From “Substance in Marijuana Could Benefit Alzheimer’s Patients” (Voice of America):
A substance found in marijuana might remove a kind of plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.
Writing in the journal “Aging and Mechanisms of Disease”, researchers from the Salk Institute say that the chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and other active components of marijuana can “promote the cellular removal of amyloid beta, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease” in neurons grown in a lab.
“Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells,” said Salk Professor David Schubert, the senior author of the paper.
I am a personal caregiver for my mom who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) basically a couple of years ago (though her symptoms have been around for several years).
She has a state license to use medical cannabis.
With no other drug added, cannabis has done a brilliant job pressing against AD (managing the symptoms and apparently the disease itself) at a modest cost that we can afford (even without insurance being applied), and with no problematic side effects.
I have gratefully witnessed no conclusively proven and permanent loss of cognitive ability since starting her cannabis treatment, and have seen positive signs of some improvement — albeit this outcome is no panacea as memory problems persist, and the decline may be there, but undetectable even by someone as attentive as yours truly.
Stress management overall is critical towards opposing any mental illness. Due to resource limitations (and despite my best efforts at being resourceful), I have been unable to relieve all of her stressors (including introducing her to yoga and music therapy), but hope is not lost here (or anywhere else) — noting I never complain for pity, but justice.
Cannabis is (without exaggeration) an ocean of possibilities, so using cannabis can mean many different things.
My mom does not rip bong hits to get blasted (or such). She uses an electronic vaporizer (one that looks like a standard asthma inhaler) with accurate temperature control to help ensure dosage consistency. Her thrice daily dosage is very mild (only a small pinch of cannabis is used for each dose, so she only very nicely mildly feels the effects). She uses a simple and comfortable strain (e.g. Cheese), so no wrecks, dreams, and so on — that may cause discomfort (and/or incompetence) for anyone unconducive to the relatively complex psychedelic coloration of the mind.
Strain selection is critical, and I am not talking merely about THC and CBD (the two most famous cannabis compounds these days). There are hundreds of compounds in cannabis, and many more than the two aforementioned popular ones shape the style of (at least the psychological) effects — the reason why there are so many available strains out there.
Due apparently to its illegal federal status, I have seen no formal mention of cannabis in the leadership area of the AD community, and that must change now on behalf of the millions of AD sufferers.
Not only does cannabis offer the only immediately available hope to fight AD, but it competes brilliantly well with harsh and more expensive pharmaceuticals that only may help manage the symptoms of the disease.
Stress Health offers two campaigns relevant to this key issue.
Mind Healthy is directly involved with any area of mental improvement (and includes our Walk to End Alzheimer’s team), while Respect Cannabis is dominantly focused upon intentional perception alteration (especially cannabis use during the early phases of this campaign).
Feel free to show your support for this righteous public press by embracing your preferred campaign(s) as fit for your lifestyle.
I am an honest freak (or reasonably responsibly balanced "misfit", if you prefer) of an artist working and resting to best carefully contribute towards helping society. Too many people abuse reasoning (e.g. 'partial truth = whole truth' scam), while I exercise reason to explore and express whole truth without any conflict-of-interest -- all within a sometimes offbeat style of psychedelic artistry.
Spirit Wave Journal 
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