Dutch researchers have found a healthy effect of THC on the physiology of the Brain.
The conducted research was aimed at the hypothesis that THC does damage to brain cells. The
research will be published in the September issue of the Journal of Neuroscience this year.
Biochemist M. van der Stelt and Neurologist W. Veldhuis did a promotion research on the effects of THC in case of brain damage after an infarct. They observed the amount of dying nerves in acute conditions (infarct) as well as slow conditions as Parkinson's disease, Hemmington's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
The researches submitted ouabaine, a poison from plants, to young rats to observe the death rate of nerve cells in their brains. Rats that were treated with THC showed a smaller risk of braindamage than untreated rats after fifteen minutes. After seven days the risk to an infarct was almost 40 percent less than the blind test.
In some countries marijuana is being used medically to suppress the occurance of involuntary body movements of MS-patients and to stimulate hunger to AIDS-patients and people undergoing Chemotherapy. Patients can get the marijuana in capsules at the pharmacist with a prescription.
Previous studies on rats show that THC prevents certain occurences of brain tumor. However in 1996 the Dutch Healthcouncil concluded that there was not enough scientific research on the subject to register marijuana as an official medicine.