Then how is it that my dr. smoked me out just before Triple bypass...
http://p199.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitioncannabisfoodfuelfiberfar maceuticals.showMessage?topicID=45.topic
Only The PotHeads Will Survive Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 16:42:17 -0800
From: R GIVENS
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by way of "D. Paul Stanford"
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To:
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Subject: Only The PotHeads Will Survive
Counter Reefer Maniac accusations that marijuana users support terrorism with the plain fact that these dizzy morons are preventing the use of the "best available protection against nerve gas attack" with their marijuana madness.
Among its many properties cannabis provides considerable protection from a number of lethal nerve gas symptoms by defending the brain from injury and suppressing the the seizures, nausea and vomiting associated with chemical warfare agents.
This is not a pothead myth because the Israeli Army, which has no time for Reefer Madness nonsense, equips their soldiers with cannabis compounds to protect against a chemical warfare attack.
It may open a few eyes if we spread this info around the LTE pages.
It's worth remembering that Marijuana Prohibition was suspended during WWII because of the US Navy's critical need for HEMP. Perhaps a new national emergency can completely erode the influence of Reefer Madness on our legislatures.
R Givens
Marijuana Substitute Combats Nerve Gas
by Julian Borger
June 05, 1998 - Scripps Howard News Service
JERUSALEM -- The best available protection against nerve gas attack comes from an Israeli-made synthetic equivalent of marijuana, U.S. military experiments have shown.
In U.S. Army tests, rats injected with Dexanabinol, a chemical substitute for hashish, were more than 70 percent less likely to suffer epileptic seizures or brain damage after exposure to sarin and other nerve gases, according to results published in the Israeli press Thursday.
The drug was developed by an Israeli pharmaceutical firm, Pharmos, to treat head injuries and strokes, but now it looks likely to become part of the standard chemical warfare kit carried by NATO troops after the results of the tests were announced at a conference in Maryland last month.
Dr. Anat Biagon, deputy director-general for research at Pharmos, told the newspaper Ha'aretz: "Dexanabinol can be used as part of the standard treatment in an attack using nerve gas, along with atropin. The drug can diminish nerve damage of the kind we witnessed in Gulf War syndrome."
It is thought to interact with neural receptors in the brain in the same way as marijuana, and thereby block the damaging effects of nerve agents.
The U.S. tests suggest it's effective as an antidote and as a preventative measure. So far, tests have only been carried out on rodents, but experiments on humans are expected to be the next stage.
Until then, no one can be sure whether Dexanabinol has the same mellowing side-effects as organic marijuana.
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Marijuana protects your brain
by Dana Larsen (01 Jan, 1999)
Studies reveal that marijuana protects against brain damage from stroke, heart attacks, and nerve gas.
Illustration: Roddy HeadingThe US National Institute of Health has found that chemicals in cannabis can reduce the extent of damage during a stroke, at least in rats.
Experiments with rat nerve cells, and then with actual rats, suggest that THC and cannabidiol, both compounds found in marijuana, can protect cells by acting as antioxidants, and could be useful in the treatment and prevention of stroke, heart attacks, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Researchers are investigating how cannabidiol and other antioxidants can reduce the severity of damage from "ischaemic strokes", in which blood vessels in the brain become blocked.
During ischaemic strokes, which make up 80% of all strokes, free radicals are released into the bloodstream. These harmful molecules are believed to cause stroke damage, such as paralysis and loss of speech and vision. Cannabidiol has potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, so it can neutralize free radicals and limit their damage.
Meanwhile, an Israeli pharmaceutical company called Pharmos is conducting human clinical trials using a synthetic, injectable version of cannabidiol, which they have dubbed Dexanabinol.
Dexanabinol's creator is Professor Raphael Mechoulam of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who discovered THC in 1964, and has been studying cannabis for over thirty years.
Dr William Beaver, who chaired a panel assembled last year by the US National Institute of Health to review the medical uses of marijuana, called Dexanabinol "the most medically significant use ever made of marijuana."
The human clinical tests began in 1996 with 67 patients in Israel's neurotrauma centres. About 1000 patients will be involved in the next phase, at a cost of $15 million over two years. According to US medical investment analysts, Dexanabinol showed no serious side effects when administered to healthy volunteers.
Aside from the five million people worldwide who suffer a stroke or head trauma each year, there's another huge market for Dexanabinol, the US Army. US military tests on rats have shown that those exposed to Dexanabinol were 70% less likely to suffer epileptic seizures or brain damage after being exposed to sarin and other nerve gases. Dexanabinol is effective as both a preventative measure and as an antidote.
The military's greatest concern seems to be whether Dexanabinol possesses the same psychoactive and enlightening properties as THC and some other cannabinoids. Although THC and cannabidiol both provided equal defense against cell damage, cannabidiol doesn't have significant psychoactive effects.
Of course, the obvious corollary to this is that if synthetic Dexanabinol can prevent brain damage, then organic marijuana does so as well. So the next time grandpa has a stroke, try and get him to take a few bong-hits before the ambulance arrives. Better yet, give him a hash brownie each evening before he has that stroke. You might just save his life.
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