MAPTalk-Digest Tuesday, December 27 2005 Volume 05 : Number 156
001 Integration of endocannabinoid and leptin signaling regulates the excit
From: Allan Erickson <>
002 New study of peyote contradicts DEA website
From: Allan Erickson <>
003 US WY: Couple to be held in jail
From: Allan Erickson <>
004 LEAP's Howard Wooldridge on the radio in Texas
From: "SHeath(DPF Florida)" <>
005 US CO: Grass Roots
From: Richard Lake <>
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Subj: 001 Integration of endocannabinoid and leptin signaling regulates the excitability of neurons on appetite-related circuits
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 12:38:14 -0800
Integration of endocannabinoid and leptin signaling regulates the
excitability of neurons on appetite-related circuits
http://www.xagena.it/news/medicinenews_net_news/
0b9cc53336c8d4b6e3e515fecd9b81fb.html
Integration of endocannabinoid and leptin signaling regulates the
excitability of neurons on appetite-related circuits
Marijuana, or more specifically its active ingredient,
tetrahydrocannabinol, has a well-documented tendency to stimulate
hunger.
And while researchers have traced this property to cannabinoid
receptors in the brain, they have had little understanding of the
neural circuitry underlying this effect.
Understanding this circuitry has important practical implications
because blocking the cannabinoid receptor, CB1, offers a promising
approach to treating obesity.
One such compound, Rimonabant (Acomplia) is already undergoing
clinical testing.
In an article in the journal Neuron, Young-Hwan Jo and colleagues
report how the circuitry of CB1 is integrated with signaling by the
appetite-suppressing hormone leptin. The CB1 receptor is normally
triggered by natural regulatory molecules, called endocannabinoids.
In their studies, the researchers concentrated on the lateral
hypothalamus of the brain, known to be a center of control of food
intake. Their studies involved detailed electrophysiological
measurements of the effects of specific neurons that they had
identified in previous studies as being important in endocannabinoid
signaling.
Their studies revealed that activation of CB1 receptors, as by
endocannabinoid molecules, induced these neurons to be rendered more
excitable by a mechanism called " depolarization-induced suppression of
inhibition " (DSI).
They found that leptin inhibits DSI. However, leptin did not appear to
interfere with the CB1 receptors themselves. Rather, leptin
"short-circuits" the endocannabinoid effects by inhibiting pore-like
channels in the neurons that regulate the flow of calcium into the
neurons. Such calcium is necessary for the synthesis of
endocannabinoids.
In further studies of mice genetically altered to be leptin deficient,
the researchers found the DSI to be more prolonged than in normal mice.
Thus, they said, the findings "implicate this mechanism for leptin
receptor/endocannabinoid signaling in contributing to the maintenance
of weight balance=85." The researchers also included that "upregulation
of endocannabinoid signaling in the lateral hypothalamus may explain,
at least in part, the increased body weight consistent with a prior
report of elevated endocannabinoids" in such leptin-deficient mice.
The researchers concluded that their findings "are consistent with the
hypothesis that the integration of endocannabinoid and leptin signaling
regulates the excitability of neurons on appetite-related circuits."
They also wrote that "the cellular mechanisms of recently developed
antiobesity drugs, such as Rimonabant, may include decreased
endocannabinoid signaling and hence decreased excitability of lateral
hypothalamus circuits related to appetite, even in the context of
leptin insufficiency or resistance."
Source: Neuron, 2005
XagenaMedicine2005=
------------------------------
Subj: 002 New study of peyote contradicts DEA website
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 17:05:26 -0800
New study of peyote contradicts DEA website
http://www.counterthink.org/015620.html
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13197815.htm
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051123/LIFESTYLE03
511230306/1040/LIFESTYLE
Summary:
A Nov. 4 study by researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital
contradicted the DEA, finding that peyote use by Native Americans in
religious ceremonies is not cognitively harmful, and may even have
psychological benefits.
Indigenous peoples have long used natural substances as medicines and
religious sacraments.
Some of these substances -- such as coffee and chocolate -- have been
embraced by Western societies, while others, such as coca and peyote,
have been condemned.
What native peoples say empowers them has too often been labeled as
hazardous, while what enriches Western societies is branded as
beneficial.
In the last century, U.S. authorities' efforts to make peyote illegal
focused on the supposed harmful effects, saying that ignorant
indigenous people couldn't be trusted to act in their own behalf.
Ironically, peyote is considered by native peoples to be a treatment
for alcoholism and drug abuse.
- -snip-
------------------------------
Subj: 003 US WY: Couple to be held in jail
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 19:04:17 -0800
Couple to be held in jail
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/12/09/news/casper/
63d98859d5a2fa44872570d2000aa162.txt
By ANTHONY LANE
Star-Tribune staff writer
- -snip-
The affidavit filed with the complaint against the Houts describes a
pattern of purchasing Hydrocodone on the Internet and swapping the
drug, at times, for methamphetamine, hallucinogenic mushrooms and other
drugs.
The Houts were then arrested for conspiring to import Ibogaine, a drug
some claim to be a sort of panacea for all manner of addictions.
The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Rankin said during Thursday's hearing that he believed the Houts were
trying to buy Ibogaine "to ease their drug issues."
Ibogaine, which is derived from an African plant, is legal in some
countries. While there is some ongoing research on its use in treating
addiction, it is classified a Schedule One controlled substance in the
United States.
Dana Beal, who has co-authored a book on Ibogaine and who advocates for
its legalization, said he believes the arrest of the Houts may be the
first to be associated with the drug.
- -snip-
------------------------------
Subj: 004 LEAP's Howard Wooldridge on the radio in Texas
From: "SHeath(DPF Florida)" <>
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 03:32:37 -0500
Board Member Howard Wooldridge is a phone in guest to "4:20 News" on
Pacifica Radio: KPFT, 90.1 FM, Houston, Texas. Howard will be giving a
report from his Washington, DC headquarters as he begins his new effort as
Drug Policy Educator to elected officials in the US Capital.
This recording will be archived at the DTN website for listening anytime,
anywhere. So please pass the word.
See the listing for Dec 27 at MAP OnAir for more details. If you read this
after Dec 27, just go to the MAP OnAir archives.
http://www.mapinc.org/onair
Steve in Clearwater
Media Activism Facilitator for DrugSense and
MAPinc http://www.mapinc.org/resource
------------------------------
Subj: 005 US CO: Grass Roots
From: Richard Lake <>
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 19:09:03 -0500
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n2010/a03.html
Pubdate: Tue, 27 Dec 2005
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2005 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Douglas Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Denver (Denver)
GRASS ROOTS
58,866 Denver Residents Voted To Legalize Pot
Among Them, These Moms
They car pool in Crestmoor, read bedtime stories in Washington Park,
and when they're away from the kids, these Denver moms sometimes
retrieve the hidden baggie, pack a pipe or roll a joint, and smoke a
little weed.
"It slows me down," says a Washington Park 40-something mother of a
10-year-old daughter. "It's a nice, relaxing, low-key thing."
One Denver psychologist, the 46-year-old mother of a young child,
smokes because it helps her find "that space that is so about me and
not about being a parent."
"It helps you stop thinking," says a 37-year-old Crestmoor mother of
two, a mildly conservative Republican who, like most of the women
interviewed, smokes once or twice a week. "I either can't sleep at
night because I'm restless, or I can't get in the mood with my
husband because my mind is spinning."
Her favorite pot-delivery method? Homemade brownies.
It wasn't just the stereotypical pot smoker - the 22-year-old
skateboarding slacker who measures his days in bong hits, or the
hippie sucking back joints from the back of her 1968 VW Bus - who was
among the 58,866 Denver residents the city's election commission says
voted in November to pass the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative.
These marijuana-loving mamas helped make Denver the first city to
legalize small amounts of pot for private adult use. Under state and
federal law, however, possession of marijuana remains illegal, and
that is why the women were unwilling to have their names printed.
Pundits galore characterized the yes vote on the initiative as merely
symbolic. But it didn't lack meaning to these moms. Marijuana, they
say, should be legalized, and the vote is an important first step.
Among other things, the vote "shows just how many pot smokers there
are in this city," says a 37-year-old Park Hill publicist, the mother
of two young children.
The moms trumpet pot as a safe, healthy alternative to alcohol.
Marijuana critics say they're fooling themselves.
"They are sending those kids a message that it's OK to get high, and
they intend to send that message," says Dr. Mary Holley, the director
of Mothers Against Meth-Amphetamine, in Alabama. The physician works
to organize mothers against all illegal drugs. "That's an extremely
destructive message." Through their habits, the moms tell their kids
that "if he has a problem, he can just go out and get high."
Pot is not harmless, says Christian Hopfer, a psychiatry professor at
the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Smoking pot can cause lung cancer, he says, and lead to addiction.
(About 8 percent of people who try it become addicted.) Some studies
show it can precipitate mental illness, although the incidence is
rare. And it does affect judgment and motor skills, he says.
"You could have trouble driving" while stoned. "You're not going to
be sharp as you would be otherwise."
But Hopfer is not surprised by pot-smoking among moms.
"Marijuana use is widely distributed throughout the population," he
says. "It's not just limited to certain classes."
The moms say they smoked grass more frequently when they were
younger. Now, most of them puff away occasionally at a party or at
home on a Saturday night.
Many people are capable of smoking pot the same way many drink booze
- - - in small doses, in certain settings and not to excess, says Hopfer.
But just as alcohol breeds desperate alcoholics, those who smoke pot
range from sporadic users to addicts. With both substances, Hopfer
says, some users are capable of indulging without unraveling their lives.
The Park Hill publicist says she gets "very introspective and very
thoughtful" when she smokes from her pipe.
"You smoke some weed, you are laughing," she says. "It brings me back
to the times when I was so much more carefree. I'd much rather do
that than sit in a smoky bar and drink liquor with my friends."
The Washington Park mother says she doesn't know anybody in her age
bracket with children who doesn't smoke pot. In fact, she says, "I
know very few people who don't" smoke marijuana, including chief
executives and lawyers.
The Park Hill mother says she sometimes goes to parties "with moms
and pot brownies. There are babysitters for the kids. It's OK to
laugh and carry on with your girlfriends."
At the parties the Crestmoor mother attends, full of middle- aged
professional parents, a pot contingent usually thrives somewhere in
the house, if not all over the place.
Many of the moms have not disclosed their grass-inhaling secrets to
their kids. The kids are too young, they say, and might not absorb
the main message the moms want to send when they do get around to
some frank talking: that smoking marijuana is for adults.
Young brains, the moms say, can't handle marijuana. Like sex and
alcohol, the decision about whether to take a toke should be reserved
for people with proper seasoning: old enough to vote, finished with
high school, stepping into adulthood.
A 36-year-old, laid-off information technology professional wants her
12-year-old daughter to wait until she's 25 to even think about smoking pot.
But that hasn't stopped the north Denver mom from inhaling in front
of the girl. She first got stoned around her daughter when the girl
was 9 at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, an annual
bacchanal that attracts thousands of artists, oddballs and thrill-seekers.
"I don't really care because it's her decision," says the woman's
daughter, sitting on a couch, knitting, in her home.
The girl says she has no interest in trying the drug herself, in part
because, "I'm not supposed to."
Her mom says she has been routinely smoking pot since she turned 19.
Her own father, she says, gave her an ounce of pot for Christmas; he
had quit smoking the stuff and thought she would like it.
"I think it was a bad decision on his part," she says.
Still, she loves her weed. Pot, she says, is "a part of who I am.
It's fun. It's a way to connect. It's like having a beer with
someone. It's less harmful than alcohol, it's not fattening, it's
ultimately cheaper. Alcohol is so bad for your body."
If her daughter ever chooses to try a mind-altering drug, the mom
hopes she elects marijuana over alcohol, a sentiment echoed by the other moms.
"I'd much rather have her smoke pot than drink because she'll be much
less likely to get into bad situations," says the Crestmoor mother,
who does a lot of smoking with her husband while in their outdoor hot tub.
As the pot-smoking moms' kids get older, how - and when - do the moms
plan to broach the subject of their weaknesses for weed?
"That's going to be a hard one," says the psychologist. "I hope what
I'll do is not lie, but talk about safety and age. I'm sorry that I
started (smoking) so early (she took her first puff in seventh
grade). I think I missed some important developmental stages."
The Washington Park mother also believes she started too young, at age 13.
"You need to have wisdom," she says. "It's like you shouldn't be out
there having sex when you are 13."
The psychologist says she'll probably wait until her daughter reaches
a not-yet-determined age to break the joint-puffing news. Once she's
at the appropriate age, the psychologist says she'll either wait
until her daughter asks her about it or her daughter starts showing
signs she may be interested in trying the drug herself.
None of the moms is too bothered by the specter of the police. While
they all understand that smoking grass remains illegal in Denver,
they also agree that the vote on Initiative 100 illustrates Denver's
laissez-faire attitude toward weed.
"Now that it's passed," says the Crestmoor mom, "I'm more comfortable
talking about it because so many people voted for it."
- - ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman
------------------------------
End of MAPTalk-Digest V05 #156
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