Migz420

New Study Examines 'Brain's Own Marijuana'
05-16-07|buffalo.edu

A researcher at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) is investigating the "brain's own marijuana" -- called endocannabinoid -- in the regulation of stress, stress-related behavior and anxiety.

A five-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health is supporting this investigation.

"It is widely accepted that one of the major reasons that people use and abuse marijuana is to relieve stress," according to Samir Haj-Dahmane, Ph.D., neuroscientist and principal investigator on the RIA study. "However, because marijuana can be addictive, it cannot be used to treat stress-related mood disorders such as anxiety. An alternative strategy may be to directly target the 'brain's own marijuana.'"

The success of such a strategy requires a better understanding of how endocannabinoid moderates stress-related behaviors and how stress and stress hormones activate the endocannabinoid system.

Haj-Dahmane and his co-investigator, Troy Wood, Ph.D., will examine the relationships between stress, stress-related behavior and addiction using a combination of electrophysiological, pharmacological and neurochemical approaches. They believe this study also may lay the foundation for better pharmacotherapy for stress-related mood disorders. Wood is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry in UB's College of Arts and Sciences.

The Research Institute on Addictions has been a leader in the study of addictions since 1970 and a research center of the University at Buffalo since 1999.

lilgrasshoppah

for there is not nicotine receptor in the brain... nor ethanol, neither. Most drugs hijack receptors, or pervert them. Weed alone is built for the brain (or is it the brain for weed?)

In any case, smoking weed is like going home...?

__________________
I got soul, But i'm not a soldier - The Killers

Buzzby

Reporter do your homework! There is no chemical called "endocannabinoid", and you should have known that from the word ending. "Oid" means "similar to" or "resembling", as in "factoid". "Endocannabinoid" refers to a class of chemicals with structures similar to those in cannabis.

This is the same reason coffee can't be used to treat fatigue. Cannabis is less addictive than caffeine for those few for whom it is addictive at all.

Nicotine bonds to the brain's acetylcholine receptors. Opiates bond to the brain's endorphin receptors. THC bonds to the brain's anandamide receptors. THC "hijacks" the brain's anandamide receptors in exactly the same way as the others.

Psychoactive substances, other than organics solvents like alcohol, work precisely because they do bond to receptors in the brain that evolved for related endogenous chemicals.

Wrong... It's just a fortuitous happenstance.

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lilgrasshoppah

I thought the endocannabinoid thing seemed hinky too... glad you set the record straight.

As for the other thing...

I was always taught that cannabis is unique in the way it interfaces with the brain. Other drugs modify/hijack existing receptors, (for example opium is not an endorphin) whereas anadamine is a cannabinoid...?

If I am mistaken, could you refer me to the research? I'm always keen on learning, homie!

Buzzby

Every drug is unique in the way it interfaces with the brain. That's why they don't all have the same effects.

Cannabis (and its cannabinoid components) are not endocannabinoids. Endorphins are opioids in the same way that endocannabinoids are cannabinoids. Whenever substances that mimic endogenous chemicals bond to the receptors for those endogenous chemicals, you could say that those receptors are being "hijacked". The only difference is that different substances attach to different receptors, which release different neurotransmitters, which accounts for different effects.

One of the differences in these effects is that while people develop a tolerance to THC, they don't develop a physical dependence, the chief characteristic of an addictive drug. Addictive drugs stimulate the production of dopamine. The brain is hard-wired to maximize the production of dopamine, leading to addiction. Marijuana does not stimulate the production of dopamine. That's the major difference between marijuana and hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and alcohol.

The Tolerance Factor

Tokamak

Riiiiight. The chick that wrote this is woefully misinformed. The most common medications for anxiety include the SSRIs and the benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, etc). The latter are Schedule IV. According to the DEA, "Abuse of [a Schedule IV] drug... may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule III." In other words, they're addictive.

Marijuana has been found, at least in most published studies not paid for by the Prohibition machine, to be not addictive. And even if it were, so are the benzos. Saying a (potentially) addictive substance can't be used to treat anxiety is simply untrue.

Peace.

__________________
"He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know."
- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

godfather

I'm guessing that only prescription medicines are not addictive right?

Oh, so they can come up with another generic, synthetic, chemical that tries to imitate a natural substance, but does basically nothing, and has several severe side affects?

newgrowerNY

'Brain's Own Marijuana' Examined By New Study
05-21-07|Medical News Today

A researcher at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) is investigating the "brain's own marijuana" -- called endocannabinoid -- in the regulation of stress, stress-related behavior and anxiety.

A five-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health is supporting this investigation.

"It is widely accepted that one of the major reasons that people use and abuse marijuana is to relieve stress," according to Samir Haj-Dahmane, Ph.D., neuroscientist and principal investigator on the RIA study. "However, because marijuana can be addictive, it cannot be used to treat stress-related mood disorders such as anxiety. An alternative strategy may be to directly target the 'brain's own marijuana.'"

The success of such a strategy requires a better understanding of how endocannabinoid moderates stress-related behaviors and how stress and stress hormones activate the endocannabinoid system.

Haj-Dahmane and his co-investigator, Troy Wood, Ph.D., will examine the relationships between stress, stress-related behavior and addiction using a combination of electrophysiological, pharmacological and neurochemical approaches. They believe this study also may lay the foundation for better pharmacotherapy for stress-related mood disorders. Wood is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry in UB's College of Arts and Sciences.

Buzzby

This article was published in The Drug War Headline News on 05/17/2007 (link), where it was followed by several responses. This thread should be closed and readers redirected to the original thread.

Lit_Match

My apologies if I'm stepping on any toes.

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)