Two papers coincidentally announced on the same day raise interesting questions about some of society’s favorite drugs. The first paper suggests that alcohol acts as a blood thinner, thus showing the mechanism behind the well-established ability of moderate alcohol consumption to lower rates of heart disease. The other paper suggests that cannabinoids can actually cause the growth of new brain cells and reduce anxiety and depression.

Kenneth Mukamal et al report in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research on some new results from the long-running Framingham Offspring Study. They found that moderate alcohol consumption makes platelets less sticky in both men and women. It all also inhibits platelet activation in men and probably in women. The platelets are then less likely to form blood clots in arteries. But don’t put your party hat on yet. “Moderate” means three to six drinks per week, and the blood thinning effect also leads to increased rates of bleeding strokes. In the Eurekalert news release Mukamal is quoted as saying the results “should not be used by people as any reason to begin drinking.”

A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain.

In mammals, new nerve cells are constantly being produced in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is associated with learning, memory, anxiety and depression. Other recreational drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine and cocaine, have been shown to suppress this new growth. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and colleagues decided to see what effects a synthetic cannabinoid called HU210 had on rats’ brains.

They found that giving rats high doses of HU210 twice a day for 10 days increased the rate of nerve cell formation, or neurogenesis, in the hippocampus by about 40%.

New Scientist

Research into the effects of cannabis on users has led to a breakthrough that could lead to new ways of fighting obesity, controlling pain and combating cancer.

The discovery emerged from work on tackling obesity by reversing the “munchies” effect well known to cannabis users.

One appetite suppressant, Rimonabant, has already proved itself in patient trials and could soon appear in clinics.

It operates by acting on brain molecules that are receptive to cannabis and natural body compounds similar to those in the drug.

via The Mail Online

DEA statement (Prepared for DEA Administrative Law Judge hearing beginning August 22, 2005, in which Prof. Lyle Craker, UMass Amherst, is suing DEA for refusing to issue him a license to grow marijuana exclusively for federally approved research, funded by a grant from MAPS.)

California health officials suspended a program that had begun providing patients who smoke marijuana for medicinal reasons with state-issued identification cards because of concern about a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Star News

2737 BC—Emperor Shen-Nung in China prescribes cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, ‘female weakness,’ gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness.

2000 BC—In Egypt, cannabis is used to treat sore eyes.

1400 BC—A Bronze Age drug trade supplied hashish and opium to ancient cultures throughout the eastern Mediterranean as balm for the pain of childbirth and disease.

1000 BC—Cannabis use begins in India to overcome hunger and thirst by the religious mendicants.

1000 BC—Bhang, a cannabis preparation (a drink, generally mixed with milk) is used as an anesthetic and anti-phlegmatic in India.

200 BC—In ancient Greece, cannabis is used as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation.

200 AD—A Chinese physician, Hoa-Tho, prescribes cannabis as an analgesic in surgical procedures.

800 AD—Mohammed allows cannabis but forbids alcohol.

1000 AD—Moslems produce hashish as medicine.

1621—The medical book The Anatomy of Melancholy by English clergyman Robert Burton claims cannabis is a treatment for depression.

CBS

Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke pot on doctors’ orders, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state medical marijuana laws don’t protect users from a federal ban on the drug.

The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug’s use to treat various illnesses.

Justice John Paul Stevens, writing the 6-3 decision, said that Congress could change the law to allow medical use of marijuana.

ABC News