London, United Kingdom: The inhalation of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD (cannabidiol) significantly mitigates tobacco smokers’ desire for cigarettes, according to clinical trial data published online in the journal Addictive Behaviors. Investigators at University College London conducted a double blind pilot study to assess the impact of the ad-hoc consumption of organic CBD versus placebo in 24 tobacco-smoking subjects seeking to quit their habit. Participants were randomized to receive an inhaler containing CBD (n=12) or placebo (n=12) for one week. Trial investigators instructed subjects to use the inhaler when they felt the urge to smoke. Researchers reported: “Over the treatment week,…
Author: WebTeam
Pharmaceutical painkillers are now responsible for more deaths in the United States than heroin and cocaine combined. The pharmaceuticals are responsible for more than 15,000 deaths conservatively in 2008 alone. With no sign of slowing down, the painkiller industry is becoming wildly popular among Americans — as a result, so is the high rate of painkiller abuse. Classified as dangerous by the U.S. government, cannabis (even in THC-free form, or free of psychoactive effects) has been identified as a powerful pain reliever in more than 80 peer-reviewed studies. You may be aware of the fact that marijuana is usually quite…
This is not just another drug scare story. ‘Ecstasy’ pills containing PMA are killing clubbers in the UK. Find out how to make sure you’re not next, and why the government should be doing something about it. All across Britain the revulsion has been palpable. In February, consumers trusting their supermarkets to sell them what they pay for, found they had been dining on horsemeat rather than beef. Products were recalled, questions were raised in Parliament. It seemed like a throwback to a previous era. Food scandals such as this were common in the 19th century, when food labelling requirements…
Rampant staph infections continue to cost lives unnecessarily. One powerful weapon to fight this scourge is being successfully deployed by China’s military: industrial hemp. Staph is spread by direct contact and by touching items that are contaminated such as towels, sheets, privacy curtains, and clothing. As noted by the San Francisco Chronicle, “It is estimated that each year 2 million Americans become infected during hospital stays, and at least 90,000 of them die. MRSA (an antibiotic resistant strain of staph) is a leading cause of hospital-borne infections.” One of the most important recent discoveries is hemp’s ability to kill surface…
NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofren) are among the most widely used analgesic substances in the world. However, the consumption of these products is associated with various adverse and life-threatening side-effects such as heart-attack, stroke, and internal bleeding. In fact, according to a 2001 analysis, in the United States alone, “gastrointestinal complications induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) cause more than 100,000 hospitalizations and an estimated 16,500 deaths annually.” Could these adverse gastrointestinal effects be offset by cannabis? A just published study in the European Journal of Pharmacology indicates that the most likely answer is ‘yes.’ Researchers at West…
Research released earlier this year, conducted by the University of Illinois Department of Medicine, found cannabis to be a helpful treatment for sleep apnea, a condition in which an individual’s breathing slows down, or sometimes stops entirely during sleep and immediately after waking from sleep. In summary, the research found that even minimal amounts of THC – one of the prime compounds of cannabis – greatly decreased the negative effects of sleep apnea, without any noticeable adverse effects. Here’s the entire abstract from the study, which has been published by the National Institute of Health: Study Objective: Animal data suggest…
SYDNEY — Smoking cannabis appeared to reduce tremor and pain and improve sleep among Parkinson’s disease patients, researchers from Israel reported here. Overall, patients’ scores on the standard Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) averaged 33 before they smoked cannabis in the laboratory and averaged 24 after 30 minutes (P<0.01), Ruth Djaldetti, MD, of Tel Aviv University Israel, reported at her poster presentation at the International Congress on Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. “We not only saw improvement in tremor in these patients, but also in rigidity and in bradykinesia,” Djaldetti told MedPage Today. “I would recommend use of marijuana…
May 30, 2013 — hough marijuana is a well-known recreational drug, extensive scientific research has been conducted on the therapeutic properties of marijuana in the last decade. Medical cannabis is often used by sufferers of chronic ailments, including cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, to combat pain, insomnia, lack of appetite, and other symptoms. Now Prof. Yosef Sarne of Tel Aviv University’s Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine says that the drug has neuroprotective qualities as well. He has found that extremely low doses of THC — the psychoactive component of marijuana –…
Two women, who are in a serious condition in hospital, may have become ill from using substances other than a contaminated batch of cannabis. Fresh toxicology tests were under way last night to determine how they became critically ill. But gardai now believe that cannabis may not have been a major factor in either case. One of the women is now thought to have been inhaling a deodorant and this may have been more significant in creating her medical problems. Last night the woman’s condition at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda had stabilised and she was no longer…
(NaturalNews) The human brain contains an extensive network of special receptor sites that modulate nervous system function only when activated by the appropriate cannabinoid compounds, many of which are found in abundance in the marijuana plant. And emerging research continues to uncover the unique role these cannabinoids play in protecting brain function, which in turn helps deter the aging process and even reverse the damaging effects of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia and cognitive abnormality. One of the latest discoveries concerning cannabinoids involves their ability to act as antioxidants in the brain. Researchers from Germany found that the…
