Archive for November, 2008
Question: Would You Patent Something That Has No Value?
So, would you patent something that currently has no value but is considered more dangerous than cocaine and heroin? Oh, and on top of that, it’s illegal.
Back to the Past and Beyond
I always encourage my patients to find Sativa/Indica tinctures. These generally come in some sort of spray mechanism or sublingual preparation.
Wagging the dog….
There is a new drug indicated for “weight loss” – Rimonabant. It made it through trials but ultimately was not released.
The purpose of this drug is to block the effects of certain cannabinoids upon specific cannabinoid brain receptors, the CB1 receptors. Our bodies create natural or “endogenous” cannabinoids which stimulate hunger. Rimonabant was developed to do the opposite by inhibiting the “appetite stimulation” of cannabinoids. Many of us are familiar with getting the “munchies” – I guess you could say, Rimonabant is the ultimate “anti-munchy”.
We all also know that that cannabinoids improve our mood.
As the makers of Rimonabant discovered, while the drug blocks appetite as an inhibitor of the CB1 receptor, the blocking of these neurotransmitter functions also affects one’s mood. In fact, two of the hallmark clinical signs of Depression are the loss of appetite and severe drops in mood. Administering Rimonabant to patients resulted in numerous suicides and nervous breakdowns. You’ll be happy to learn that the trials on this drug have been suspended and it will not make it to market.
However, the failure of Rimonabant has resulted in a sort of “Tail Wagging The Dog” Clinical Trial scenario. This debacle has ended up confirming that Cannabis and Cannabis receptors play a major role in mood and appetite regulation. The Cannabinoids clearly increase both our appetite and mood. So, if a pill blocks these receptors both our appetite and mood are influenced.
This is more evidence that the Endo Cannabinoid system, or ECS plays a major role in how we all feel. Cannabis clearly effects mood and in my opinion is a very sophisticated and powerful mood enhancer.
From The Floor To The Ceiling
In many of my appointments, I tell patients, “Imagine the room you are currently in, represents ‘how you are feeling’. The floor represents the most depressed moments of your life and the ceiling represents the highest and most out of control state you can imagine. Would you agree we are all somewhere approximately 1/3 of the way up the wall?”
When they see my point of view, ALL want to increase where they are on the wall by 25% or so. So often, everything patients do in their lives is to get this bump in how they feel. When they are feeling a bit better, they are aware of the change and often do not know even why they are doing better.
I go on to explain to my patients that many Sativa strains of Cannabis are very helpful with anxiety and depression. I caution, however, that there are many instances where Cannabis alone is inadequate to control psychosis, but this is to be decided between the patient and physician. Regardless, Sativa strains make most people feel more awake, alert and happy while remaining focused – all characteristics that patients report ‘moves them up the wall that extra amount’.
Once I have educated patients that their symptoms will be addressed using cannabis, I explain that it is the THC and Sativa Cannabinoids working on our Cannabinoid receptors in addition to increasing the production and decreasing the destruction of Serotonin that makes us feel so much better. So, are we all a little depressed? Does the Endo Cannabinoids Deficiency Syndrome really exist and we are medicating to normalize our internally low levels of Cannabinoids? Perhaps the mood changing effects of Cannabinoids to varying degrees function in a combined state as both direct and indirect neurotransmitters? This is what I believe is the most likely scenerio.