why medical marijuana's should be legal? Marijuana medicinal properties.
Background
The U.S. FDA this year approved Epidiolex(cannabidiol) [CBD] oral solution for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastautsyndrome, and Dravetsyndrome.
The studies into the therapeutic potential of marijuana are part of a larger governmental thrust to making new drugs derived from herbs and plants that find mention in Ayurvedic and other traditional-medicine knowledge systems.
Highlights
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Indian Council for Medical Research and the Department of Biotechnology — are getting together to promote research in herbal drugs, some of which involve deriving new drugs from marijuana.
Among the first such studies likely to kick off is a joint investigation by the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) and the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai.
Here researchers will test whether strains of marijuana grown at the CSIR-IIIM campus in Jammu could be effective in the treatment of breast cancer, sickle-cell anemia as well as be “bio-equivalent” (similar in make-up and effect) to marijuana-derived drugs already approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA).
One of the trials, associated with the study, was to check if the “feelings of bliss” induced by cannabis could be detected at the cellular level.
“The effects of bhaang (marijuana consumed orally) have been known to induce a state of bliss.
They would like to find out if those effects in the brain travel all the way into the cancerous cell and can change its profile.
The studies, however, are ‘long-term’ and could take 5-6 years.
The organizations were in the process of formally applying to the Drug Control General of India for permissions.
The study is because there is an unmet need for terminal cancer patients and also because of restrictions we have lost 50-60 years of valuable research into the properties of these plants.
Marijuana cultivation in India
 |
| marijuana cultivation |
Cannabis in India has been used since as early as 2000 BCE.
In Indian society, common terms for cannabis preparations include charas (resin), ganja (flower), and bhang (seeds and leaves), with a milkshake made from bhang being one of the most common legal usages in India.
Attempts at criminalizing cannabis in British India were made, and mooted, in 1838, 1871, and 1877.
The 1961 international treaty Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs classed cannabis with hard drugs.
During the negotiations, the Indian delegation opposed its intolerance to the social and religious customs of India.
As a compromise, the Indian Government promised to limit the export of Indian hemp.
Bhang was left out from the definition of "cannabis".
This allowed India to carry on the tradition of large-scale consumption of bhang during Holi.
The treaty also gave India 25 years to clamp down on recreational drugs.
Towards the end of this exemption period, the Indian government passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in 1985.
NDPS banned the production and sale of cannabis resin and flowers, but permitted the use of the leaves and seeds, allowing the states to regulate the latter.
The National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances recognizes cannabis as a source of biomass, fiber, and high-value oil.
The Government of India encourages research and cultivation of cannabis with low THC content.
Uttarakhand, Jammu, and — as of this month Uttar Pradesh — have allowed restricted cultivation of the plant for medical research.
Cultivation of cannabis for industrial purposes such as making industrial hemp or for horticultural use is legal in India.
Marijuana is illegal for commercial cultivation though it grows as a weed in several parts of the country.
In Indian society, common terms for cannabis preparations include charas (resin), ganja (flower), and bhang (seeds and leaves), with a milkshake made from bhang being one of the most common legal usages in India.
Attempts at criminalizing cannabis in British India were made, and mooted, in 1838, 1871, and 1877.
The 1961 international treaty Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs classed cannabis with hard drugs.
During the negotiations, the Indian delegation opposed its intolerance to the social and religious customs of India.
As a compromise, the Indian Government promised to limit the export of Indian hemp.
Bhang was left out from the definition of "cannabis".
This allowed India to carry on the tradition of large-scale consumption of bhang during Holi.
The treaty also gave India 25 years to clamp down on recreational drugs.
Towards the end of this exemption period, the Indian government passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in 1985.
NDPS banned the production and sale of cannabis resin and flowers, but permitted the use of the leaves and seeds, allowing the states to regulate the latter.
The National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances recognizes cannabis as a source of biomass, fiber, and high-value oil.
The Government of India encourages research and cultivation of cannabis with low THC content.
Uttarakhand, Jammu, and — as of this month Uttar Pradesh — have allowed restricted cultivation of the plant for medical research.
Cultivation of cannabis for industrial purposes such as making industrial hemp or for horticultural use is legal in India.
Marijuana is illegal for commercial cultivation though it grows as a weed in several parts of the country.
About Marijuana and its medicinal properties
Marijuana—also called weed, herb, pot, grass, bud, ganja, Mary Jane, and a vast number of other slang terms—is a greenish-gray mixture of the dried flowers of Cannabis sativa.
Some people smoke marijuana in hand-rolled cigarettes called joints; in pipes, water pipes (sometimes called bongs), or in blunts (marijuana rolled in cigar wraps).
Marijuana can also be used to brew tea and, particularly when it is sold or consumed for medicinal purposes, is frequently mixed into foods (edibles) such as brownies, cookies, or candies.
Vaporizers are also increasingly used to consume marijuana.
Stronger forms of marijuana include sinsemilla (from specially tended female plants) and concentrated resins containing high doses of marijuana’s active ingredients, including honey like hash oil, waxy budder, and hard amberlike shatter. These resins are increasingly popular among those who use them both recreationally and medically.
The main psychoactive (mind-altering) chemical in marijuana, responsible for most of the intoxicating effects that people seek, is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
The chemical is found in resin produced by the leaves and buds primarily of the female cannabis plant. The plant also contains more than 500 other chemicals, including more than 100 compounds that are chemically related to THC, called cannabinoids.
Effects Of Marijuana
When marijuana is smoked, THC, and other chemicals in the plant pass from the lungs into the bloodstream, which rapidly carries them throughout the body to the brain.
The person begins to experience effects almost immediately. Many people experience a pleasant euphoria and sense of relaxation. Other common effects, which may vary dramatically among different people, include heightened sensory perception (e.g., brighter colors), laughter, altered perception of time, and increased appetite.
Sometimes instead of relaxation and euphoria, some people experience anxiety, fear, distrust, or panic.
People who have taken large doses of marijuana may experience an acute psychosis, which includes hallucinations, delusions, and a loss of the sense of personal identity.
These unpleasant but temporary reactions are distinct from longer-lasting psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, that may be associated with the use of marijuana in vulnerable individuals.
No comments
Welcome to the world of the seekers