Future Rx: Marijuana Without the Forgetfulness MSNBC / Jennifer Welsh / 3,1,2012 Marijuana's negative effects on memory are well known. But now scientists have pinpointed where in the brain the drug causes this forgetfulness, and it's separate from where pot exerts its medicinal effects. If this finding, drawn from experiments with lab mice, is also found to apply to humans, it means scientists someday may be able to design medical marijuana that doesn't impede a patient's working memory while treating his or her pain. Working memory is the ability to hold more than one thought in your head for a period of time. "We have found that the starting point for this phenomenon - the effect of marijuana on working memory - is the astroglial cells," study researcher Giovanni Marsicano, of the French biomedical researcher institution INSERM, said in a statement. Brain cells The researchers found that this disruption of working memory comes not from the drug's effects directly on the brain's neurons, but on a different type of cells: the brain's helper cells called astroglia. (They are also called astrocytes, neuroglia or glial cells.) The researchers studied how the mice reacted to marijuana's active component and several similar synthetic chemicals. They were looking specifically at the receptor on the brain cells that reacts to these chemicals called cannabinoids, which are compounds similar to the active components of marijuana, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Such receptors exist on both neurons and astroglia. They genetically engineered mice without these receptors on certain cells. One set of mice had no cannabinoid receptors in the brain; one set had the receptors only on neurons; and one set had the receptors only on the astroglia. Marijuana mind The mice learned to navigate a maze, then were tested in their ability to remember how after receiving a dose of THC or other cannabinoid. The two sets of mice with cannibinoid receptors on their astroglia had problems remembering directions. Those mice with the receptors only on their neurons completed the maze just fine, suggesting the THC wasn't affecting memory via the brain's neurons but rather through the astroglia. They also looked at these astroglial cells in brain slices from the hippocampus (the brain area that deals with memory formation). After treatment with cannabinoids the astroglia released compounds that tamper with the signals sent between neurons, which may be how they cause marijuana-induced forgetfulness. Marijuana's other effects - which have been found beneficial in the treatment of pain, seizures and other ailments - happen through the neurons. If cannabinoids can be designed to target just neurons, they might not have the negative effects on working memory currently seen in medical marijuana. The study was published today (March 1) in the journal Cell.
After 25 years of trying to create a synthetic marijuana pill and failing,now they want to spend millions of dollars to fix the SHORT term memory loss caused by marijuana,,usually lasts for 15>30 minutes following smoking some really dank shit and has already been proven to be temporary,,more money spent counteracting government fear mongering and propaganda that marijuana makes people forget to act civilized or some such shit.
watching your friends forget what they were talking about mid sentence is all part of the fun though =/
One time I was so fucked up I forgot what I was talking about every 10 seconds. Scatter brain like a motherfucker. wasn't weed though aha
For gods sake stop trying to fuck with the plant. It's perfect, GTFO uneducated mother fuckers. That being said forgetting is one of the best parts, forgetting about all the bull shit in life and just enjoying.
And when they start messing with weed's genetics like this, we'll start seeing it kill people, form cancer, etc. People will never just learn to leave nature be. There's a reason it is the way it is.
^This is true. Is forgetting your problems for a few minutes really the worst fucking thing in the world?
While other drugs which interrupt memory are exploited for PTSD treatment... Medscape: Medscape Access Why is the disruption of short term memory viewed as a positive and exploitable medicinal result from propranolol and an undesirable non medical side effect in cannabis?
Guys - I've been telling people for years we need to get legalization or some sort of publicly acceptable regulation before the researchers figure out how to fractionate and isolate specific cannabinoids from the plant. I think it would be great to be able to pull out certain cannabinoids that target specific medical needs. With that being said, I think everyone should also be able to use herb at their discretion and we need this BEFORE multiple cannabis drugs hit the market or the drug companies will funding the fight against legalization.
Luigi is right! The whole plant, from the seeds and buds of the plant, right down to the roots- CANNABIS IS MEDICINE! Seeds provide the Omega 3 that we need for a healthy endocannabinoid system, Buds, you know about. The leaves have slightly different proportions of cannabinoids, so have slightly different uses. And even the roots have medicinal value! Effects of cannabis roots on the heart. (forum post- letter - 1973) GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis When the cannabinoids are synthesized in labs, they are NOT the same as what the plant makes! Marinol, a synthetic THC has KILLED! (see the anti-emetic chart in this) Deaths from Marijuana v. 17 FDA-Approved Drugs (Jan. 1, 1997 to June 30, 2005) (report - 2009) Deaths from Marijuana v. 17 FDA-Approved Drugs - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org And without the "balancing" cannabinoids like CBD, pure THC causes panic attacks! There was a you-tube on a reporter who got a shot of pure THC and had a miserable time! Messing with what Nature has provided is usually a bad idea! Granny
I always believed that not caring enough to pay attention when you're stoned is not the same in not being able to remember directly because of pot. I've never had a moment that "I can't remember because I was stoned"
I have gotten "glitches" in the middle of a long joke or anecdote,,which is easy to cover up on a keyboard but difficult in a circle of friends and impossible to recover from when speaking at any public function. I remember most of those glitches.
It's because Cannabis is the great prioritizer. If it's important it will be on your mind. If it's not important, you are likely to forget about it in a second flat. No big deal.
It would be cool to remember everything you and your friends talked about but I think we all know they are going to mess this up.
lmao.. how old are you.. ah I remember those days. Sneaking out and smoking weed, like it's this big event, and you and your lost buddies talk about goofy ass shit because your all goofy. "Gah guys do you even remember last night?! WHOO, I was blazed! Shit was like slow motion whole night" I always wonder how some people get so fucked up off weed. Through the years of smoking I've only came to one conclusion. I always go back to the bob marley quote marijuana reveals you to your true self. I think a lot of the people who get fucked up off weed, are getting fucked up because of conflict between the true self and the ego self. The majority of americans and other superficial countries go through life completely off their ego self, living a fake life, and if they do a psychedelic or smoke weed they just lose it. "Give me my ego back! I feel naked!" Fear of no control.. For all who say weed gives you a bad memory, I'm either the exception or someone who can claim it's complete bull shit. I have a memory of a damn elephant. I remember too much. I've smoked weed for the better half of the last decade, usually daily, and for many of the years multiple times a day. I have a library inside my head. If anything when I smoke, whatever I'm learning, I'm actually learning. I'm focused and absorbing the info.