“Cannabis sativa has been cultivated throughout human history as a source of fiber, oil and food, and for its medicinal and intoxicating properties.
The availability of the Cannabis sativa genome enables the study of a multifunctional plant that occupies a unique role in human culture. Its availability will aid the development of therapeutic marijuana strains with tailored cannabinoid profiles and provide a basis for the breeding of hemp with improved agronomic characteristics.”
“The cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) and products there of (such as marijuana, hashish and hash oil) have a long history of use both as a medicinal agent and intoxicant.
Over the last few years there have been an active debate regarding the medicinal aspects of cannabis.
This manuscript discusses the chemical constituents of the plant with particular emphasis on the cannabinoids…”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16199061
“Cannabis used now is identical with that described in ancient herbal literatures.
People did not make a sharp distinction on medicinal part of C. sativa …unripe fruit, fruit and kernel of seed were all used..,both fruit and kernel can be used as medicinal part.
The plants for Fructus Cannabis described in modern and ancient literatures are identical.
The base of the original plant is the same either in ancient or modern.
And the toxicity of the fruit is more than that of the kernel.
The kernel is the exact medicinal part of C. Sativa.”
“The use of cannabis as a therapeutic agent for various medical conditions has been well documented…The aim of the present open-label observational study was to assess the clinical effect of cannabis on motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease (PD).
Analysis of specific motor symptoms revealed significant improvement after treatment…
There was also significant improvement of sleep and pain scores. No significant adverse effects of the drug were observed.
The study suggests that cannabis might have a place in the therapeutic armamentarium of PD.”
“The aim of this 3-year longitudinal neuro-imaging study was to investigate the relationship between substance use (e.g. alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, illegal psychotropic drugs) and working-memory network function over time in heavy cannabis users and controls.
Within the group of cannabis users, cannabis-related problems remained stable, whereas alcohol-related problems, nicotine dependence and illegal psychotropic substance use increased over time. At both measurements, behavioral performance and network functionality during the n-back task did not differ between heavy cannabis users and controls. Although n-back accuracy improved, working-memory network function remained stable over time.
Within the group of cannabis users, working-memory network functionality was not associated with substance use.
These results suggest that sustained moderate to heavy levels of cannabis, nicotine, alcohol and illegal psychotropic substance use do not change working-memory network functionality.
Moreover, baseline network functionality did not predict cannabis use and related problems three years later, warranting longitudinal studies in more chronic or dependent cannabis users.”
“It is even more evidence of our need for the government to stop punishing patients for using this relatively safe and non-toxic treatment method … ”
“For years, many Americans with HIV/AIDS have used medical marijuana to relieve some common symptoms associated with the illness such as nausea, vomiting and appetite loss.
Now, a new study published last week in the journal AIDS Researcher and Human Retroviruses found that a daily dosage of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, may actually fight the HIV/AIDS virus itself.”
More: http://www.mintpressnews.com/hivaids-cure-may-be-found-in-marijuana-study/179398/
“Researchers are looking into the use of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient in marijuana, to help stop the spread of HIV infection.
Hundreds of marijuana researchers have reported that THC was able to pierce the RIV virus in monkeys. That particular virus is almost identical to the HIV virus found in humans, so this news is very encouraging.
The greatest drawbacks to this excellent news are the current laws preventing testing on human candidates.
With the changing of these restrictive laws, HIV infections have a great chance of being cured, with cannabis as a real possible player in the race to stop the disease.”
More: http://guardianlv.com/2014/02/hiv-infections-cured-with-cannabis-a-real-possibility/
“But the U.S. government won’t let scientists try out this promising treatment on humans… proving that an illegal drug can stop a deadly disease in humans—without testing it on them—is impossible…
THC is one of 500 active ingredients in marijuana. And marijuana, despite many studies proving its medical value, is sill classified by the government as a Schedule 1 Substance.
In the face of mounting evidence that it is beneficial in treating diseases… it remains a controlled substance.
During HIV infection, one of the earliest effects is that the virus spreads rapidly throughout the body and kills a significant part of cells in the gut and intestine. This activity damages the gut in a way that allows the HIV to leak through the cell wall of the intestines and into the bloodstream.
When THC is introduced into this environment, it activates the CB2 receptors in the intestines to build new, healthy bacterial cells that block the virus from leaking through the cell walls. In other words, the body works hard to keep bad stuff in the intestines and the good stuff out.
Put another way: HIV kills the cells that protect the walls— THC brings them back. Reducing the amount of the virus in the lower intestines could then help keep uninfected people uninfected.”
More: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/15/weed-can-block-h-i-v-s-spread-no-seriously.html
“Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) exhibit a decline in cognitive abilities including an inability to recognise familiar faces…
The non-psychoactive phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) exerts neuroprotective, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and promotes neurogenesis. CBD also reverses Aβ-induced spatial memory deficits in rodents.
This is the first study to investigate the effect of chronic CBD treatment on cognition in an AD transgenic mouse model.
Our findings suggest that CBD may have therapeutic potential for specific cognitive impairments associated with AD.”
“The abilities of lipophilic cannabinoid drugs to regulate adenylate cyclase activity in neuroblastoma cell membranes were analyzed by thermodynamic studies…
These data suggest that, for the entropy-driven hormone-stimulated adenylate cyclase enzyme, less disorder of the system occurs in the presence of regulators that inhibit the enzyme via Gi.
In summary, thermodynamic data suggest that cannabidiol can influence adenylate cyclase by increasing membrane fluidity, but that the inhibition of adenylate cyclase by delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol is not related to membrane fluidization.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2554920