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Cannabis May Offer Alzheimer’s Hope, Study Says
September 20, 2007 - Dublin, , Ireland
Dublin, Ireland: Marijuana compounds offer an alternative approach for treating the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to a forthcoming review in the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Investigators at the Trinity College, Institute for Neuroscience, in Dublin report that cannabinoids have been shown to protect neurons from the deleterious effects of amyloid plaque – the primary pathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Cannabinoids also demonstrate a propensity to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, while also promoting neurogenesis (the birth of new neuronal cells), authors report.
Authors write: "In recent years the proclivity of cannabinoids to exert a neuroprotective influence has received substantial interest as a means to mitigate the symptoms of neurodegenerative conditions. … [C]annabinoids offer a multi-faceted approach for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease by providing neuroprotection and reducing neuroinflammation, whilst simultaneously supporting the brain's intrinsic repair mechanisms by augmenting neurotrophin expression and enhancing neurogenesis. … Manipulation of the cannabinoid pathway offers a pharmacological approach for the treatment of AD that may be efficacious than current treatment regimens."
Preclinical studies have demonstrated that cannabinoids can delay disease progression in animal models of several neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, "Alzheimer's disease: taking the edge off with cannabinoids?" appears online at: http://www.nature.com/bjp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/0707446a.html.
updated: Sep 20, 2007
Members Of Congress Demand DEA Allow For The Private Production Of Pot
September 20, 2007 - Washington, DC, USA
Washington, DC: Forty-five members of Congress signed a letter this week demanding that the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) allow private sources to manufacture cannabis for FDA-approved clinical research.
The bipartisan letter, addressed to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy, urges the agency to abide by a February 2007 ruling by DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner that found that the private production of pot is "in the public interest."
Bittner’s ruling was in response to the DEA’s rejection of a 2001 application by the University of Massachusetts (UMass) at Amherst that sought permission to manufacture cannabis for FDA-approved clinical protocols.
Because Judge Bittner’s 2007 ruling is non-binding, the DEA has no deadline to act on it.
Under current policy, all federally approved research on marijuana must utilize cannabis supplied by and grown under contract with the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). By contrast, other controlled substances – including LSD, heroin, and MDMA (Ecstasy) – are available to researchers from multiple private manufacturers.
In 2004, the agency's director, Nora Volkow, stated that it is "not NIDA's mission to study the medical uses of marijuana."
NIDA’s "monopoly [is] unjustified, since federal law clearly requires adequate competition in the manufacture of Schedule I and Schedule II [controlled] substances," the Congressional letter states. "The University of Massachusetts-Amherst is one of the most distinguished research universities, and it is highly qualified to manufacture marijuana for legitimate medical and research purposes. … We urge you to accept Judge Bittner’s recommendation … so that … legitimate and privately-funded scientific research will be conducted."
Representatives John Olver (D-MA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) co-sponsored the letter. Massachusetts Senators John Kerry (D) and Edward Kennedy (D) have previously written the DEA in support of the UMass proposal.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Legal Counsel, at (202) 483-5500 or visit http://www.maps.org. Text of the Olver/Rohrabacher letter is available online at: http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/31861leg20070918.html.
updated: Sep 20, 2007
