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| New Grant Funds Marijuana Research |
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Posted by CN Staff on October 04, 2006 at 07:30:12 PT By Angie Barmer Source: Daily Mississippian 
Mississippi -- Research scientists at the University of Mississippi plan to use a recently awarded $11 million grant to develop Tetrahydracannabinol mini-patches and study the euphoric effects of marijuana among other projects in a new neuroscience research center.Ole Miss's School of Pharmacy was one institution of 11 to receive a part of $117 million in Center of Biomedical Research Excellence grants this year. "In addition to providing research facilities, it will also broaden opportunities for educational research and community outreach," a pharmacy professor and COBRE investigator Rae Matsumoto said. "The COBRE is a big step forward in research and is going to help a lot of researchers; a long-time effort will be put in place and will play a big role within the next five years," she said. Ole Miss' specific area of research stems around neuroscience as well as identifying certain components and properties of natural products that affect the central nervous system, Matsumoto said. One of the research projects funded under the grant tackles the problem of treating patients with Tetrahydracannabinol, which cannot be delivered in pill form. Patients with nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, depression, migraine headaches, anxiety and stress, epilepsy and pain may benefit from a new mini-patch associate professor of pharmaceutics Michael Repka and assistant professor of pharmaceutics Soumyajit Majumdar are developing. The THC mini-patch will release chemicals into the body like a nicotine patch, although the mini-patch is applied in the mouth above the gums. "The advantage is by taking the drug orally, very little is absorbed through the GI tract," said Repka, "which means we don't have to use as large as a dose and the patient usually won't become nauseated." The COBRE grant is making it possible for Repka and Majumdar to purchase a new piece of lab equipment to develop new drug delivery systems through a hot-melt extrusion process. "The [piece of equipment] that will be at Ole Miss will be unique in the sense that no other academic institution in the United States or the world will have one," said Repka. Both Repka and Majumdar are excited about what the grant means for pharmaceutics at Ole Miss. "This grant not only gives me the opportunity to prove this concept for THC and for neurological diseases, but it also provides us with the opportunity to prove this drug delivery system for other therapeutic agents," Repka said. Another project junior investigators in the program are conducting identifies the euphoric qualities of Cannabis Sativa, commonly known as marijuana. Samir Ross, associate professor of pharmacognosy, and Desmond Slade, associate research scientist in the National Center for Natural Products Research at Ole Miss will look for new compounds in the plant that may be good leads for new medications. In addition to junior investigators' research, the COBRE umbrella includes many Center of Research Excellence projects. Jordan Zjawiony, professor of pharmacognosy and research professor, leads the chemistry COBRE project. Zjawiony says his group is currently working on identifying "psychoactive components of many different organisms, and that includes psychoactive plants, fungi, marine organisms and microorganisms." One of Zjawiony's studies looks at hallucinogenic plants from all over the world, particularly one named Salvia Divinorum, which has been used for years by shamans for religious ceremonies. Salvia Divinorum is commonly used as a street drug because it is not regulated by federal law, but has similar effects to marijuana. "We are much more interested in what is in this plant, what kind of compounds we can find in it and how the drug interacts with our brain, with our body." Zjawiony said. He hopes his studies lead to cures for central nervous system diseases, such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. "We just want to make the good stuff from the bad stuff," Zjawiony said. The National Center for Research Resources in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health announced on Sept. 19 that it would grant $117.3 million to fund four new and seven continuing COBREs. Twenty-four "underserved" states received grants from the NIH, of which the COBREs are the most coveted. According to the NIH Web site, NIH was founded in 1887 and is one of the world's foremost medical research centers, as well as the federal focal point for medical research in the United States. The goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability. Source: Daily Mississippian (U of MS Edu) CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #16 posted by charmed quark on October 04, 2006 at 17:11:43 PT |
| "Add fish oil (Omega 3) to any drug and it becomes transcutaneous" . This would be a very useful way of delivering a drug like Marinol. I did a quick search but couldn't find anything on the internet about this. Can you point me to some references? Thanks CQ [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #15 posted by global_warming on October 04, 2006 at 16:25:51 PT |
| sukoi, I want so much more. Hail Mason and all the Blessed. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #14 posted by Sukoi on October 04, 2006 at 16:19:56 PT |
| "How is Mason" Ask him: http://safercolorado.org/blog.html [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #13 posted by global_warming on October 04, 2006 at 16:05:02 PT |
| if Mason or Jack, took a moment to say "hello" In this internet and electronic place digital and somewhere in the flesh this road is about "all" of us cannabis, is it such a paralyzing substance? can you find help for that soul whose prison is heroin? or meth, or a simple victim of the brutality, of some drunken "husband" who beats his wife and children, can we come to the same page? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #12 posted by global_warming on October 04, 2006 at 15:47:02 PT |
| How is Mason? How is Nevada? Here in Nu Jursey, It is the same old corruption, [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #11 posted by global_warming on October 04, 2006 at 15:32:58 PT |
| I read today that the Us is stopping the seizures of medicines coming out of Canada, that means that Us Citizens can continue to recieve there medicine from Canada, at a significantly reduced price. There was some discussion about the Us government protecting its stranglehold on high Us prices and the Pharmaceutical's Interests. Now people can continue to get medicine from Canada, and not have to pay and pay to keep the High the Drug Merchants are on in the good old USA. It is time for change. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #10 posted by Sukoi on October 04, 2006 at 15:23:48 PT |
| Right you are and salvia and cannabis are in no way comparable. I do get effects from salvia and they are nothing at all like cannabis. In fact, the effects of salvia are so intense that it's anything but pleasurable; at least to me... [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #9 posted by whig on October 04, 2006 at 12:50:05 PT |
| Wouldn't hemp oil work as well as fish oil? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #8 posted by whig on October 04, 2006 at 12:49:11 PT |
| Salvia is nothing like LSD. I've used both, and Salvia is like Salvia and nothing else. I prefer cannabis, thank you. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by whig on October 04, 2006 at 12:48:08 PT |
| What do you think about what I wrote on how cannabis works: http://cannablog.wordpress.com/2006/10/03/how-cannabis-works/ [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by paulpeterson on October 04, 2006 at 11:39:23 PT |
| Add fish oil (Omega 3) to any drug and it becomes transcutaneous. Every cell in the body (including skin cells) is so highly attuned to the need to absorb any Omega 3 available that it will immediately open up defensive gates to allow entry. Mixem together and it goes in-Scientists have also noted that mixing a batch causes the THC to selectively trigger "apoptosis" for skin cancer (2003) in the basal cell carcinomas. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by Max Flowers on October 04, 2006 at 10:07:33 PT |
| It's important to note that while salvia can be powerful "like LSD" for some people, for an awful lot of other people it does next to nothing. I'm one of them. I can take repeated huge hits of it, even of the 10X extract, and I get virtually no effects. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by zandor on October 04, 2006 at 09:29:42 PT |
| I feel this is one of the largest reasons that the DEA is cracking down on the sick. They need to give time for the University of Mississippi to develop Tetrahydracannabinol mini-patches. That they can paten and turn a quick profit before Bush leaves office. It's all about the money and protecting huge profits of the American pharmacology industry. Then they can sue us for growing medical marijuana and violating their paten. When that happens politicians are not to blame it’s the lawyer’s fault, just like the Recording industry and the software industries have. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Storm Crow on October 04, 2006 at 09:21:14 PT |
| "One of the research projects funded under the grant tackles the problem of treating patients with Tetrahydracannabinol, which cannot be delivered in pill form." Some one better tell the makers of Marinol that you can't put THC in a pill! Admittedly, it doesn't work as well as natural cannabis, but that's beside the point! "The advantage is by taking the drug orally, very little is absorbed through the GI tract," said Repka, "which means we don't have to use as large as a dose and the patient usually won't become nauseated." And here I thought Marijuana was an anti-nausea drug! Of course, having it in a patch makes it good for Big Pharma. "Salvia Divinorum is commonly used as a street drug because it is not regulated by federal law, but has similar effects to marijuana." This guy has never used either drug, obviously! The two are totally different. Salvia is closer to LSD in it's effects than it is to pot. Salvia scares the heck out of most people. It is quite hallucinogenic compared to pot. Well, at least they are doing some research, but with "facts" like those, they really need to do some research! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #2 posted by HempWorld on October 04, 2006 at 09:09:56 PT:
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| Let's Forget that Marijuana Cures Cancer and study its Euphoric effects, gee wiz.... duh! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by dongenero on October 04, 2006 at 08:10:41 PT |
| "We just want to make the good stuff from the bad stuff," Zjawiony said. Which is to say, we want to make someting expensive, patentable and controlled by Big Pharma and the Federal Gov't. from the stuff that is inexpensive,unpatentable, self administered and grown in any back yard garden. [ Post Comment ] |
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