Marijuana Helps Prevent PTSD, Dispensaries Make Neighborhoods Safer - What's the Pot Problem Again?

[marmar]

Marijuana Helps Prevent PTSD, and Dispensaries Make Neighborhoods Safer - What's the Pot Problem Again?


Today, two recent reports shed light on the benefits of marijuana, the science behind which the federal government continues to ignore. The first is not so surprising: Marijuana may help prevent PTSD symptoms. The second is more exciting: Medical marijuana dispensaries make neighborhoods safer. That's right. Obama is shutting down businesses that not only sell a valuable medicine, but also prevent crime.

According to the AFP:

The study, which was conducted by researchers at the university's psychology department and published in the Neuropsychopharmacology journal, found that rats which were treated with marijuana within 24 hours of a traumatic experience, successfully avoided any symptoms of PTSD.

The rats, however, still displayed high levels of anxiety. "This shows that the marijuana administered in the proper 'window of time' does not erase the experience, but can help prevent the development of PTSD symptoms in rats," Dr. Irit Akirav, one of the researchers, told the AFP. Interestingly, the study also found that the effects of cannabis are mediated by the amygdala, the part of the brain that handles stress, fear, and trauma.

The discovery adds just one affliction to the many conditions medical marijuana helps cure. The plant has been proven to help fight nausea, shrink tumors, and kill pain, among many other uses. But the federal government continues to allege that marijuana has "no accepted medical value," and Obama continues to be Bush reincarnate in the drug war, shutting down dispensaries behind the falsehood that marijuana is not medicine. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/669887/marijuana_helps_prevent_ptsd%2C_and_dispensaries_make_neighborhoods_safer_-_what%27s_the_pot_problem_again/

[begin_within]

1. Big Pharm doesn't get a piece of the action.

[DJ13]

2. The biggest problem is

getting the fast food restaurants to stay open 24hrs a day.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

4. Not really

That's just one more misperception about the substance. Tokers are less obese, as it turns out:
http://www.newser.com/story/127912/study-finds-marijuana-users-less-likely-to-be-obese.html

[DJ13]

8. I was speaking from past personal experience

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[Warpy]

5. The "pot problem" is and always has been

that the plutocrats are all terrified that first the minorities and now the young won't work hard enough to suit the corporate machine if they're stoned, even stoned on their own time.

Part of it is also a 40 year legacy of hippie bashing plus a dash of never being able to admit you've been dead wrong about anything.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. That's why legalization is a Really Bad Idea.

First, it's a threat to the drug companies for all the reasons ou mention.

Second, where would the Prison-DEA complex be with no potheads to bust?

Third, it would be harder to justify breaking down people's doors in the middle of the night, pre-emptively confiscating their property, etc.

So there's really no upside to legalization.

[FedUpWithIt All]

7. Playing tetris right after trauma helps prevent PTSD flashbacks as well.

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/good-game/good-game-1.115768/tetris-blocks-ptsd-symptoms-1.125621

Anything that prevents the brain from searing in the traumatic memories is likely to work.

[sunwyn]

9. As long as the government makes money off keeping marijuana illegal,

it will stay that way.

[mdmc]

10. ..