From: Zardoz ®	24/11/2001 13:29:10
Subject: re: MEDICAL FAQ NOTES	post id: 509943
Attack of the munchies http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/marijuana/munchies.jsp Even law-abiding citizens fall prey to the cravings triggered by cannabis Raiding the fridge in the middle of the night is an all too common side-effect of smoking cannabis. But you don't have to smoke dope to get the munchies. Certain chemicals you're born with can spark off an attack of hunger as well. Even the most upright citizens have naturally occurring cannabis-like molecules circulating in their brains. Now scientists are suggesting that these molecules trigger intense hunger pangs and may even contribute to obesity. Normally, mice that have been starved eat voraciously. But George Kunos and his colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond found that the absence of cannabis receptors makes the mice much less hungry. Genetically modified mice lacking the receptors ate far less food than usual after being starved for 18 hours, as did unmodified mice that had been given drugs to block the receptors. But you can have too much of a good thing. In a finding that could link cannabinoids to human obesity, Kunos and his team found high levels of cannabis-like substances in the brains of excessively fat mice. The mice were born with a genetic defect that prevented them from making leptin, a hormone that is known to have a key role in curbing appetite. Appetite suppressant It was the discovery of leptin's role that transformed obesity research in the 1990s. But how the hormone tones down hunger has never been quite clear. Now Kunos believes naturally occurring cannabinoids could be a vital piece of the puzzle. In its latest experiments, his team has found that injecting leptin into rats and mice automatically led to a sharp drop in cannabinoid levels. The finding backs up earlier work by Raphael Mechoulam and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Israel, who found that injecting newborn mice with drugs that neutralise the effect of cannabis dramatically depressed the mice's appetite. The mice stopped suckling and died. So could too much natural cannabinoid in the brain make people fat? "It's reasonable to speculate that it contributes to some forms of obesity," says Kunos. "But so far we have no direct evidence." In France, though, scientists are already giving obese people an experimental drug designed to block cannabinoid receptors. In a trial lasting 16 weeks, a compound codenamed SR141716 was given to the patients to see if it would help curb their hunger pangs. The full results won't be revealed until later this year, but Francis Barth of the Montpellier-based drugs company Sanofi-Synthelabo, which ran the study, says the patients lost more weight than a control group. David Concar From New Scientist, 11 April 2001

From: Zardoz ®	27/06/2001 9:36:31
Subject: re: hydroponically grown marijuana	post id: 333482
The effects of marijuana are very controversial because research has shown inconsistent or contradictory findings. In addition, results are not always consistent across subjects and it is known that expectancy and environmental cues often influence the effects of marijuana. Lastly, its effects can vary widely depending on the concentration of the drug. With this in mind, this is what we know. The primary active ingredient in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. THC is extremely lipid- soluble so it is distributed to virtually all areas of the body. Recently, a receptor of THC was isolated and these seem to be concentrated primarily in the cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum and basal ganglia (this would suggest some effects on learning and motor movements). In addition, at least one endogenous cannabinoid has also been identified. Marijuana causes blood-shot eyes which results from a dilation of the small blood vessels in the whites of the eyes. However, it does not cause dilation of pupils. A therapeutic effect of marijuana is that it decreases intraocular pressure (often by as much as 30%), which is why it may be useful as a treatment for glaucoma. A common effect is dry mouth, with a strong urge to drink liquids. Another is something that is commonly called the “munchies”. The munchies begin several hours after smoking marijuana, but this effect declines after a few weeks in continuous users, and in these cases, appetite is actually depressed. Smoking marijuana typically leads to an increase in heart rate and fluctuations in blood pressure and THC can act as both an antiemetic and anti-convulsant. THC has a sedating, relaxing and anti-anxiety effect. This general feeling of well being is often called “being high”. At high concentrations, disinhibition may be seen and there are apparently some deficits in short-term memory. For example, it may be difficult to memorize a new list of words. Also, at high concentrations of THC, some people show something called temporal disintegration. In other words, they have problems holding information in the brain and then using it. A common example, is that a person will begin a sentence and then forget what he was going to say. At high doses, THC can act as an hallucinogen (although this is not commonly seen). In addition, marijuana seems to decrease attention and increase distractibility. Smoking marijuana can induce psychosis in certain populations (such as persons with schizophrenia), but other drugs (including alcohol) can do so as well. It does not seem to cause psychosis in the normal population. At high doses, it may cause anxiety, paranoia or panic attacks. There have been isolated reports of “cannabis dementia” after prolonged and heavy use, but such results are inconsistent. There is some good evidence that marijuana impairs driving, but this seems more related to a decrease in attention rather than a decrease in reaction time. At low doses, marijuana may cause drowsiness, but at higher doses it seems to interfere with sleep. Specifically, it tends to decrease total REM time and also decrease eye movement during REM sleep. Although tolerance has been shown in laboratory animals, this effect is less clear in humans. In fact, there are many reports of a reverse tolerance. In other words, chronic users may be more sensitive to the effects of THC rather than less sensitive. Research results are not conclusive, but generally, tolerance does not seem to occur. Similar inconsistent results are seen concerning withdrawal. There is some fairly good evidence suggesting that withdrawal does occur with high doses of THC, but not with low ones. There is no evidence that marijuana increases violence or aggression. There is no clear evidence that marijuana produces the so-called amotivational syndrome (e.g., greater introversion and reduced motivation), but some studies report a negative correlation between grade point average and marijuana use. There is a positive correlation between marijuana and other drug use, but no strong conclusive evidence for the “stepping stone” effect. In other words, that smoking marijuana will lead to the use of other drugs. Marijuana seems to lower testosterone in both human and nonhuman males, but it is not clear whether this actually reduces sex drive or fertility. There is evidence to suggest that marijuana interferes with our body’s immune response, which may increase certain infections and illnesses, but the connection between smoking marijuana and cancer is still open to question. http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec97/875400410.Ns.r.html

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