Yet another study shows the potential usefulness of marijuana’s cannabinoids to treat ALS.
Cannabidiol Modulates Genes Linked with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is the partial title of a new article accepted for publication by the Journal of Cellular Biology.  ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a miserable neuromuscular condition, terribly disabling and nearly always fatal. Like other degenerative, inflammatory diseases, ALS is associated with a demon’s brew of “oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and excitotoxicity.”
Perhaps this century’s best know sufferer of ALS is physicist and cosmologist Steven Hawking.

Our body’s natural cannabinoid receptors may play an important role in reducing inflammation in Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
Parkinson’s disease patient showing a flexed walking posture pictured in 1892. Photo appeared in Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpètrière, vol. 5. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Once again, ground breaking cannabinoid research is announced by researchers at Madrid’s Complutense University. Chronic inflammation anywhere in our bodies is a destructive process; in the brain it is particularly insidious. “Inflammation is an important pathogenic factor in Parkinson’s disease (PD),” remind the Spanish researchers in this new study.

The draconian Schedule I status of cannabis in federal drug law for the last half century has been of one country’s most harmful deceits. For decades cannabis reformers have sought to have marijuana down scheduled from the totally restrictive Schedule I, to Schedule II. But any simple rescheduling still would leave cannabis an illegal federal drug. Much better, and now on the table, is  de-scheduling, removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (and the clutches of the DEA).

Will Smith – Concussion
Cannabis reduces traumatic brain injury!
Far too few know this benefit of medical marijuana use and treatment. The general public, the NFL, and coaches across the country may soon get that opportunity.
The SONY movie, “Concussion,” examining brain trauma in the NFL, presents a unique opportunity to educate about benefits of cannabis for traumatic brain injury.

Cannabinoids may well be helpful in slowing and preventing the damage to the human brain known as Alzheimer ’s disease and other dementia.
With properties that help protect nerve cells, especially brain cells, it is reasonable that cannabinoids might be useful in preventing and treating insidious AD.
English: Diagram of how microtubules desintegrate with Alzheimer’s disease
As with other degenerative diseases associated with aging, AD is of special importance to baby boomers and aging populations throughout the world.The number of people so afflicted may triple over the next half century.

Cannabidiol (CBD) ©-designer491 Fotolia
CBD, the medically remarkable cannabinoid from marijuana works much better with other cannabinoids in ‘entourage.’ My last post covered some of the political wrangling, with some states passing CBD-only laws and thinking they are done with medical marijuana. This entourage effect proves them wrong, and show that whole plant extracts with multiple cannabinoids, especially THC, work far better than CBD-only medications.
A major problem with CBD-only medication is a bell-shaped dose-response.

CBD is a remarkably medically potent component of marijuana. One of over 60 cannabinoids, CBD, short for ‘cannabidiol,‘ has dozens of medical uses, including anti-seizure, anti-inflammation, anti-anxiety, antioxidant, anti-tumor and as treatment for pain. But new research confirms what has long been thought: CBD in addition to other entourage cannabinoids like THC is far superior medically to pure CBD.
Cannabidiol does not produce the ‘high’ associated with THC, another medically useful cannabinoid. This lack of psychotropic effect from CBD is highly esteemed by researchers (and politicians), if not necessarily by the patient.
Dr.

As medical and personal use of marijuana become increasingly legal, many new ways to intake cannabis are now available. In addition to inhaling smoke, people can benefit from the medical cannabinoids in cannabis by vaporizing, ingesting, and absorption via the skin.
Plant cannabinoids, such as THC and CBD,  are fat soluble and readily absorbed by the skin. These medicinal molecules may well be most perfectly administered, for many conditions, via topical products applied directly to the skin’s surface, such as cannabis-infused massage oil.