that research such as this will also be conducted in the United States. Healthcare is still a prevailing issue in the United States with our country seeming like they are reserved to second class care. The president’s plan has increased coverage but is not as far reaching as initially thought on the campaign trail. This may not be his fault entirely as the GOP and economy presented major roadblocks. Either way, this marijuana research is encouraging and could provide patients with relief immediately with far less economic cost than the typical big pharmaceutical treatments. As the complexity of the health care arguments plays itself out in the media, let us keep in mind that there is one simple source for so much healing.