I hope not to flog a horse until death, but such a critical topic. A transcript from the PBS. Not word for word. They seem to have provided a summary. I post for those with maybe no access to the viewing for whatever reason. Some highlights of the main points regarding the science.
DR. DONALD ABRAMS, University of California, San Francisco: Marijuana contains anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and probably anti-cancer compounds in it.
ANNA RAU: Dr. Donald Abrams is an oncology physician who conducted some of the center's clinical research. He agrees the cannabis plant is a complex mix of substances, but he believes this is a medical benefit, not a detriment.
DR. DONALD ABRAMS: I'm a cancer doctor, and I often suggest to my patients that they consider marijuana for their loss of appetite, nausea, pain, depression and insomnia. It's one medicine they could use, instead of five.
ANNA RAU: Critics like Dr. Voth are especially skeptical of these kinds of claims. How is it possible that one plant has the potential to impact so many different ailments?
Intriguing answers started appearing in the early '90s, when researchers pinpointed receptors in the brain and the body that bind with cannabis. Receptors can be described as locks on the surface of a cell, and when the correct key binds with the correct lock, or receptor, it opens the door and delivers messages. Sometimes, the messages are urgent, for example, that the body is feeling pain, or that there's an invader and the immune system must attack. Researchers believe cannabinoids can turn down those messages, helping to temper chronic pain and autoimmune disorders. These special receptors are extremely abundant in the brain, but they are also found all over the body and in the major organs, the heart, the liver, kidneys and pancreas.
After finding all these locks that accepted the cannabis key, researchers made the next big discovery: The human body makes its own cannabinoids.
DR. DONALD ABRAMS: We have these circulating chemicals that we produce ourselves that really are very, very similar to the chemicals in the marijuana plant.
DR. PRAKASH NAGARKATTI, University of South Carolina: The only difference is that the cannabinoids that we produce are in such small quantities, and they're also rapidly degraded, so that, therefore, we are not high all the time.
ANNA RAU: Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti is a professor of pathology and microbiology at the University of South Carolina. He's one of many scientists in a race to unlock the mysteries of the receptors by using newly created synthetic drugs, instead of tightly restricted whole cannabis.
These synthetics have made research much easier and potentially lucrative. The U.S. patent database shows numerous large pharmaceutical companies have filed recent patents, claiming their cannabinoid receptor drug has the potential to treat almost everything: multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis, Tourette's, epilepsy, heart disease, obesity, various mental illnesses and the Holy Grail of medicine, a cancer cure.
Dr. Nagarkatti and his team of researchers were one of the first labs to prove a cannabinoid key can seek out a cancerous cell in the immune system, unlock the receptor, and direct the cancer cell to self-destruct.
DR. PRAKASH NAGARKATTI: So, basically, telling the cells basically to commit suicide.
ANNA RAU: Dr. Nagarkatti's experimental drug was able to eradicate almost 100 percent of the cancer in test tubes. And when they moved on to live mice:
DR. PRAKASH NAGARKATTI: To our surprise, we found that almost 25 to 30 percent of the mice completely rejected the tumor. They were completely cured.
ANNA RAU: Tumors in the rest of the mice shrank significantly. The results have been so promising that Dr. Nagarkatti is already beginning clinical trials with leukemia patients.
Quite promising for sure, but more about animals..
Dr Donald Abrams - “And when they looked into other animals they found these receptors were present in basically all animal species. So why do dogs and monkeys for example need to have cannabinoid receptors?
Dr Prakash Nagarkatti - “They must be playing a very critical role in trying to maintain some of the physiological functions.”
I have always wondered why my pets have had an unusual attraction to it and want to eat it. Perhaps they know something we don't? Which of course brings to mind these issues like the Tassie Devils and the facial tumors. Police pro-actively look in the wild and destroy any cannabis they find. A huge error maybe?
I hope I don't have to start scoring for Jess and Eddie. This is going to get very expensive. Ha.
