Cannabis Study House - NORML Weekly News in Audio 2008.6.26

Weekly News in Audio

June 26, 2008

"Radical" Russ Belville
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Oral Pot Preparation Effective For Depression, Journal Reports

New Zealand: Most Pot Consumers Not Frequent Users

Cannabis Agonist Reduces Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Tumor Growth, Study Says

California: County Officials Finalize Mendocino Vote Count

Vienna, Austria:
Oral Pot Preparation Effective For Depression, Journal Reports

Oral administration of synthetic THC capsules (dronabinol) mitigates symptoms of depression in patients seeking clinical treatment, according to a pair of case studies published in the June issue of Cannabinoids, the journal of the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM, Germany).

A general practitioner in Vienna, Austria reported two cases of patients using dronabinol to improve depression and a sense of feeling overwhelmed. For the first patient, a 48-year-old female, dronabinol administered up to four times daily relieved the severity and frequency of her chronic depression and improved her quality of life. For the second patient, a 22-year-old female, daily administration of up to 10mg of dronabinol was associated with a "significant improvement of her depressive condition."

Overall, the author reported that 80 percent of the patients he had treated with dronabinol between 2003 and 2006 had experienced a "swift improvement" with oral cannabinoids. "The presented observations suggest that dronabinol has an antidepressive potential that can readily be used in medical practice," the author concluded. "To date no clinical studies have studied primarily the effectiveness of cannabinoids for the treatment of depression. In my opinion, such studies are desirable and promising."

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director. paul@norml.org

Wellington, New Zealand:
New Zealand: Most Pot Consumers Not Frequent Users

Cannabis consumers use pot with far less frequency than do users of other illicit substances, according to a report released this week by a New Zealand economic research group. The report found that over 373,000 New Zealanders use cannabis, but that only 17 percent of them consume the drug frequently. By contrast, 36 percent of those who use methamphetamine and 88 percent of those who used cocaine were reported to be frequent users.

Of the illicit drugs used by New Zealanders, cannabis was by far the most popular. By comparison, fewer than 40,000 New Zealanders used cocaine and less than 23,000 reported using methamphetamine.

Commenting on the report, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, "It is telling that despite pot's prevalence, availability, and popularity, relatively few users consume it regularly. Clearly, these statistics undermine the US government's claim that cannabis is a particularly addictive drug or a supposed 'gateway' to the use of other illicit substances."

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, allen@norml.org, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, paul@norml.org, NORML Deputy Director.

Stockholm, Sweden:
Cannabis Agonist Reduces Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Tumor Growth, Study Says

The administration of the cannabinoid agonist R(+)-MA halts the spread and growth of cancerous tumors in animals with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to preclinical data published in the current issue of the International Journal of Cancer. Investigators at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm reported that mice treated with R(+)-MA experienced a 40 percent reduction in tumor weight.

"The anti-proliferative and proapoptotic (stimulated cell death) effects of cannabinoids make the endocannabinoid system a potential new therapeutic target for individualized therapy in lymphomas," authors concluded.

Earlier this year, the journal Cancer Research reported that the administration of cannabinoids halts the spread of a wide range of cancers, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and brain cancer.

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano has a review of pot's anti-cancer properties online at the Huffington Post.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, paul@norml.org, NORML Deputy Director.
Full text of the study, "Expression of cannabinoid receptors type 1 and type 2 in non-Hodgkin lymphoma: Growth inhibition by receptor activation," appears in the September issue of the International Journal of Cancer.

Ukiah, CA:
California: County Officials Finalize Mendocino Vote Count

Mendocino County voters narrowly decided to repeal an eight-year-old county law that legalized the possession of up to 25 marijuana plants, election officials affirmed this week.After tabulating over 11,000 additional absentee ballots, county officials confirmed the June 3rd election result in favor of initiative Measure B - which passed 52% to 48%.

California NORML, which had opposed the repeal effort, called the result a "moral victory," noting that the campaign's proponents had predicted that the measure would pass by more than 60 percent of the vote.

Passage of the new county law seeks to cap the number of plants adults may legally possess at six. However, activists are expected to challenge the validity of the law in court, arguing that a recent state District Court of Appeals decision prohibits municipalities from imposing limits on the quantity of marijuana patients may possess under state law.

"Measure B … seeks to establish the same state limits for marijuana growing that were recently declared unconstitutional [by] the California appeals court," California Coordinator Dale Gieringer said. "Measure B's validity will be subject to … immediate court challenges."

For more information, please contact Dale Gieringer, California NORML Coordinator, at: (415) 563-5858.

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