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posted by janrinok on Saturday February 21 2015, @05:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the read-it-before-the-feds-distort-the-facts-again dept.

5 Discoveries About Marijuana That You Won't Hear in the Corporate Media

Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) reports via AlterNet

Scientific discoveries are published almost daily in regard to the healing properties of the cannabis. But most of these findings appear solely in subscription-only peer-reviewed journals and, therefore, go largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and by the public. Here are five just-published cannabis-centric studies that warrant attention.

  • Men Who Smoke Pot Possess a Reduced Risk of Bladder Cancer
  • Long-Term Pot Exposure Isn't Damaging to Lung Health
  • Alcohol, Not Pot, Alters the Brain
  • Marijuana Use Doesn't Lead to Depression
  • Marijuana Possesses a Unique Margin of Safety Compared to Other legal and Illegal Drugs

Cannabis is Bad for You, Cannabis is Good for You - Confused?

The BBC's Radio 4 has been running a series this week regarding the use and abuse of cannabis in the UK, and they offer this report of part of the discussions that have been aired. From the report:

Cannabis is bad for you, cannabis is good for you - confused? That's not surprising. Complicated and controversial, cannabis is revealed by recent science to have a dual personality, with a dark side and a more positive one. Radio 4's PM programme is this week running a whole series on cannabis, and the debate surrounding it.

Key to understanding this strange plant are two of the ingredients that make it up, known by their initials as THC and CBD. I asked Professor Val Curran of University College London to describe how they work and she came up a memorable answer:

"In a way, THC and CBD are a bit like yin and yang. The THC makes you stoned, but it can also make you anxious. It can also make you feel a bit psychotic, and it will seriously impair your memory.

"The other side of the yin/yang is CBD, which has almost the opposite effects. CBD calms you down, it has anti-psychotic properties and it also offsets the effects on memory, so that on CBD-containing cannabis you're less likely to forget what's going on."

So the first step to understanding cannabis is to realise how it can vary, how different types contain very different quantities of these polar opposites, with dramatically different outcomes.

One of the problems highlighted is that the cannabis available today (particularly 'skunk') is often much stronger than was available 20 - 30 years ago, and the balance of THC to CBD has changed, with potentially serious consequences. For example: "If you smoke high-potency skunk at all, then you are three times more likely to be psychotic. If you smoke high-potency cannabis every day, you are five times more likely to be psychotic." There is much more in the article, so give it a look.

 
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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 21 2015, @08:52AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 21 2015, @08:52AM (#147710)

    Well, one might argue that there are genes that determine which of us will alcoholics.

    My bartender's name is Gene. Thanks for the headsup. He's on my list now.

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