cannabisnews.com: Marijuana-Like Chemical May Control Coughing





Marijuana-Like Chemical May Control Coughing
Posted by FoM on November 01, 2000 at 14:50:28 PT
Attention: Science, Medical Editors
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A marijuana-like chemical that occurs naturally in the body may control coughing and various respiratory functions, a University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine research team has found.The finding, which appears in the Nov. 2 issue of Nature, provides the first insight into the causes of certain types of coughing and eventually may result in the development of new treatments to combat chronic, dry or nonproductive coughing spells. The study, conducted on rats and guinea pigs, also helps answer a decades-old question of why certain patients respond differently to anti-coughing drugs.
Daniele Piomelli, professor of pharmacology, and his colleagues found that a naturally occurring neurotransmitter related to marijuana called anandamide binds to receptors on muscle cells in the lung, controlling the lungs' reactions to chemical agents that often trigger dry coughing.``Experiments with patients in the 1970s showed that the active ingredient in marijuana helped some patients with chronic asthma, but actually made the symptoms worse in several patients,'' said Piomelli. ``Naturally occurring anandamide in the lung controls the lungs' ability either to constrict and cough or to dilate and ease breathing. This gives us new insight into how coughing is regulated and may help us eliminate the side effects of certain drugs and create new and safer treatments for certain chronic coughing disorders, but without the long-term toxicity and side effects that marijuana's active ingredient causes.''Types of chronic dry coughing affected by the body's anandamide system are seen in people with some cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hay fever and asthma, and can be brought about by the side effects of medications for blood pressure and other disorders.The researchers found that aerosols containing anandamide completely stopped the cough produced in the animals by the active ingredient of red pepper. Anandamide also relaxed muscles in the lungs and opened up tiny airways called bronchioles. However, when the vagus nerve -- a major nerve controlling lung constriction (and coughing) -- was cut, anandamide actually constricted the lung.``Cutting the vagus nerve relaxes the lung muscle well below its normal tone. Under these conditions, adding anandamide contracts the muscles and restores normal muscular conditions in the lung,'' Piomelli said. ``But when the lung muscle is too contracted, as happens with various lung diseases, anandamide will relax it. At the same time, anandamide blocks coughing. All these actions occur in the respiratory tract, which explains why anandamide aerosols are so effective in animals.''The researchers are now looking at what factors regulate the levels of anandamide in the lungs and how they may be related to disorders resulting in chronic coughing.Piomelli has been studying the actions of anandamides in the body for several years, and was the first to discover the anandamide network in the nervous system. The network of neurotransmitters has been shown to play a role in the body's management of pain and movement, and has been implicated in a host of diseases, including schizophrenia, autism, Parkinson's and Huntington's.Much of this research is taking place at the UCI Biomedical Research Center, which is providing much-needed laboratory and clinical facilities for researchers addressing the major health challenges of the 21st century. When complete, the center will focus on research in the neurosciences, the genetics of cancer, immunology and infection and other medical issues. The center's first building, the William J. Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility, is home to the Reeve-Irvine Research Center and Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia. Construction of the second building, the Robert R. Sprague Family Foundation Hall, began in February.Piomelli's colleagues in the study included Antonio Calignano and Giovanna La Rana of the University of Naples, Italy; Istvan Katona and Tamas F. Freund of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary; Ken Mackie of the University of Washington, Seattle; and Franck Desarnaud and Andrea Giuffrida of UCI. The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.Media Contact: Andrew Porterfield, UC Irvine CommuniationsPhone: 949-824-3969 Contact: amporter uci.eduComplete Title: Marijuana-Like Chemical in Nervous System May Control Coughing, Lung Function Posted: November 1, 2000Irvine, Calif., Nov. 1 (AScribe News) AScribe - The Public Interest Newswire - 510-645-4600 © 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, postnet.com Website: http://www.postnet.com/Related Article:Marijuana-Like Chemical Helps Relieve Coughshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7521.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #14 posted by Kanabys on November 03, 2000 at 06:05:21 PT
Very Well Stated
I'm not a good debater, but I don't have to be when folks like Kap, Dan B, and ALL the others here do such a fabulous job. I'm proud, (sniff, sniff) to have you people on my side! I feel the prevailing winds shifting our way. I hope, Kap, that you do get your chance to *decapitate* some antis. I'll buy front row tickets!
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Comment #13 posted by kaptinemo on November 03, 2000 at 04:52:50 PT:
I prefer the Open Door Policy
Kanabys, there's nothing I more fervently hope for, besides the outright legalization of The Herb, than for an anti to walk in here and spew their bilge...and then stick around and answer questions.I've left my email address here for over 6 months, now. Some of you out there have found, probably to your surprise, that there really is a living person attached to it. I've had the great pleasure of conversing with some of you via that same medium.But, frankly (and don't get your dander up, please!) I didn't leave it there for us, per se. Nope, I left it there for the antis.Why for the antis? Simply this: I'm hungry. (Sharpening old bayonet on whetstone.) I haven't dined on an anti's ego in many, many months. They tend to perform what I have referred to as 's**t and git', a practice where they mouth off here, and run like Hell. I wanted to engage these drenn-eating frellers in debate, and let them know how incorrect their 'Cheech-and-Chong' stereotype of us is.I've left deliberately baiting remarks, aimed straight at narks and their allies, and have heard only...silence. The statistical probability that at least *one* nark with a modicum of brains is monitoring this site approaches 100%; why haven't we heard from them? I mean, what do they possibly have to lose? They have all the power, all we have are boxes and raster screens. They have the high priced 'brick-and mortar' research facilities, with hotshot bureaucrats-in-researcher's-labcoats like Leshner, and all we have ...are the scores of studies (some of them from those same facilities; the IoM Report and the Abrams Report from Durban are perfect examples) proving them wrong. Yet the antis deride the conclusions of these rigorously methodical studies as being 'politically motivated'. They have all the money, the guns, the laws; what could they possibly be afraid of? Why do they practically scorch their backsides from vacating their chairs too quickly in their haste to leave the talk-show studios when they learn a reformer wants to debate them on live TV?Simply because the emperor not only knows he's naked, but also knows he is ugly and has running lesions from his corpulent and corrupt body. The emperor knows what rotten shape he is in. But he is bound and determined, to his dying day, that he not admit he...was...wrong. And threatens everyone in sight with dire consequences if they dare speak up.But Kanabys is right; this is *our* domain. But it is more than that; this is *our environment*. Antis can't actually survive 'here' unless they are willing to radically change their basic nature...and that requires an authoritarian to become a libertarian with a small 'L'. And *that* takes a lot of thought on the part of creatures barely able to think at all. This is the modern day equivalent of the pamphlets the Founders printed to get their point across, to argue for seccession from the mother country. A fact the antis have yet to grasp. They just don't understand it, they really, really don't. So, I am still hoping that some of the more foolhardy antis with three brains cells to mash soggily together will show for the drubbing they so richly deserve. We have to get our entertainment from somewhere, don't we?
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Comment #12 posted by Kanabys on November 02, 2000 at 08:03:45 PT
The childruuuuuun
Oh yeah, it's called 'good parenting'. That's how.
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Comment #11 posted by Kanabys on November 02, 2000 at 07:59:47 PT
Yeah, that was stupid
I was hoping you weren't for real, 'cause you sure got my dander up! Anti's should stay in their place, this is our domain and I'll defend it with fervor. I sincerely appologize if you are a sensible person, but don't do that again, unless decapitation is your drug of choice. 
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Comment #10 posted by Devil's Advocate on November 02, 2000 at 07:13:54 PT
You people quit pickin' on me!
I believe it was David St. Hubbins who said, "It's such a fine line between clever...and stupid."No, I'm not for real. I thought my sarcastic little note was clever at the time but maybe it was just stupid. But no! There are people who think like that.I heard Bob Barr a couple months ago claiming that the IOM report was funded by George Soros. I saw McCaffery on Charlie Rose last week and he claimed that there was some evidence that cannabis caused retinal damage.Clever prohibitionists slip these kinds of statements in all the time and they seep into the public mind.Anyway, I didn't mean to freak anyone out and I probably won't pull a stunt like that again.By the way, nobody addressed the problem of the children. How are we supposed to keep them off the pot if it helps relieve some people's asthma? God knows how the kids love asthma medicine.
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Comment #9 posted by Kanabys on November 02, 2000 at 06:37:05 PT
In response to D.A. (DEVIL'S ADVOCATE OR DUMB ASS)
Are you for real??? Are there really 'people' out there that think like you do, devil's advocate? If so, I'm really disappointed in the human race. You suck up all this govt PR and spit it back out as if it were gospel. Are you Harry Anslinger reincarnate? If you look at the research, as pointed out by many here, including Dr Russo, you'll see that it is truly medicine. And if the concern of many is the 'smoke' aspect of this, there are MANY other ways to administer this NATURAL MEDICINE. Vaporization being one that doesn't deliver ANY carcinogens to the user. Man, you need to get a grip on REALITY and stop harassing people who need the relief that this natural wonder drug has to offer.You say: >Look, you pot addicts do what you want to do.We're not addicts and we have been trying to for a long time but your narcopiggy friends won't leave us alone. Why don't you go back where you came from or is it too hot there?
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Comment #8 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on November 02, 2000 at 05:51:42 PT:
THC and the Prolongation of Life
Let's see--- THC and other therapeutic ingredients of cannabis have scientifically been shown to:reduce painreduce inflammationhelp kill brain and breast tumor cellsdilate constricted bronchial passageshave antibiotic propertiesreduce anxiety and depressionallay nauseastimulate appetiteincrease physical work capacityrelieve spasmtreat hiccupsreduce coughalleviate diarrheaand many more ---.It appears obvious that this synergistic herbal blend of therapeutic substances could prolong life when properly used. The doctors in the UK seem convinced that it is medicine. Why are our bureaucrats preventing the reasonable administration of this treatment to patients would require it?
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Comment #7 posted by the devil himself on November 02, 2000 at 02:44:00 PT
see you back in hell d.a.
Dr. Donald Tashkin, UCLA Pulmonary Studies, stated, “Taking a hit of marijuana has been known to stop a full blown asthma attack.” The use of cannabis for asthmatics goes back thousands of years in literature. American doctors of the last century wrote glowing reports in medical papers that asthma sufferers of the world would “bless” Indian hemp (cannabis) all their lives.More than 15 million Americans are affected by asthma. Smoking cannabis (the “raw drug” as the AMA called it) would be beneficial for 80% of them and add 30-60 million person-years in the aggregate of extended life to current asthmatics over presently legal toxic medicines such as the Theophylline prescribed to "children".http://www.jackherer.com/INDEX.HTM#chaptersLung Damage ?no Heavy Long-Term Marijuana Use Does Not Impair Lung Function, Says New Study April 3, 1997, Los Angeles, CA: Habitual marijuana smokers do not experience a greater annual rate of decline in lung function than nonsmokers, according to the latest findings by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. The results of the eight-year study appear in Volume 155 of the American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Donald P. Tashkin, who headed the study, is one of America's foremost experts on marijuana smoking and lung function."Findings from the present long-term, follow-up study of heavy, habitual marijuana smokers argue against the concept that continuing heavy use of marijuana is a significant risk factor for the development of [chronic lung disease]," concluded the UCLA study. "Neither the continuing nor the intermittent marijuana smokers exhibited any significantly different rates of decline in [lung function]" as compared with those individuals who never smoked marijuana. Researchers added: "No differences were noted between even quite heavy marijuana smoking and nonsmoking of marijuana." These findings starkly contrasted those experienced by tobacco-only smokers who suffered a significant rate of decline in lung function. Researchers also failed to find any synergistic effect between marijuana and tobacco cigarettes. According to the report, individuals who smoked both did not suffer any faster rate of decline in lung function than individuals who smoked marijuana alone. "The long-term findings of this study clearly refute the prohibitionist argument that marijuana smoking poses a significant danger to lung function," stated NORML Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre.A total of 394 young Caucasian men and women agreed to participate in the study. Researchers classified 131 of the participants as heavy marijuana smokers who did not smoke tobacco cigarettes, while 112 smoked both tobacco and marijuana. An additional 65 men regularly smoked tobacco only and the remaining 86 participants were nonsmokers. All participants were screened for pre-existing chronic chest diseases and found to be healthy upon entering the study. Each participant underwent pulmonary function testing at the start of the study, and again on multiple occasions over the course of the next eight years. During that interval, a number of patients were lost to follow up, but 255 participants (65 percent) completed the study and were tested again at up to six additional sessions. 
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Comment #6 posted by Devil's Advocate on November 01, 2000 at 23:06:47 PT
Are you people nuts?
Excuse me, but anyone with half a brain knows that inhaling smoke into your lungs is the last thing you want to do if you have a cough. Second of all, even if it did control coughing is your short-term memory so impared that you've forgotten that marijuana is as addictive as heroin and cocaine? Plus, recent science clearly shows that pot causes heart attacks and cancer.Look, you pot addicts do what you want to do. But quit trying to twist facts and make it seem like your depraved habit has medical uses. What will the children think?
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Comment #5 posted by Dan B on November 01, 2000 at 22:32:11 PT:
Great Articles, Observer...
...and I appreciate the open-mindedness with which you answered my question concerning toxicity. It should be noted, however, that in the concluding comments of the research article the researchers said that their study should not be interpreted to mean that THC actually prolongs life in and of itself. Rather, they attributed positive health attributes of the THC mice vs. control mice to being less fat and therefore more healthy overall. Nonetheless, if someone does happen to discover (more definitively) that marijuana prolongs life, and word gets out, I think the final nail will have been driven into prohibition's coffin. After all, the argument up to this point has been that marijuana is bad for people's health and therefore must be illegal. The distinction would be so enormous between marijuana (which prolongs life) and hard drugs (including alcohol and nicotine; all of which tend to shorten life) that even (and especially) fundamentalist conservative Christians would have a difficult time arguing against legalizing marijuana. How could those who are ostensibly "pro-life" argue against a drug that prolongs life? And to top it all off, it's natural! Something to think about. Perhaps the folks in Alaska can use this article to garner some last-ditch support for the pro-legalization bill (Prop 5?) up there.Thanks, observer. I'm also curious about Dr. Russo's opinions.Dan B
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Comment #4 posted by observer on November 01, 2000 at 21:32:03 PT
re: Long Term THC Toxicity?
I think by "Long Term THC Toxicity" they may be refering to the unnatural effects that large doses of THC has on animals like rats, acting to delay the onset of fatality to a significant, and, as noted, unnatural degree. http://www.pdxnorml.org/980117.html#mmu If this happens to a large enough percentage of any population, then serious consideration must be given to resource depletion. If this type of toxicity were engendered by large-scale human exposure to this particular toxin, it could also potentially wreck havok with government demographic projections, and, sadly, this might be reason enough for the Federal Government to step in and do something. The government needs to protect The Children, I feel, not concern itself with potentially delaying the onset of fatality for (already physiologically stressed) geriatric patients, which, I note, could cost dearly our medicare and social security funds that our nation needs, due to increased coverage times. I'm sure you'll agree. Thank you.http://www.pdxnorml.org/Globe_mj_cancer_013097.html 
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Comment #3 posted by Dan B on November 01, 2000 at 19:34:20 PT:
Long Term THC Toxicity?
"This gives us new insight into how coughing is regulated and may help us eliminate the side effects of certain drugs and create new and safer treatments for certain chronic coughing disorders, but without the long-term toxicity and side effects that marijuana's active ingredient causes."Am I missing something from the dozens of research articles I have read on the subject of marijuana? Since when is THC associated with "long-term toxicity"? Is this researcher really suggesting that over the long run, THC can kill a person? Where is the evidence to back up this claim? It certainly does not exist in the scientific literature. Perhaps this doctor os a devotee of Dr. Nahas, the infamous "marijuana-is-evil" quack of doom. 
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Comment #2 posted by Tim Stone on November 01, 2000 at 18:27:49 PT
Oh really?
``Cutting the vagus nerve relaxes the lung muscle well below its normal tone. Under these conditions,adding anandamide contracts the muscles and restores normal muscular conditions in the lung,''Piomelli said. ``But when the lung muscle is too contracted, as happens with various lung diseases,anandamide will relax it. At the same time, anandamide blocks coughing. All these actions occur in therespiratory tract, which explains why anandamide aerosols are so effective in animals.''*****Unless I'm missing something here, this researcher seems to be admitting that anandamide, cannabinoid aerosols are _already_ well known to be effective in animals for certain muscle relaxant medical uses, and presumably therefore have been known for some time past. Funny, I don't recall the NIDA press conference that was called to announce that cannabinoid aerosols are highly effective in animals for muscle relaxant uses. Is this another case where the prohibitionists have been deliberately hiding research info for years? 
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Comment #1 posted by legalizeit on November 01, 2000 at 16:32:42 PT
All right narks!!
Here's your assignment!Go out on the street, and arrest everyone who's not coughing!!Sounds almost as stupid as prohibition!
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