An alert student pointed out a study by researchers at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA, which found that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, did a better job at inhibiting amyloid aggregation than other drugs that had already been approved for treating Alzheimer’s disease. This approach will not “cure” Alzheimer’s, but might be useful in slowing its progression.
As my students know, I am kind of queasy when it comes to drugs, and the authors of this study don’t take their findings lightly either. Kim Janda, one of the authors of the study, said that “While we are certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs, these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities, especially when compared to AChE inhibitors currently available to patients.”
The Alzheimer’s Association estimates 4.5 million Americans have the disease, a figure that could reach as high as 16 million by 2050. Current costs related to these patients is at least $100 billion annually, and any improvements in treating the condition would be welcome.
7 Comments
tommy_truong · November 4, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Some states already allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose, so i think we should make it legal for people with alzheimer to use marijuana. They are already marked for death, so any chance to save them should be allowed. Also, i read somewhere that drinking coffee is benefical for people with alzheimer because it reduces the levels of beta-amyloid, which turn into plagues within the brains of people with alzheimer. It worked on mice. While there is no cure for this disease, coffee and thc and other methods could treat the symptons and we should the uses of these treatments.
Ariel_Januszewicz · November 13, 2006 at 8:00 pm
With the popularity of the herbal supplement movement and this research into natural plants (marijuana) for treatment of Alzheimer’s, a national clinical trial is now being conducted to test the effectiveness of Chinese club moss to treat Alzheimer’s. It is widely used in China as a supplement to treat cognitive disorders. The trial is being funded by the National Institute on Aging.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15353444/)
I understand your wariness to use illegal drugs as a course of treatment but marijuana unlike other synthetic man-made drugs is a natural plant. If marijuana did not have the stigma it has today and putting aside its other psychoactive effects it would be no different then using Chinese club moss or other natural substances to treat cognitive defects.
kcrusePSY340 · November 15, 2006 at 9:23 pm
I agree that the stigma and the stereotypes associated with marijuana are unfortunate because while any drug can of course have negative effects (and those have been proven for marijuana) clearly many positive affects of marijuana have been empirically proven also. It seems many natural plants that don’t kill you tend to have some benefits.
MollyMcLaughlin · December 1, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I agree that THC may have benefits for Alzheimer’s patients. However, what are some potential drawbacks from this? Is it possible that by smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes, the patients could experience adverse effects and potential experience even more damage? How does a disease like lung cancer play in this situation?
jejabe13 · December 4, 2006 at 11:50 am
In response to the last post, according to my Behavioral Effects of Psychoactive Drugs professor there have been no reports of lung cancer correlated to marijuana smoking. I do think marijuana has potential medical benefits in helping treat Alzheimer’s, anorexia, dealing with the nausea and lack of appetite of cancer treatments and glaucoma (relating to it’s ability to reduce intra-ocular pressure . Because smoking marijuana can have damaging effects on the throat, capsules containing the active ingredient, THC, may be a more realistic solution.
mdasilva · December 4, 2006 at 10:17 pm
I think that if there is a way to help Alzheimers it should be taken, even the action of slowing it down. My grandmother had alzheimers and it is so sad to how much the person changes as they are going through the different stages and symptoms. I do understand that is very controversial, and there are adverse effects that come with the use of marijuana, however, when it comes to patients with Alzheimers I believe the benefits will far out weigh the risks. Also, when concerning these patients, their problems caused by Alzheimers are much greater than the problems that may be caused by the use of THC to slow down Alzheimers.
MunkeyChowFan · December 8, 2006 at 10:45 pm
I didn’t not expect marijuana to have so many medical uses. Since Alzheimer’s is hereditary and both sides of my family have been affected, I’ll have monitor these findings for my future well-being. When I took Behavioral Effects of Psychoactive Drugs with the Nutty Professor Dr. Brovar (if that really is his name), we learned that there had been a center in Atascadero, which distributed medical marijuana prescriptions to qualified patients. I think it was called Compassionate Care or something like that, but it was shut down last year. I think the public at large is still wary about medicinal marijuana use.
Comments are closed.