leaffan
Well-Known Member
I bet Harper loves these guys...
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/09/23/london-researchers-are-developing-a-better-bud-thats-healthy-without-negative-side-effects
London scientists want to cash in on the growing use of medical marijuana by using a lab to build better bud.
The goal is to build a business that takes what’s learned in the lab to create pot substitutes that pack health benefits without leaving users bouncing between paranoia and listlessness.
“We’re excited about it,” said Steven Laviolette of Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry where he’s a professor in both psychiatry and anatomy and cell biology.
It’s early days in the venture, but Laviolette and his partners are looking for investors and have even coined a name for the start-up, Indica Agrifarm.
Indica is one of two types of marijuana plants.
It was 13 years ago Health Canada began to regulate use of marijuana prescribed by doctors.
But this year, it became big business when that agency ended basement operations and required medicinal pot be produced by government-licensed facilities.
The changing business model is expected to lead to a spike in demand: Health Canada predicts the number of users could grow from 38,000 last year to as many as 450,000 in 2024.
Marijuana contains at least 70 chemical compounds, so there’s much to learn about how each affects users, Laviolette said.
That learning curve received a boost Tuesday when the Western scientists published their latest findings online in The Journal of Neuroscience. Using rats and chemicals to simulate the effects of marijuana, they found how small doses can cause paranoia and long-term exposure can result in emotionally-blunted behaviour, or what some call the “stoner” phenomenon.
Key to both is an area of the brain behind the forehead, the prefrontal cortex, used for emotions and thinking, and the role of dopamine, affecting emotions.
The chemical used to simulate marijuana either ramped up or shut down dopamine neurons.
But those effects can be minimized in the lab: Rats given an anti-psychotic drug first didn’t suffer effects that in people cause paranoia.
Another type of chemical blocked the reaction associated with the stoner phenomenon.
“This has huge implications for identifying potential pharmacological means to prevent some of the undesired side-effects of marijuana,” Laviolette said.
Will there be a miracle pill that delivers benefits but not the harm of pot? That’s the question whose pursuit will hopefully garner backing, Laviolette said.
[email protected]
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/09/23/london-researchers-are-developing-a-better-bud-thats-healthy-without-negative-side-effects
London scientists want to cash in on the growing use of medical marijuana by using a lab to build better bud.
The goal is to build a business that takes what’s learned in the lab to create pot substitutes that pack health benefits without leaving users bouncing between paranoia and listlessness.
“We’re excited about it,” said Steven Laviolette of Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry where he’s a professor in both psychiatry and anatomy and cell biology.
It’s early days in the venture, but Laviolette and his partners are looking for investors and have even coined a name for the start-up, Indica Agrifarm.
Indica is one of two types of marijuana plants.
It was 13 years ago Health Canada began to regulate use of marijuana prescribed by doctors.
But this year, it became big business when that agency ended basement operations and required medicinal pot be produced by government-licensed facilities.
The changing business model is expected to lead to a spike in demand: Health Canada predicts the number of users could grow from 38,000 last year to as many as 450,000 in 2024.
Marijuana contains at least 70 chemical compounds, so there’s much to learn about how each affects users, Laviolette said.
That learning curve received a boost Tuesday when the Western scientists published their latest findings online in The Journal of Neuroscience. Using rats and chemicals to simulate the effects of marijuana, they found how small doses can cause paranoia and long-term exposure can result in emotionally-blunted behaviour, or what some call the “stoner” phenomenon.
Key to both is an area of the brain behind the forehead, the prefrontal cortex, used for emotions and thinking, and the role of dopamine, affecting emotions.
The chemical used to simulate marijuana either ramped up or shut down dopamine neurons.
But those effects can be minimized in the lab: Rats given an anti-psychotic drug first didn’t suffer effects that in people cause paranoia.
Another type of chemical blocked the reaction associated with the stoner phenomenon.
“This has huge implications for identifying potential pharmacological means to prevent some of the undesired side-effects of marijuana,” Laviolette said.
Will there be a miracle pill that delivers benefits but not the harm of pot? That’s the question whose pursuit will hopefully garner backing, Laviolette said.
[email protected]
