I have been researching the medical capabilities of
marijuana for quite awhile now. It has gotten to the point that I want to make a list of research that has been completed for medical
marijuana:
1. Cancer-
a. Assists in pain and nausea caused by cancer treatment.
b. Found to slow down the spread of certain cancer cells.
c. Has been said that can help stop the growth of tumors and may actually assist in shrinking tumors.
2. AIDS-
a. Help increase appetite in AIDS patients.
3. Pain Management-
a. Assist in reducing pain without side effects with current pain medications.
b. Will provide relief of muscle pain and cramping.
4. Neurological
a. Can relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.
b. Can slow down effect of Alzheimer’s.
c. Slows the disease process and extend the life of mice with Lou Gehrig’s disease
d. Can alleviate muscle spasms, muscle weakness, muscle stiffness, and shaky tremors
This is the beginning of the list I am making though my research. I will update it from here on out.
I used to have a Supervisor that was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and I could see the effects on him though out the time I worked for him. Within a year after he admitted that he was diagnosed with this disease he left the work place and I have not heard from him since. I could see the effect this had on him and his family and how the medications he was on would affect him throughout the day.
I was reading about research that was accomplished in 2004 about the effects Marijuana can have on Debilitating Diseases. One of the issues that was researched was the effect on Parkinson’s Disease.
Parkinson’s Disease has been diagnosed in more that 1 million American’s, with symptoms of Slow movements, Muscle Tremors, and Muscle stiffness. This Disease destroys brain cells that create the chemical Dopamine. Dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter that has many functions in the brain, such as: important roles in behavior and cognition, motor activity, motivation and reward, regulation of milk production, sleep, mood, attention, and learning.
There are treatments available to help replenish lost Dopamine but there is currently nothing out there that can stop or reverse the effect this disease has on the brain cells that produce this chemical. Research in 2004 has shown that in mice that have received marijuana-like substance and then were given a substance that would destroy the chemical producing brain cells showed little to no difference in the brain chemistry than a healthy mouse. Now if research can be extended on this subject I am wondering if they may be able to try and get the marijuana-like substance that may reverse the effects on patients with Parkinson’s Disease.
Now there are a lot of effects on Parkinson’s patients and the most noticeable is the tremors. My old supervisor was the type that would notice the shaking hands and try to hide the fact that he was shaking. There was a study conducted in the Czech Republic for Marijuana on the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. Like here in the US doing research with Marijuana is also dangerous since it is against the law. But these studies showed that with over 300 patients with an average age of 66 and on average dealing with the disease for 9 years 46% of them showed relief from the symptoms. The research also showed that the longer the use of Marijuana for the patient the more likely they would see the reduced effects of the disease. Those that used it for more than 3 months.
These studies were years ago and I am looking for newer studies to see how far the research has gone since.
Sources:
Reuters Health Author: Paula Moyer
Society for Neuroscience
