A cannabinoid to help suppress hunger

[firefox]

This article is important because it tells of new medical possibilities of THCV. This is the first article to ever mention THCV that I have ever read and for someone that is wonk on cannabis policy and its medical value, this is extremely exciting. This article also mentioned "tincture of cannabis" from a Pakistani variety of cannabis.

If the article really wanted to inform it would have talked about the historical use of this tincture and how it is distributed. Sativex is also a tincture of cannabis. A tincture just means grain alcohol is used as a solvent and carrier of some plant matter. The use of the term "tincture of cannabis" is very awkward in its use in this article.

Here are four selected paragraphs from http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21092.shtml

"We've discovered to our surprise that cannabis, as well as containing a drug that boosts appetite, contains a drug which has a blocking effect," said Professor Pertwee. "The work so far has been working with tissue and we've yet to see what this drug does when we give it to a whole organism and what it does when we give it to humans."

The drug, known as tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), works on the same receptors as THC but has entirely the opposite effect. The research will be published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

THCV is not the first appetite suppressant to be inspired by cannabis. The drug Rimonabant works by blocking the brain receptors that the body's own cannabinoid compounds - released when we comfort eat - attach themselves to. Because the cannabinoids do not reach the receptors in a person taking Rimonabant, they will feel less compulsion to eat.

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"There is a large amount of THCV in Pakistani cannabis, which is the one used to make a medicine called 'tincture of cannabis'. That contained about equal amounts of THC and THCV."

[tridim]

1. It's a miracle drug

Yet it's still compared directly to crack and crystal meth. Thank you BS drug war.