Marijuana May Have a Role in Type 2 Diabetes

tsazani

<<snip>GW Pharmaceuticals has already produced a cannabinoid drug called Sativex, an oromucosal spray for relieving cancer pain and treating symptoms of multiple sclerosis and neuropathic pain. Investigators now announce they have discovered two substances--cannabidiol and THCV-- in marijuana leaves that can increase the amount of calories the body burns.

This discovery, along with previous test results showing that these two substances can treat type 2 diabetes in animals, will hopefully lead to drugs that treat people who have metabolic syndrome--the combination of diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure that significantly increase a person's chances of having a stroke or heart disease.<snip>>>

Full Article: http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/marijuana-may-have-role-type-2-diabetes

Comment: I have been seeing only Medical Marijuana patients in my medical practice in California for six years. In general, people who use marijuana smoke less cigarettes; drink less alcoholic beverages; take less medications; and in general are in better health vs patients who don't.

I've learned MANY things about marijuana since I've been doing this. I'm going to add weight loss as a condition that merits medical marijuana.

Sharonks

Interesting that weight loss would come from pot. Only because it is well known for giving you munchies. I wish the government would quit making it such a controversial medication. I watched my ex die in pain from cancer, throwing up from chemo, and not eating because he felt so ill. Because pot is considered so bad he would never take any despite its well know properties for chemo patients. He would have been able to get a medical card but he didn't want to be taking pot around our kids and my husband's kids. (I was remarried when we took my ex in and cared for him.) It was very sad that he wouldn't take something that may have made his last months a little better.

sdevan45

It kind of pisses me off that the prohibition against mj in this country was the result of the liquor industry worrying that it would cut into sales. You really gotta wonder which drug is worse for you.

travisseger

Pretty ridiculous that it is still illegal. Marijuana is much more beneficial than either alcohol or tobacco, both of which are perfectly legal.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

Interesting that weight loss would come from pot. Only because it is well known for giving you munchies. I wish the government would quit making it such a controversial medication. I watched my ex die in pain from cancer, throwing up from chemo, and not eating because he felt so ill. Because pot is considered so bad he would never take any despite its well know properties for chemo patients. He would have been able to get a medical card but he didn't want to be taking pot around our kids and my husband's kids. (I was remarried when we took my ex in and cared for him.) It was very sad that he wouldn't take something that may have made his last months a little better.

I'm so sorry to hear about your ex. It was very nice of you & your new husband to let him in & take care of him.

Anyway I agree that the MJ is way too overrated negatively by our government & because of that, we associate it with cocaine or opium which are actually very far from it. I think they should help implement it in the hospitals & so the patients can use it under the doctor's supervision as one of the medicines. (Note the words hospital & doctor's supervision)

Scubanana7

Fascinating info.

jahsshh

the benefits of marijuana HEAVILY outweigh anything that is concidered a negative effect of the drug. it helped with my shoulder pains i had for 3yrs and also i prob would have lost my mother yrs ago if it wasnt for this wonder drug that gets a bad wrap like LaMujer said acouple posts up, people wanna put it in the same category as cocaine, heroin, alcohol, legal meds that also have killed people, but if u try to find someone who died from smoking marijuana, you wont find not one. as for the munchies thing. it doesnt make u hungry. the same effect it has on pain also has on that feeling when you had a nice meal and when ur alittle bloated or whatever, sooths that feeling making u think ur not content and full yet so u wanna eat more. thats easy to fight, same way you fight the urge to go eat a burger or not so healthy foods, u just need the will to cut urself off when you know you have had enough food and if u cant, just snack on healthy foods....voilaaaa!

LeannSz

Let's not give Mary Jane so much credit. There are a lot of side affects and harm. For patients who a terminal ok something to help them relieve some of their pain help them get through. What about the lives it destroys? Fact of the matter is it is an addictive substance, it does lead to harder drugs ( I don't care what anyone says), it causes menatl dependency and long term causes mental instabilities. Is it better then alcohol or cigs yes i'm sure but just because there is worse things in the world doesn't make it a good thing.

I know all these things to be true because I have seen what it does to people and to their families.

jahsshh

i give credit where credit is do. i am sure you have seen those things, but i havent, maybe because i only see people who take it for a reason thats beneficial to them and not to sit around and abuse it just to be high and be silly all day just for the guilty pleasures. Also no it doesnt lead to harsher drugs, thats a copout just to put a bad label on something... to each his/her own. everyone has an opinion

waldenfam2

Hmmm, sounds like Marijuana would be less dangerous than the Victoza I'm on lol. I'm totally in the camp of make it legal. The side effects from smoking marijuana are far less than drinking or other recreational drugs. My only concern is the short term memory. I have relatives that have smoked their entire lives and it does seem to effect their memory.

LeannSz

i give credit where credit is do. i am sure you have seen those things, but i havent, maybe because i only see people who take it for a reason thats beneficial to them and not to sit around and abuse it just to be high and be silly all day just for the guilty pleasures. Also no it doesnt lead to harsher drugs, thats a copout just to put a bad label on something... to each his/her own. everyone has an opinion

There isn't anything for me to "copout" about. My point is if it were legal it would be abused even more.

Sharonks

Being a farm girl I have another peeve about the government pot issue. Fiber hemp, while related, has minimal thc, the part that gets you high. You would have to ingest pounds of it to get high and would probably get sick before that happened. It is a fabulous fiber though, it can be used for all kinds of cloth and paper. It also makes an amazing oil. It grows well in many areas but farmers have problems being allowed to grow it. Silly, it is like saying you can't grow California poppies in your yard because you can make opium from opium poppies or that you should be arrested for eating poppy seeds.

The thing is, I have no interest in pot as a recreational drug. I don't smoke it, prefer not to have people around me who do unless they have a real medical need and even then, I don't want to be around while they are using it. I feel it is a better medicine for many ailments, I would rather ingest pot than take hydrocodone or other opium based drugs. I firmly believe we need to decriminalize it, it is not worth the cost of pursuing pot users. If it wasn't a crime to have it or grow it then all crime associated with it would stop. It would also likely stop being a gateway drug because you wouldn't have to be around sketchy people to obtain it. And we could redirect the law enforcement funds to deal with drugs that cause people to commit violent acts or acts that cause losses. I know that if someone had managed to stop the meth use around here there would be a nice grandpa (his grandson was a friend of my kids) still alive since there wouldn't have been meth heads to break into his house, tie him up and shoot him in the head because they wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.

Darlekins

How do I KNOW such things? I¨m more intelligent, better educated, and far more experienced than you are.

WHOA! I find this incredibly patronizing and frankly, rude.

Ntropic1

(I was remarried when we took my ex in and cared for him.)

I know this was a MJ discussion but I gotta tell ya... this floored me. Not so much because of it's rarity but the big heartiness in you and your husband to look to the humanity of caring for someone. I am so impressed, encouraged and feel like celebrating that the human race isn't as bad off as one might believe. So many families are loving less, crimes against children, the elderly are cast aside. Thank you for just adding that in your response. it is so Powerful.

Sharonks

Ntropic, Thank you. The one I find amazing is my husband. Not many men could do what he did. There were days he struggled a bit but he would talk to me about it. I was married to my ex for 22 years. Just because I couldn't stay married to him due to his alcoholism didn't mean I didn't care about him as a human.