The presidential hopeful is one of the few Democratic presidential candidates who say they’re opposed to fully legalizing cannabis at the federal level.
But last week, he appeared to change his mind. Biden told cannabis advocate Don Murphy of the Marijuana Policy Project that cannabis should be “basically legalized.”
Biden isn’t the only one who’s confused about cannabis.
Cannabis legalization is a popular theme with many of our readers. But others can’t see why we’re recommending investing in “pot” companies.
Folks still believe it damages the brain and makes users stupid (at least temporarily).
But as I (Chris) have been showing you, humans have used cannabis as a medicine for thousands of years. And when you dig into the latest cutting-edge research on cannabis’ medical benefits, you see that this stereotype is way off the mark.
Research on mice in Germany reveals that cannabis holds the key to reversing brain damage caused by Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
And on standard tests, they perform about as well as regular mice.
They can figure out how to get out of mazes as well as other mice. They can also figure out how to escape from a tank of water (using hidden steps) as well as other mice. And they’re as sociable as other mice.
The difference is that these mice are old.
Mice don’t live long. These ones are about 18 months old. That’s the equivalent of being about 70 years old in human terms.
Normally, old mice struggle on these tests. They also tend to be less sociable than younger mice.
But the researchers in Bonn keep these aging mice slightly stoned all day via slow-release THC implants in their bodies. THC is the compound in cannabis that gets you “high.”
And thanks to the THC in their systems, you can’t tell these aging mice apart from whippersnappers that are just two months old.
This shows that cannabis may hold the key to combatting Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in humans.
The fellow making these bold claims is Andreas Zimmer.
He used to work at the National Institute of Mental Health, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH is the primary agency responsible for biomedical and public health research in America.
Now, Zimmer is one of Germany’s top neuroscientists. And as he has said of his slightly stoned aging mice, “You can’t tell the difference between them and two-month-old mice.”
The results of his experiments are remarkable.
Zimmer and his team also put the older, stoned mice to the test against mice of the same age who don’t have the THC implants. The researchers then test their power of recall, their ability to learn new tasks, and their level of sociability.
And what they’ve discovered is that older mice who had forgotten how to run mazes recovered the ability after the THC dose.
They also found that older mice who couldn’t tell an empty can from a fellow mouse relearned the ability on THC.
“The effects are extremely robust and easy to see,” says Zimmer. “It works reliably on every measure of cognition we have for mice.”
I’m not an expert on how the brain works. And if I have a PhD, it must have gotten lost in the mail.
But at a high level, THC helps clear tangled brain proteins and clogging plaques that doctors believe are responsible for Alzheimer’s.
THC also reduces inflammation in the mice’s brains. And we know that inflammation plays a role in Alzheimer’s, too.
Along with Bill Bonner, Doug is one of the founders of Legacy Research.
As he’s been telling his readers, cannabis has such huge profit potential not only because it’s a popular recreational drug. It’s also because of its power to heal. Doug…
It’s no secret cannabis has incredible medical benefits… including effectively treating chronic pain.
Cannabidiol (CBD) – a chemical compound found in cannabis – is particularly useful as a painkiller. Unlike opioids which only mask pain, CBD can help fight pain and minimize inflammation.
In many ways cannabis is more effective than opioids, yet it remains totally illegal at the federal level.
That’s a huge injustice. Centers for Disease Control and Protection figures show that, in 2016 and 2017, 89,849 Americans died of opioid overdoses.
That’s almost twice the 58,220 U.S. service members killed in the entire Vietnam War.
I’m writing to you from Cannabis Europa. It’s one of the leading medical cannabis conferences in the world.
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Your editor at a medical cannabis conference in Madrid
The folks here are busy trying to push through legalization for medical cannabis in the European Union (EU).
Right now, only 19 nations out of the 27-nation bloc have made medical cannabis legal.
And quite frankly, as a European (I’m Irish), it makes my blood boil.
This morning, l heard from a woman who had a fall when she was 10 years old that broke her coccyx (tailbone).
Since then, she’s suffered pain so intense she spends 15 hours a day lying flat on her back. And until she discovered the pain-killing power of cannabis, she relied on fentanyl (a common opioid medicine).
The cannabis is the only treatment that brings her true relief. But in Spain, where she’s from, she has no access to medical cannabis.
She grows her own cannabis at home. But she often ends up in the police station because the Spanish cops mistake her for a drug dealer.
Here’s colleague Teeka Tiwari, who’s also bullish on medical cannabis…
Research suggests pot can help treat a number of conditions, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, Crohn’s, epilepsy, glaucoma, nausea, pain, PTSD, and more.
That’s one of the reasons investment bank Jefferies estimates that the global cannabis market should grow from $17 billion this year to $50 billion over the next 10 years… with $19 billion (38%) coming from medical cannabis, and $31 billion (62%) coming from the recreational market.
That’s why medical professionals overwhelmingly support patients having access to medical cannabis.
A 2018 poll by Medscape, a part of the WebMD network, revealed that 67% of physicians and 82% of nurses believe medical marijuana should be legalized nationally.
I’ve learned so much in Madrid about medical cannabis, there’s no room for it all here today. But I will update you in full on what I’ve learned in tomorrow’s dispatch.
Regards,
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Chris Lowe
February 10, 2020
Madrid, Spain
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