Curing addiction with cannabis medicines

[grammychronic]

Curing addiction with cannabis medicines

Smokers trying to quit in the future could do it with the help of cannabis based medicines, according to research from The University of Nottingham.
Teams of pharmacologists, studying the cannabis-like compounds which exist naturally in our bodies (endocannabinoids), are exploring the potential for medical treatment. This includes treating conditions as diverse as obesity, diabetes, depression and addiction to substances like nicotine.
Scientists have known about endocannabinoids since the mid-1990s. This led to an explosion in the number of researchers looking into the future medical uses of cannabinoids and cannabis compounds.
Dr Steve Alexander, Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, focused on a number of these projects in editing the first themed podcast for the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Dr Alexander said: It is clear that there is very realistic potential for cannabinoids as medicines. Scientists are looking at a range of possible applications.
One of these researchers is Professor David Kendall, a cellular pharmacologist at the University: The brain is full of cannabinoid receptors. And so, not surprisingly with diseases like depression and anxiety, theres a great deal of interest in exploiting these receptors and in doing so, developing anti-depressant compounds.


More here:

http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Curing-addiction-with-cannabis-medicines-13779-1/

[Sequoiacrone]

Abstract
Cannabis substitution. An adjunctive therapeutic tool in the treatment of alcoholism.
Author(s)Mikuriya TH
IssueMedical Times 1970;98(4):187-91.

Major outcome(s):
Marijuana consumption may help to decrease alcolholic intake

MedicationCannabisThe physical and psychosocial effects of alcoholism are
varied in kind and amount, depending on each individual
case.
The resultant behavior is due to the complex interplay
of pharmacologic effect of alcohol with the psychosocial
aspects of the user.
Tamarin and Mendelssohn vividly depict
the destructive effects of prolonged alcohol intoxication :
The anxiety-reduction model often utilized to explain
initiation and perpetuation of episodic drinking was
found inadequate to explain motivation for alcohol use
by the alcoholic.

Euphoria and elation were manifest
only during the initial phases of intoxication. Prolonged
guilt, and psychic pain. These unpleasant affects, however,
were poorly recalled by the alcoholics following
cessation of drinking.
The degree of inebriation appeared to be more closely
related to patterns of alcohol ingestion than to the total
volume of alcohol consumed.

Compulsive and constricted
behavior patterns, which were present during
sobriety, changed markedly during intoxication, with
increased verbalization, varied expression of feelings,
increased interaction, and frequent behavioral regression.
During inebriation, psychic defenses appeared
weakened with significant reduction of repression and
reaction formation.*
Such chronic abrasive difficulties have been noted by a
patient of mine, a forty-nine-year-old lady (Mrs. A.) with a
history of alcoholism dating back from her teens, unsuccessfully
treated by varied group and individual psychological
treatments for many years. When she was referred to me, she
had *been using illicitly obtained crude marijuana intermittently
with a frequency of perhaps every weekend or so. It
was noted that when she smoked marijuana she decreased her
alcoholic intake. I instructed her to substitute cannabis daily
-any time she felt the urge to partake in alcohol.
drinking was characterized by progressive depression


http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/ww_en_db_study_show.php?s_id=86

For article on Dr. Mikuriya's study see here:
http://www.oregongreenfree.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25680