Posted by Mitchell on September 5, 2001, at 21:14:09
In reply to Cannabis and Depression, posted by sweetmarie on September 4, 2001, at 14:01:54
(Sweetmarie)
> Also, what actual psychological effects can it have (good, bad or indifferent)?Cannibas (marijuana) is used by patients who find it useful in the treatment of their bipolar disorder. A Harvard Department of Psychiatry study found some used it to treat mania, depression, or both. (1) Patients "stated that it was more effective than conventional drugs, or helped relieve the side effects of those drugs." (Grinspoon L, Bakalar JB) Because the law has practically forbid the study of marijuana as an antidressant, most evidence remains antidotal. The Harvard study concluded that "The potential for cannabis as a treatment for bipolar disorder unfortunately can not be fully explored in the present social circumstances." (ibid) Other investigators have found "Cannabis has a potential for clinical use often obscured by unreliable and purely anecdotal reports" (2)
> What I want to know is - does smoking it mess up medication levels?
One study has suggested that Bupropion (Wellbutrin) worsens mood during cannibas withdrawal. (3) Though my comments here hardly represent a comprehensive review of literature, it is possible that other conclusions about the interaction between cannibas and other prescribed psychoactive drugs might be based on personal experience, political indoctrination or social preferences, but not on science.
> What I`m trying to find out is whether or not continued use can exaccerbate depression.
One study concluded that "Adult frequency of marijuana use is not significantly associated with increased depression in adulthood." (4) While Green and Ritter found that marijuana initiation appears to be weakly associated with increased depression in adulthood, the effect is mediated by educational attainment, employment status, marital status, and other drug use, notably alcohol and tobacco use. Of most relevence to your querry, and to the other advice in this thread, the Ohio State sociologists suggested that cannibas users who rely on the drug as an alternative to other coping mechanisms are more depressed than users who do not use as a method of coping with problems.
(Paxvox) > THC is technically a hallucinagenic by definition (if you don't believe it is, eat about 2 TBS.(preferably cooked in a food)
Cannibas is defined by law in some states as a hallucinogen, but it is technically a cannabimemetic, and an anandaminergic. The actual phsychopharmacological effects of cannibas were unknown until about the past 10 years. Appreciation of a unique class of cannabimemetics began to unfold in 1990 with identification, cloning and expression of a selective cannabinoid receptor (5), soon followed by isolation of an endogenous cannabinoid ligand, anandamine (6) and in 1994 synthesis of a selective anandaminergic antagonist SR141716a [N-(piperidine-1-yl)-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-S-carboxamind hydrochloride].
The psychoactive properties of cannibas are enhanced when cooked and eaten, according to cannibas advocates, primarily because injestion delays onset of psychotropic effect and allows the user to titrate a larger dose before effect mediates titration. Even then, the psyhcoactive properties are a product of the balance of cannabinoids in the available supply, and while perception of both internal and external stimulus might be increased, the effect is seldom described as hallucinogenic, with the possible exception of consumption of large amounts of hashish, the isolated cannabinoid rich polem of the cannibas flower. IMO, the perception of cannibas as a hallucinagen might be related to its disruption of short term memory by action on the anandaminergic pathways, thereby interupting *usual* sensory stimuls and allowing users to experience unique perceptions. However, uncooked cannibas, or cannibas tea might have little psychoactive effect because cannabinoids are usually only converted to psychoactive THC when exposed to heat, and because the oil-soluble cannabinoids are not easily suspended in water.
paxvox > It is generally a mood enhancer, in that it expands whatever mood one is in before partaking....good or bad. It can make you VERY paranoid and cause panic/anxiety problems.
The balance of psyhoactive effects experienced by cannibas users, according to recent reports, is a product of the balance of cannabinoids in the available supply. Cannibas advocates and other researchers have focused on the balance between tetrahydrocannabinol (delta9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Identification of specific cannabinoids has tended to confirm reports of users that some types of cannibas produce more of a high, with a sense of euphoria, while others produce more of a "stony" sensation, which includes drowsiness, and even headaches. CDB rich plants, generally regarded by users as lower quality or even as "ditch weed" tend to have far more CDB than TCH, whereas better cannibas is rich in THC with little or no CDB. The anxiety-producing effect, and development of tolerance also tends to be specific to the balance of cannabinoids in a supply.
Beyond its unknown psychoactive properties, cannibas use is contraindicated because smoking introduces pyrolitic substances, including carbon monoxide and tars. Waterpipes and moderate use of only high-quality THC rich cannibas flowers has been suggested by cannibas advocates as a way of reducing risks associated with pyrolitic substances. Cannibas use also introduces social problems, that might result from psychoactive properties, but clearly can result from the drugs status as a banned substance.
Scores of studies are available about the psychoactive properties and mechanisms, and several about the role of cannibas in depression, but I am reaching the limits of my capacity for absorbing and citing material in this setting. According to Williamson and Evans, Centre for Pharmacognosy, The School of Pharmacy, University of London, England:
"Cannabis is frequently used by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) for muscle spasm and pain, and in an experimental model of MS low doses of cannabinoids alleviated tremor. Most of the controlled studies have been carried out with THC rather than cannabis herb and so do not mimic the usual clincal situation. Small clinical studies have confirmed the usefulness of THC as an analgesic; CBD and CBG also have analgesic and antiinflammatory effects, indicating that there is scope for developing drugs which do not have the psychoactive properties of THC. Patients taking the synthetic derivative nabilone for neurogenic pain actually preferred cannabis herb and reported that it relieved not only pain but the associated depression and anxiety. Cannabinoids are effective in chemotherapy-induced emesis and nabilone has been licensed for this use for several years. Currently, the synthetic cannabinoid HU211 is undergoing trials as a protective agent after brain trauma. Anecdotal reports of cannabis use include case studies in migraine and Tourette's syndrome, and as a treatment for asthma and glaucoma. Apart from the smoking aspect, the safety profile of cannabis is fairly good."(7)
IMHO, the nocioceptive properties of cannibas and some of its psychoactive components, along with their disruption of short-term memory (8) might hold a clue as to why it is so popular as an anti-depressent. By disrupting immediate recent memory of dysthymia, while producing as a end result dopamineric stimulation, a dose of quality cannibas might lift a user out of a "funk," at least for the duration of the dose. The nocioceptive property of cannibas might be unique from other analgesics in that it blocks or impairs awareness of perceptions of emotionally painful stimulus near where neuropathways loop nocioception and emotional affect. I'm thinking out loud, now, at least in this paragraph.
Because cannibas is the most widely used illegal drug in the world, and because it has a long history of use for controlling mood, discussion of the effects and the mechanisms of those effects might be of great interest to this forum. Perhaps others can offer additional insight based on recent studies from the post-anandamine-discovery era.
1) Grinspoon L, Bakalar JB. J Psychoactive Drugs 1998 Apr;30(2):171-177
The use of cannabis as a mood stabilizer in bipolar disorder: anecdotal evidence and the need for clinical research.2) Drugs 2000 Dec;60(6):1303-1314
Cannabinoids in clinical practice.
Williamson EM, Evans FJ.3) Haney M, Ward AS, Comer SD, Hart CL, Foltin RW, Fischman MW.
Bupropion SR worsens mood during marijuana withdrawal in humans.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2001 May;155(2):171-9.4) Marijuana use and depression. Green BE, Ritter C.Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA. green.446@osu.edu
5) Matsuda et al, Nature 346, 561-564, 1990
6) Devane et al, Science 258:1946-1949, 1992
7) Drugs 2000 Dec;60(6):1303-1314,
Cannabinoids in clinical practice.
Williamson EM, Evans FJ.8) Cannabimemetic disrupt learning in rats through stimulation of the cannabinoid receptor, but the anandaminergic system might not be tonically involved in learning.
Brodkin and Moerschebaecher (JPET 282, 1526-1532, 1997)
http://www.druglibrary.org/crl/receptors/agonists/Brodkin%20et.al%2097%20Learning_%20JpharmacolExpTher.pdf
poster:Mitchell
thread:77688
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010902/msgs/77911.html