Search Results bipolar

Marijuana Linked To Better Brain Function In Bipolar Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 20, 2012 Medical, News

Results from a new study show indicate that bipolar patients with a history of marijuana use have better neurocognitive function than those who have never used cannabis.

The team, from The Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, found that patients with bipolar I (BD I) disorder who used marijuana performed better on tests of attention, processing speed, and working memory than other BD 1 patients, reports Mark Cowen at News Medical.

“These data could be interpreted to suggest that cannabis use may have a beneficial effect on cognitive functioning in patients with severe psychiatric disorders,” said lead researcher Raphael Braga.

Study: Marijuana Makes Bipolar Patients Smarter

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 15, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: Secrets Of Vancouver

Can marijuana actually make you smarter? Well, yeah, probably so, man. But if you’re bipolar, you now have some actual scientific research to back you up in that belief.

A recent study suggests that some patients with bipolar disorder who use marijuana actually performed better on certain tests involving cognitive functioning, reports Jessica Ward Jones, M.D., at PsychCentral.

Dr. Ole Andreassen of Oslo University Hospital in Norway studied 133 patients with bipolar disorder and 140 with schizophrenia. The patients were questioned about prior drug use; over the previous six months, 18 bipolar patients and 23 schizophrenia patients had used marijuana.

All of the participants then underwent several tests to assess neurocognitive function, including the logical memory test, the color-word interference set-shifting subset test, the digit span forward test, the verbal fluency test, and learning tests.

California’s fourth legalization ballot initiative approved for signature gathering

By William Breathes on March 26, 2014 Hemp, Legalize It, News

Backers of the California Cannabis Hemp Initiative have been given the go-ahead from the state to begin collecting the required 504,760 signatures needed to get their legalization bill before voters this fall.
If approved, the measure – dubbed the Jack Herer Initiative — would legalize cannabis use for adults 21 and up, allow for licensed and taxed cannabis retail sales, loosen restrictions on doctors recommending medical cannabis for minors, restrict drug testing for pot by employers and forbid any state funds from going toward enforcement of federal marijuana laws. But that’s a big “if”. The signatures must be collected by Aug. 18, and that’s not going to be cheap or easy to achieve.

Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy says pot is bad, mmkay?

By Jack Daniel on June 28, 2013 Legislation, News, Say what?

Patrick Kennedy, the former Democratic Congressman from Rhode Island, is not a fan of marijuana legalization, and he wants everyone to know about it. The son of the late Teddy Kennedy, the wildly popular long time Senator from Massachusetts, Patrick is riding the coattails of his family name on a whirlwind media tour to promote his new prohibitionist group, SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).
After visits to nationally syndicated cable television shows like Bill Maher and Piers Morgan, Kennedy’s latest soapbox comes in the form of an op-ed piece that was graciously printed by the notoriously conservative and anti-cannabis San Diego Union-Tribune.
In the piece, Kennedy says, “When I woke up after the 2012 election, two states had voted to legalize marijuana. That day I also ‘woke up’ to how naive I had been. ”

California parents say police set up autistic kid for undercover pot bust (VIDEO)

By William Breathes on May 23, 2013 Say what?

A frame from the ABC news report.

A California family claims school officials and police targeted and set up their special-needs high school-aged son in an undercover sting at Temecula, California’s Chaparral High School. Doug Snodgrass, the father of the unnamed boy, says the move has left his son shattered and unable to trust anyone.
In a lawsuit filed against the district, Snodgrass says says the school “participated with local authorities in an undercover drug sting that intentionally targeted and discriminated against their son” likely due to past behavioral issues at his former school.

Glass Class: Glassblowing and handblown pipe culture with Scott “Trikky” Saed

By on March 27, 2013 Culture, Glass Class

Scott Saed.

To help all of us non-glass artists better understand the industry, evolution and art and science behind how our pipes, bubblers and bongs are made we’ve asked one of Colorado’s most prominent and best-known artists to take on a quasi-regular column we’d like to call: Glass Class.
This week, it’s the second half of our introduction from glass guru Scott “Trikky” Saed. He’s a humble guy with a lot of talent, but he’s always looking to learn and explore glassblowing more and spread knowledge and skill to the growing world of new-school American glassblowers and pipe makers. Enough of our flattery, we’ll let Saed introduce himself:

Three Years, Man! Toke Of The Town Born On This Day In 2009

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 23, 2012 Culture

~ alapoet ~

Toke of the Town editor Steve Elliott celebrating three years of high points and big hits

Three years ago today — actually, three years ago tonight, at 7:08 p.m. Pacific time — my THC-stained fingers hit the “Post” button for the first-ever story on Toke of the Town.

“The good thing about a free marketplace of ideas is,” I wrote, in the first sentence ever to appear on this site, “despite the best efforts of prohibitionists and their fear-mongering propaganda, the truth eventually prevails.”

More than 3,600 stories later — and with hundreds of joints, medibles, and bongloads littering my path — I’m still loving this gig, and judging by pageviews, so are close to half a million of you every month.

New Study, Leading Researcher: Federal Marijuana Classification Not Tenable

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 9, 2012 Medical, News

Potfessor.com

Director of cannabis research center says classification and political controversy are “obstacles to medical progress”

Dr. Igor Grant, director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR), and two other investigators published a study in the most recent issue of The Open Neurology Journal, which concluded that the Schedule I classification of marijuana is “not tenable.” The study further concluded that, “it is not accurate that cannabis has no medical value, or that information on safety is lacking.”

The study urges additional research, but states that marijuana’s federal classification and its political controversy are “obstacles to medical progress in this area.” The federal classification of marijuana is based on the government’s position that it has “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

Marijuana Use Associated With Lower Mortality In Schizophrenics

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 30, 2012 Medical, News

We Love The Herb

The use of marijuana is associated with lower mortality risk in patients with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, according to a new study to be published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Investigators from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and South Korea’s Inje University studied the effects of lifetime substance use on mortality in 762 patients with schizophrenia or related conditions, reports Paul Armentano at the NORML Blog.

“[W]e observed a lower mortality risk-adjusted variable in cannabis users compared to cannabis non-users despite subjects having similar symptoms and anti-psychotic treatments,” researchers reported.

The association between marijuana use and lessened mortality risk could be because “cannabis users may (be) higher functioning” and because “cannabis itself may have some health benefits,” the reports authors said.

Marijuana-Like Compounds Effective Against Late Stage AIDS

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 22, 2012 Medical, News

Potfessor.com

Marijuana-like compounds can inhibit the multiplication of human immunodeficiency (HIV) virus in late-stage AIDS by acting on viral receptors. The results are from a new study were published by researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the journal PloS ONE.

Cannabis is used medicinally in diseases which are accompanied by appetite loss or by severe weight loss, and also for the management of chronic pain, symptoms that are usually present in the latter stages of AIDS, reports Cristian Mihon at Doctor Tipster.

Through this study, scientists learned that the cannabinoid receptors on the surface of immune cells, CB1 and CB2, are triggered by marijuana-like compounds and can inhibit the spread of HIV through the body. It’s crucial for scientists to know the effects of activating these CB1 and CB2 receptors, because that knowledge might be used in the future to develop new drugs that can slow the progression of AIDS.

Search Results: bipolar (16)