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asd11
final sky

Registered: 08/02/04
Posts: 501
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Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs'
#5827267 - 07/06/06 11:12 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 06/07/2006)
The long-running debate over the dangers of cannabis will be reignited by a study that challenges the idea that experimenting with the drug is harmless and does not lead to further drug use.
Prof Yasmin Hurd, Dr Sabrina Spano and Dr Maria Ellgren, working at the Karolinksa Institute, in Sweden, have demonstrated that cannabis can enhance future sensitivity to heroin.
Studying events in the brain of adolescent rats after cannabis exposure, they found that the drug affects the brain's natural chemicals, called endogenous opioids. The chemicals are known to play a role in heightening positive emotions and creating a sense of reward.
That is the same system that is stimulated by hard drugs and is also present in humans. In the case of the rats, those exposed to cannabis as adolescents took more heroin when given the opportunity.
Prof Hurd, who now works at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, says that, remarkably, although scientists have studied how hard drugs change the brain, similar experiments have not been carried out until now to study the long-term effects of "softer" drugs such as cannabis.
Cannabis is the drug most commonly used by teenagers worldwide, typically by one in five adolescents in America and various European countries during any given month.
This year an independent report commissioned for the Commons science and technology committee concluded that the "gateway" theory - that its use leads on to the use of harder drugs - "has little evidence to support it, despite copious research".
The Swedish team's results show that the brain may "remember" previous cannabis usage and make users vulnerable to harder drugs later in life, specifically opioids such as heroin and morphine.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...6/ixuknews.html
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero


Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: asd11]
#5827304 - 07/06/06 11:22 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I wonder if sex has the same effect on the brain.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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DNKYD
Turtle!

Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 12,326
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: asd11]
#5827313 - 07/06/06 11:25 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Yes, just conveniently forget that the drugs the majority of teens use first are alcohol and tobacco. But they're legal, so we won't consider them "gateway drugs". Recommence cannabis propaganda spewing.
One of these days.......
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SuperD
Cacti junky


Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 6,648
Loc: The bridgesii bridge
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: DNKYD]
#5827711 - 07/06/06 01:41 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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i love these fucktard articles.. "cannibis *could* kill thousands", "cannibis *can* lead to harder drugs" and technically I *could* hunt down these morons who write up articles like this and murder them, but that doesn't mean it will happen.
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   D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
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CptnGarden
fuck this site
Registered: 05/13/04
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: SuperD]
#5827723 - 07/06/06 01:44 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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they are still trying to use this one? shit that hasnt flewn since the 80's.
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jpuff
Stranger
Registered: 03/21/07
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: asd11]
#6703136 - 03/23/07 01:38 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
asd11 said: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 06/07/2006)
Studying events in the brain of adolescent rats after cannabis exposure, they found that the drug affects the brain's natural chemicals, called endogenous opioids. The chemicals are known to play a role in heightening positive emotions and creating a sense of reward.
That is the same system that is stimulated by hard drugs and is also present in humans. In the case of the rats, those exposed to cannabis as adolescents took more heroin when given the opportunity.
Except that THC mimics anadamide (structurally), and doesn't act on the dopamine pathway because it's not an opiate.. so... this article is bullshit. THC doesn't cause the release of anything, THC IS the thing that makes you feel the way you do when you get high.
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: jpuff]
#6703282 - 03/23/07 02:08 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Sure it does, in vivo microdialysis studies have shwon that THC releases dopamine in the shell of the nucleus accumbens. This dopamine release may be the cause of the "rewarding effects" of many commonly abused drugs.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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DadeMurphy
H4x0r

Registered: 01/29/03 
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: jpuff]
#6703563 - 03/23/07 03:27 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Yah dude, most drugs (other than psychostimulants) that affect dopamine do so by a secondary mechanism, ie. they affect neurological or intracellular signaling pathways that in turn affect dopaminergic pathways.
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Sebastian23
Stranger


Registered: 02/18/07
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: DadeMurphy]
#6703629 - 03/23/07 03:40 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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What if candy use in adolescents makes it more likely for them to enjoy Twinkies later in life?
Disastrous.
-------------------- "If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." -Terence McKenna Marijuana Myths Debunked
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides


Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: Sebastian23]
#6703730 - 03/23/07 04:08 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Think of the children!
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officerfox
Stranger



Registered: 06/12/06
Posts: 469
Loc: Florida, USA
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: DNKYD]
#6703760 - 03/23/07 04:19 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
DNKYD said: Yes, just conveniently forget that the drugs the majority of teens use first are alcohol and tobacco. But they're legal, so we won't consider them "gateway drugs". Recommence cannabis propaganda spewing.
tru dat. I smoked a cigarette and tried alcohol long before I smoked any pot. That's my drug of choice.
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Drewwyann
Slayer of ticks



Registered: 10/30/06
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: officerfox]
#6704477 - 03/23/07 09:09 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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yeah... i think its just the fact that weed is the most abundant drug in the black market in virtually every town on earth. so naturally, people use it first because they dont need to be that connected to smoke some.
ecstacy, crack, meth, and coke and stuff is where you have to be connected. So i guess weed just brings people together more or less is what i gather. It doesnt open a fucking gateway though. the gateway has been open since birth, you just havent gone through it because you didnt have connections until you started smoking weed.
Agree? Disagree?
Sure cannabis can lead to doing other drugs. but so can alcohol, and robitussin, tobacco, and tons of more legal things that teens can get their hands on as easily as they can buy a pack of gum.
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 Anyone need a glass pipe? : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002435158931 Love powerfully  
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Dihnekis
Stranger

Registered: 07/11/06
Posts: 906
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: Drewwyann]
#6704496 - 03/23/07 09:17 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Uh, I still don't want to try heroin.
Can we legalize pot now?
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officerfox
Stranger



Registered: 06/12/06
Posts: 469
Loc: Florida, USA
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: Dihnekis]
#6710636 - 03/25/07 07:14 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Me, neither.
I also motion to legalize pot.
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Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.




Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: officerfox]
#6711283 - 03/25/07 10:13 PM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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not bothering to read the article, because i got this huge "Big Lebowski" Limo Scene flashback...
"this MIGHT NOT be such a simple... uh... cannabis CAN lead, but it MAY not lead to... uh... has that ever occured to you?"
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jpuff
Stranger
Registered: 03/21/07
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Re: Cannabis 'can lead to harder drugs' [Re: Bridgeburner]
#6712029 - 03/26/07 04:34 AM (16 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
badchad said: Sure it does, in vivo microdialysis studies have shwon that THC releases dopamine in the shell of the nucleus accumbens. This dopamine release may be the cause of the "rewarding effects" of many commonly abused drugs.
Hmmm, the study I read said the opposite.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1725460&dopt=Abstract
"The hypothesis that cannabinoids potentiate the motor effects of neuroleptics and produce their abuse potential by stimulating dopaminergic activity was tested by measuring the ability of THC to increase extracellular dopamine concentrations. Male Long-Evans rats were implanted with guide cannulae for the striatum or nucleus accumbens. Fifteen hours prior to testing, removable microdialysis probes were inserted through the guide cannulae. Dialysis samples were collected during resting baseline, after 1.0 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg THC, or vehicle of olive oil with 5% ETOH (by gavage) followed by amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg) or fluphenazine (0.3 mg/kg). THC produced no change in the extracellular concentrations of DA, DOPAC, and HVA, nor in 5-HIAA. THC also had no effect on the enhancement of extracellular DA produced by amphetamine nor on the transient increase in DA, DOPAC, and HVA produced by fluphenazine. There were also no behavioral differences between groups during any of these treatments."
I guess the jury's still out on that one
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