What every chrish, I mean, doctor, should know about Cannabinoids

[beachguy_inthongs]

What scientists really know about how marijuana exerts its effects is updated every summer at the Inter-national Cannabinoid Society’s annual meeting.
The ICRS was organized in 1990. Originally the “C” stood for “cannabis,” but so few members were working with the plant itself that in ‘95 it was decided to change the C-word to “Cannabinoid,” which refers to chemicals synthesized in the lab and produced by the body as well as those found in the plant.

Researchers were surprised to find that these receptors, now known as CB1receptors, are much more prevalent in the brain than the opioid receptors. High concentrations of CB1 receptors were found in the cerebellum and the basal ganglia (responsible for motor control, which may help explain why marijuana eases muscle spasticity in disorders like multiple sclerosis), the hippocampus (responsible for storage of short-term memory), and the limbic system (emotional control).
In 1992 a second cannabinoid receptor was found in spleen cells, white blood cells, and other tissues associated with the immune system. The discovery of this second receptor type —called the CB2 receptor, or the “peripheral receptor”— strongly implied that effective non-psychoactive drugs involving the immune system could be developed.

Therapeutic Potential
Among the findings reported at the 2002 meeting:
• Rats, when stressed, increase their production of anandamide, according to Andrea Hohman. The implication is that it serves to reduce stress.
• Anandamide may oppose the growth of colorectal cancers in rats, reported Vincenzo Di Marzo.
• Anandamide induces sleep. Cecilia Hillard reported that the general anesthetic propofol works by inducing a 10-15 fold increase in anandamide and 2-AG. When people wake up from propofol they’ve had nice dreams and may be euphoric. “One physiological role of the endocannabinoids is in the induction of natural sleep,” Hillard suggested.
• Anandamide binds to both the cannabinoid and the vanilloid receptors. The vanilloid receptor is activated by capsaicin (which has a vanilloid active group). Can one receptor signal “pain” when activated by capsaicin and “analgesia” when activated by anandamide? A push-pull mechanism?
• Giovanni Marsicano reported that “extinction of aversive memories is controlled by the endogenous cannabinoid system.” His group found that the cannabinoid receptor is necessary for synaptic plasticity in the amygdala, a part of the brain where memory of pain and fear resides.
• Several papers and posters focused on cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive component of the plant that has been bred out of the high-THC strains available in California. CBD reportedly has anti-convulsant, neuro-protective, and anti-inflammatory effects.

Anandamide is your body's own Marijuana.
http://www.ccrmg.org/journal/03sum/d...houldknow.html

[chrish]

So everyone, do what beachleach does.

Sit around the house, naked, smoking dope all day.

It's very therapeutic.

[beachguy_inthongs]

Finally, some sense from the guy.