No, Pot Researchers Aren’t Smoking Anything

[BridgeTheGap]

How refreshing to read a story about medical marijuana that doesn’t contain one lame joke about munchies, forgetfulness, or bongs, and actually gets down to exploring why smart people in lab coats think pot is a fascinating storehouse of compounds. The levelheaded folks at Science News explore “the long march to credibility for cannabis research,” which, Nathan Seppa soberly explains, “has been built on molecular biology.”

Seppa’s article “Not Just a High” is a great reminder that beyond Cypress Hill and Weeds, and behind all the hype and hysteria over loosening state laws and booming dispensaries, there’s a serious and credible body of research making the case for a host of medicinal marijuana uses.

Seppa details how THC mimics the effects of compounds in our bodies, and how both versions—cannabinoids from the plant and endocannabinoids from our bodies—bind to receptor proteins dubbed CB1 and CB2. And that’s where the magic begins:

http://www.utne.com/Science-and-Technology/No-Pot-Researchers-Arent-Smoking-Anything.aspx?utm_content=06.25.10+Politics&utm_campaign=Emerging+Ideas-Every+Day&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

[xchrom]

1. When I was on chemotherapy, 2xs - I was lucky

To live in a state with dispensaries.