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National Geographic on marijuana science: an embarrassment of riches

Posted on May 18, 2015 at 9:33 am by David Downs in featured, Health, Science

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Microscope image of cannabis trichomes, which contain the plant's main active ingredients, the cannabinoids. (By David Downs)

The June issue of National Geographic features an in-depth look at the science and medicine of cannabis that’s guaranteed to open a few minds.

NatGeo hangs out with the discoverer of THC, Raphael Mechoulam, who reports: “We have just scratched the surface … we may well discover that cannabinoids are involved in some way in all human diseases.”

The magazine goes inside a 20,000-plant grow in Denver, and also interviews a biochemist who is studying the plant’s anti-tumor properties:

“… tumors in a third of the rats were eradicated and in another third, reduced. …’The problem is,’ he says, ‘mice are not humans. We do not know if this can be extrapolated to humans at all.’”

And NatGeo profiles some medical marijuana refugees in Colorado who are there treating their daughter’s intractable seizures.

“Meagan experimented with high-CBD oil. The seizures all but stopped. She weaned Addy off some of her other meds, and it was as though she’d come back from a coma. ‘It sounds like a small thing,’ says Meagan. “But’if you have a child who smiles for the first time in many, many months, well, your whole world changes.’

By early last year the Patricks had made up their minds. They would move to Colorado to join the movement. ‘It was a no-brainer,’ Meagan says. ‘If they were growing something on Mars that might help Addy, I’d be in my backyard building a spaceship.’”

The piece concludes with a portrait of a geneticist assembling the raw, unsorted code of cannabis DNA into its proper order.

“‘… with this cannabis work, the science will not be incremental. It will be transformative. Transformative not just in our understanding of the plant but also of ourselves—our brains, our neurology, our psychology. Transformative in terms of the biochemistry of its compounds. Transformative in terms of its impact across several different industries, including medicine, agriculture, and biofuels. It may even transform part of our diet—hemp seed is known to be a ready source of a very healthy, protein-rich oil.’Cannabis, Kane says, ‘is an embarrassment of riches.’”

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Tags:National Geographic

[mibrains]

i am a long time NG subscriber ill have to go check out the June issue early

[t-pain]

nat geo could have found humans treating tumors with marijuana but i guess didnt feel like doing that.

[trichcycler]

‘If they were growing something on Mars that might help Addy, I’d be in my backyard building a spaceship.’”

 

RIGHT ON  MOMMA !!!

[t-pain]

time has a cover story on pot too

http://time.com/3858353/the-great-pot-experiment/

[trichcycler]

nat geo could have found humans treating tumors with marijuana but i guess didnt feel like doing that.

in a laboratory, with control populations of humans, placebo's, with and without tumors being treated ? where do they do that ?

 

I hope everywhere soon !

[t-pain]

in a laboratory, with control populations of humans, placebo's, with and without tumors being treated ? where do they do that ?

 

I hope everywhere soon !

“… tumors in a third of the rats were eradicated and in another third, reduced. …’The problem is,’ he says, ‘mice are not humans. We do not know if this can be extrapolated to humans at all.’”

you dont need placebo controlled studies to merely look and see if the tumor reduction possibly works in humans. you just find enough humans, check their charts from a year ago, then check their charts now vs patients who are not using mmj and see if the mj group has less tumors. simple stuff.

[trichcycler]

simple stuff to you and me....but not for lab results. repeatability, control, on and on.... is the only info the fda/gov would ever consider, not anecdotal cures and treatments, no matter how many people make the claims.

Prayer has shrunk tumors, so they'd have to rule at least that part out right?

[t-pain]

a patient population study contains the control. i explained this in my post.

you dont have to perform review of charts in a lab to compare one group to another.

[trichcycler]

oh, I didn't know. I never worked for a lab. Has a  recognized laboratory done this ?

[t-pain]

heres an example of a population study with marijuana

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25521349

[trichcycler]

nice, and there are more too I see! thanks for the nudge.

[suneday11]

‘If they were growing something on Mars that might help Addy, I’d be in my backyard building a spaceship.’”

 

RIGHT ON  MOMMA !!!

That's the thing. I wish we could give legislators that fleeting moment where you are told that you or your loved are toast in two years or less. to have that feeling for even two seconds WOULD change a person profoundly.