Cannabis Compounds Could Hold Key to Groundbreaking Alzheimer’s Treatment

By Brandon Turbeville

New research coming from the Salk Institute in California and published in the Aging and Mechanisms of the Disease journal is suggesting that cannabis compounds may hold the key to a cure for Alzheimer’s. The research is being presented as work that might provide more information on how Alzheimer’s can be treated therapeutically. The scientists found that tetrahydrocannabinol and other compounds found in the cannabis plant is able to remove a toxic protein known as amyloid beta which is associated with the disease.

The Salk Institute describes the protein by writing,

It has long been known that amyloid beta accumulates within the nerve cells of the aging brain well before the appearance of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms and plaques. Amyloid beta is a major component of the plaque deposits that are a hallmark of the disease. But the precise role of amyloid beta and the plaques it forms in the disease process remains unclear.

As author of the paper and post-doctoral researcher Antonio Currais states,

Inflammation within the brain is a major component of the damage associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but it has always been assumed that this response was coming from immune-like cells in the brain, not the nerve cells themselves.

When we were able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to amyloid beta, it became clear that THC-like compounds that the nerve cells make themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from dying.

Professor David Schubert and Senior Author of the study added,

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.

In separate research, Schubert’s lab discovered Alzheimer’s drug candidate J147 also removes amyloid beta and reduces inflammatory response in the brain and nerve cells. In fact, it was the study of J147 that led to the discovery that endocannabinoids are capable of doing the same thing.

In the end, this new research spells a potentially bright future for Alzheimer’s patients and for the future use of medical marijuana. It also stands as yet another example of why the united states must immediately end its ridiculous and counter-productive war on drugs.

Also see:

Music Legend Kris Kristofferson Misdiagnosed With Alzheimer’s, Goes Public With Lyme

This article (Cannabis Compounds Could Hold Key to Groundbreaking Alzheimer’s Treatment) can be republished under a Creative Commons license with  attribution to Brandon Turbeville and Natural Blaze.com.

Brandon Turbeville – article archive here – is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He is the author of six books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies,Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, and The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President. Turbeville has published over 600 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.