As countries around the globe begin to loosen constraints on marijuana use, it is no surprise that the pharmaceutical industry has also taken a deeper glance at this plant.
Marijuana used in the form of patient care is nothing novel and has been around for decades — but never before has there been a more widespread overview of this product.
Marijuana and the brain: What happens when you use weed?
Regardless of your personal stance on the legalization of marijuana, there is no question that this plant has beneficial medical properties. I do not think that everyone currently taking medical marijuana necessarily need it, but if you are suffering from vague symptoms like anxiety or chronic pain, numerous studies already show that marijuana is treatment option worth considering. Cannabis often has fewer side effects than some of the medications on the market.
Why marijuana could be considered in the treatment of neurological conditions depends on the chemistry of the product. Marijuana features many active components, but the most well-known would be tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
This compound is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and influence neurons and tissues in our brain. If this is the first time you have ever heard the term blood-brain barrier, you should know that this is a natural defense that our brain has to prevent toxins from reaching sensitive tissue within the brain. Not everything we ingest is able to reach the brain; something that many patients seriously take for granted considering my recent admissions from the Emergency Department.
Our vessels in the brain do a great job restricting the movements of most toxins but not everything is prevented from moving across the vessels into the tissue.
When taken in small concentrations, this is a beneficial therapy but medical research is deep in studies citing the dangers of consuming these types of products in larger quantities. These substances can easily become toxic for your brain and start to kill off cells if consumed in larger doses.
Another fact to keep in mind is that these substances are also addicting. Once someone begins to drink heavily or abuse marijuana, these cases become much harder to treat because of the dependence that will develop and the withdrawal symptoms likely to follow once the substance is halted.
THC has an even more significant role to consider when reviewing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. These are patients with memory deficits, likely to have concurrent depression and issues with eating.
THC mimics a naturally-occurring neurotransmitter called anandamide. This is a very active chemical in the brain's hippocampus, the region responsible for forming new memories. THC is very similar in shape to anadamide and when it is ingested, will actually replace anadamide in locations that can help build memories.
As a result, anyone who consumes THC will have bouts of mild memory impairment until the effects of this wear off. This may not be the most desirable effect in a patient already suffering from mild to moderate dementia, but we’ll wait to review the studies before making any sweeping decisions.
Can marijuana be considered an effective agent against Alzheimer’s disease?
A recent study from South Korea determined that THC was actually a beneficial product to use in animal studies because it was able to reduce the inflammation that occurs throughout the life of the rat. Even more significant, when brain tissue was examined after the study concluded, rats that were given low doses of THC were found to have much lower levels of amyloid proteins deposited in the brain compared to rats not given this compound.
Amyloid proteins are the predominate theory to explain why Alzheimer’s disease occurs in the first place. An amyloid protein is formed when the body is unable to create and fold a protein in the proper way. This can occur naturally as the body ages but will be accelerated if a patient suffers from other diseases; especially hypertension, obesity and diabetes. If the levels of these damaged proteins is reduced, this should mean that a patient is less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease in the future.
One very important point to bring up at this stage comes from the authors of this investigation. They caution that although these results are intriguing, we should remember that these findings were only seen in laboratory conditions. That means that a scientist controlled the exact amount of THC given to the rat every day and all other conditions like feeding and the environment were controlled.
In the real world, this is impossible to do because of how diverse living conditions are even within city limits, much less when you consider what life may look like in other countries.
THC concentrations can also vary significantly depending on the strain of plant that producers have grown. In legalized farms, the process is rigorously controlled but when grown illegally, these plants can have very different levels of THC — making it hard to even try to guess the dose that each person consumes.
In one small study done on human subjects, an investigation claimed that THC is a very effective tool against the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Of note, however, is the fact that only 11 patients were enrolled in the study and one dropped out before it was finished.
- Photo courtesy of SteadyHealth
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