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California - Labs at UCSD and around San Diego are investigating the medicinal value and addictive qualities of cannabis, the drug that, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is used by approximately 162 million people each year. Like many other recreational drugs, marijuana binds to the brain’s receptors. Receptors are similar to keyholes, which release an effect throughout the body when the correct link is made. However, unlike many of the body’s other compounds, the brain has receptors that respond specifically to chemicals found in marijuana, called cannabinoid receptors. These receptors trigger physical rewards in the body during exercise, in what UCSD School of Medicine professor of anesthesiology Dr. Mark Wallace likens to “the runner’s high.”
The most common cannabinoid in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. According to Wallace, there are over 450 compounds within the plant that contribute to marijuana’s effects. Wallace’s most recent study on cannabinoids involved 15 healthy individuals who inhaled marijuana and endured pain from a forearm injection of capsaicin, the compound that produces the spicy sensation in chili peppers.
Wallace found that if capsaicin was injected 45 minutes after a subject smoked marijuana, there was a significant decrease in pain. However, if capsaicin was administered five minutes after the subject smoked, there was no significant decrease in pain. In addition, Wallace found that task performance and motor skills in his study were not significantly impaired with a dose of 4 percent THC marijuana.
“This study was conducted to put the debated pain-relieving quality of cannabis to the test,” Wallace said. “We were shown that there is a potential benefit in using cannabis moderately to treat patients with chronic pain.” Wallace’s study was funded by SB 847, a bill signed into effect by former Gov. Gray Davis in 1999. The legislation allowed the University of California to establish a California Medical Marijuana Research Program. With this bill, as well as the 1996 State Proposition 215, the Center for Medical Cannabis Research was established.
Based in San Diego and affiliated with UCSD, the center gathers researchers to answer the ultimate question involving marijuana — is it genuinely therapeutic and effective enough for medicinal use? “The ultimate goal for the CMCR is to test the safety and efficacy of using cannabis and its compounds in medical treatment,” CMCR representative Heather Bentley said. “This goal holds particularly true in situations where there are no other solutions for patients who suffer from chronic pain and or illness.” Bentley said cancer, AIDS, obsessive-compulsive disorder, diabetes, multiple-sclerosis and depression have all been medically treated with the use of marijuana with some success.
While UCSD heads many cannabis experiments, it receives all research marijuana from one government-funded source — the University of Mississippi — which is governed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the sole American contractor that has been growing legal marijuana since 1974.
At the Scripps Research Institute, NIDA is supplying another project with drastically different goals. SRI Professor Barbara Mason is heading a study that will look at addiction as a reason for constant marijuana relapses. Participants in Mason’s study are required to be regular marijuana users and are paid to not smoke. They are given a medication which abruptly blocks cannabinoid receptors, creating a full-scale withdrawal from marijuana for day. This allows Mason and her colleagues to study marijuana withdrawal within a short period of time, whereas natural withdrawal usually lasts for months.
“Our study focuses on abuse and dependence on cannabis and how it affects higher cognitive functioning, like reasoning, decision making and problem solving,” Mason said. “We are trying to characterize marijuana withdrawal.”
Mason said one of the most prevalent symptoms of marijuana withdrawal is sleep disturbances, characterized by strange dreams and interruptions that can last months after a user quits smoking. Other symptoms include “violent outbursts,” such as aggressive behavior, anxiety attacks and difficulty concentrating.
UCSD assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Susan Tapert will create magnetic resonance images of the brains of participants involved once the study moves past its initial stages. The participants include some of UCSD’s own students.
Tapert is particularly interested in how cannabis use affects long-term development of the brain in adolescents and young adults. “This matter is important to me because marijuana is so widely used,” Tapert said. “About 5 percent of high school seniors report using marijuana daily. It is import to understand its neurological effects, so that young adults are rightfully informed about the effects of marijuana use.”
According to Mason, despite marijuana’s widespread use, its effects on the body and mind are hardly understood. Because marijuana’s long-term effects are still unknown, researchers like Tapert are focusing their attention on teens and young adults, like undergraduates, whose learning abilities could be affected by the substance.
“Like with any substance, overuse can bring undesired results,” Wallace said. “In the future, marijuana’s place in medicine will hopefully be understood, as well its adverse effects on the mind and body.”
Source: Guardian, The (U of CA, San Diego, CA Edu)
Copyright: 2008 UCSD Guardian
Contact: editor@ucsdguardian.org
Website: UCSD Guardian Online
The most common cannabinoid in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. According to Wallace, there are over 450 compounds within the plant that contribute to marijuana’s effects. Wallace’s most recent study on cannabinoids involved 15 healthy individuals who inhaled marijuana and endured pain from a forearm injection of capsaicin, the compound that produces the spicy sensation in chili peppers.
Wallace found that if capsaicin was injected 45 minutes after a subject smoked marijuana, there was a significant decrease in pain. However, if capsaicin was administered five minutes after the subject smoked, there was no significant decrease in pain. In addition, Wallace found that task performance and motor skills in his study were not significantly impaired with a dose of 4 percent THC marijuana.
“This study was conducted to put the debated pain-relieving quality of cannabis to the test,” Wallace said. “We were shown that there is a potential benefit in using cannabis moderately to treat patients with chronic pain.” Wallace’s study was funded by SB 847, a bill signed into effect by former Gov. Gray Davis in 1999. The legislation allowed the University of California to establish a California Medical Marijuana Research Program. With this bill, as well as the 1996 State Proposition 215, the Center for Medical Cannabis Research was established.
Based in San Diego and affiliated with UCSD, the center gathers researchers to answer the ultimate question involving marijuana — is it genuinely therapeutic and effective enough for medicinal use? “The ultimate goal for the CMCR is to test the safety and efficacy of using cannabis and its compounds in medical treatment,” CMCR representative Heather Bentley said. “This goal holds particularly true in situations where there are no other solutions for patients who suffer from chronic pain and or illness.” Bentley said cancer, AIDS, obsessive-compulsive disorder, diabetes, multiple-sclerosis and depression have all been medically treated with the use of marijuana with some success.
While UCSD heads many cannabis experiments, it receives all research marijuana from one government-funded source — the University of Mississippi — which is governed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the sole American contractor that has been growing legal marijuana since 1974.
At the Scripps Research Institute, NIDA is supplying another project with drastically different goals. SRI Professor Barbara Mason is heading a study that will look at addiction as a reason for constant marijuana relapses. Participants in Mason’s study are required to be regular marijuana users and are paid to not smoke. They are given a medication which abruptly blocks cannabinoid receptors, creating a full-scale withdrawal from marijuana for day. This allows Mason and her colleagues to study marijuana withdrawal within a short period of time, whereas natural withdrawal usually lasts for months.
“Our study focuses on abuse and dependence on cannabis and how it affects higher cognitive functioning, like reasoning, decision making and problem solving,” Mason said. “We are trying to characterize marijuana withdrawal.”
Mason said one of the most prevalent symptoms of marijuana withdrawal is sleep disturbances, characterized by strange dreams and interruptions that can last months after a user quits smoking. Other symptoms include “violent outbursts,” such as aggressive behavior, anxiety attacks and difficulty concentrating.
UCSD assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Susan Tapert will create magnetic resonance images of the brains of participants involved once the study moves past its initial stages. The participants include some of UCSD’s own students.
Tapert is particularly interested in how cannabis use affects long-term development of the brain in adolescents and young adults. “This matter is important to me because marijuana is so widely used,” Tapert said. “About 5 percent of high school seniors report using marijuana daily. It is import to understand its neurological effects, so that young adults are rightfully informed about the effects of marijuana use.”
According to Mason, despite marijuana’s widespread use, its effects on the body and mind are hardly understood. Because marijuana’s long-term effects are still unknown, researchers like Tapert are focusing their attention on teens and young adults, like undergraduates, whose learning abilities could be affected by the substance.
“Like with any substance, overuse can bring undesired results,” Wallace said. “In the future, marijuana’s place in medicine will hopefully be understood, as well its adverse effects on the mind and body.”
Source: Guardian, The (U of CA, San Diego, CA Edu)
Copyright: 2008 UCSD Guardian
Contact: editor@ucsdguardian.org
Website: UCSD Guardian Online
