Cannabis drug may help fight obesity

[UTHTURN]

by Amie Ferris-Rotman Tue Jan 30, 11:11 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Human trials of an experimental treatment for obesity derived from cannabis, which is commonly associated with stimulating hunger, are scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, Britain's GW Pharmaceuticals Plc announced Tuesday.
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Several other companies, such as Sanofi-Aventis, which is investigating Acomplia, are working on new drugs that will switch off the brain circuits that make people hungry when they smoke cannabis.

GW Pharma, however, says it has derived a treatment from cannabis that could help suppress hunger. "The cannabis plant has 70 different cannabinoids in it and each has a different affect on the body," GW Managing Director Justin Gover told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Some can stimulate your appetite, and some in the same plant can suppress your appetite. It is amazing both scientifically and commercially," he said.

Drugs have to pass three stages of tests in humans before being eligible for approval by regulators in a process that takes many years.

Sanofi-Aventis' Acomplia, which it believes can achieve $3 billion in annual sales, is already on sale in Europe and it is waiting for a U.S. regulatory decision in April.

Several other big drug companies also already have similar products to Acomplia in clinical trials.

GW is best known for developing Sativex, a treatment derived from cannabis that fights spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients. Sativex, an under-the-tongue spray, has been approved in Canada, but has hit delays with regulators in Britain.

GW submitted Sativex for assessment by several European regulators in September, and hopes to secure approval for the UK, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands in the second half of this year at the earliest, the company said on Tuesday.

GW's marijuana plants are grown indoors in a secret location in Southern England.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/cannabis_obesity_dc

 

[Brewmaster]

Know what else fights obesity?

Not sitting on the damn computer all day. Fortunately, I'm quite happy being a fat ass.

Interesting article though.

 

[UTHTURN]

WELL i could stand to lose a few pounds so maybe i just need to smoke more :wink:

 

[Brewmaster]

Weed makes me want to eat cereal, and not the good kind either; The marshmallow laden Count Chocula type shit.




mmmmmm chocula.....

 

[tryptonaut]

That's interesting to hear. I became much thinner at the time when I smoked mj on a daily basis. The eating flashs were long past, it was more like: "Good morning, let's have a bong and then some breakfast" *smoke bong* "Aaaaah, great........... now breakfast... or another bong? Hmmmmm...." *smoke bong* "Aaaaah, great, I'm not hungry anymore but I could smoke one more!"

It really went like this and I know a lot of people who actually ate less when they were smoking regularly. It also seemed the people who kept eating more when they smoked seemed to have less of a problem with smoking on a daily basis (they didn't get that addicted and they never felt they should stop. One of them is still smoking today which means he smoked mj almost daily for 14 years without any negative side effects on him. I envy him btw...)

 

[Brewmaster]

I remember when I first started smoking on a daily basis (12 years ago) that my body adjusted to getting the "munchies". It was like my body knew that when I got stoned I was going to pig out and so I started being less hungry all day until I smoked. It's evened out though; now I eat constantly and just take breaks to get high.

 

[JayBomb]

personally, I exercise. I like being stoned while exercising or after. If I could find some way to smoke AND exercise, I would (the scene in American Beauty where Kevin Spacey tokes that joint as he bench presses). It makes the required meal AFTER moderate exercise SO MUCH MORE rewarding.

I think it's fascinating that there lies the components to both tickle and bore your appetite (so to speak) in the same plant.

 

[Brewmaster]

I don't like you and I don't like Maryland, but I totally agree.

I'm fortunate enough to have a slack ass job in an office building with a YMCA on the 5th floor, so I spend at least an hour a day in the gym. In fact, that's where I'm headed now...right before lunch. Then I ride my bike back home, about 3 miles up hill, grub on a turkey sammich and then take 2 or 3 sweet rewarding bong rips. Then I get to ride the 3 miles back to work, mostly downhill, perfectly stoned.

I love lunch.

An' I guess Baltimore aint so bad either.

 

[JayBomb]

It wouldn't be because I didn't like that Kool Aid book, would it? I also protest the branding associated with the title of the novel, and that has nothing to do with my history of drinking a similar product called Flavor Aid...

Baltimore looks pretty beautiful in summer if you're near the docks; it's like that part of the town doesn't get dirty. Most of the bay is decent, but you're right that the rest of the place isn't so hot.

I'm looking forward to driving back to Frederick from Baltimore tomorrow hopefully toking on the last of my bowl, after an half hour at the gym. Endorphins.

 

[Pinealjerker]

I have been smoking on practically a daily basis (often interrupting that pattern by doing a week or two without) for years and have always kept my body weigth under control. But then, I also exercise, yes, preferably stoned.

Another reason why smoking pot never made me fat is that I tend to get so spaced-out that I always forget I was cooking. So half of my meals are burnt and then thrown away, and then I think "fuck it, I'll just drink some chocolate milk instead." LOL

Seriously though, drug culture (pot & hallucinogens) got me involved in vegetarianism and healthfood, and these two will help anyone gain control over their body weight.

 

[silv]

I have been smoking on practically a daily basis (often interrupting that pattern by doing a week or two without) for years and have always kept my body weigth under control. But then, I also exercise, yes, preferably stoned.

Another reason why smoking pot never made me fat is that I tend to get so spaced-out that I always forget I was cooking. So half of my meals are burnt and then thrown away, and then I think "fuck it, I'll just drink some chocolate milk instead." LOL

Seriously though, drug culture (pot & hallucinogens) got me involved in vegetarianism and healthfood, and these two will help anyone gain control over their body weight.

the real thing that will help you get control over your weight is not vegetarianism and healthfood, but not eating too much of everything and excercising a lil'.

 

[JosVU]

If the medical world sees money in this there gonna make pills with only one alkoid of the cannabis. So it can still be illegal and they can make BIG money legally..

If your eating your self to death there is no medicine that will help you. You have to see your slowly going to die because you're too damn rich..
It's a psychological problem so you need a drug that works on your psyche.. Like cannabis indeed.. Dispite it is a strong psychedelic not every body sees it like so. So that people need stronger psychedelics..

And even then you have to see you have a problem.. .. To see you have a problem and to see what causes that problem is the most difficult.. And the pill industry is way to happy to tell you they have the medicin for your problem.. :roll:

If people will have benifit of the alkoids in cannabis they work best while there still in the herbs.. So cancer, MS or other patients with great pain or other trouble I advice to grow your own(if that doesnt make you a criminal in your country) and make some cannabis coockies...

There are THC pills on the us market I believe but the effect is not like cannabis...

Since people can make money from stuff that's inside the plants they want to controlle that plant and make you buy there stuff..
:roll:

We all know research for drugs is almost always to show us that drugs is bad... And if there good sides about it they want to make money of it..

Time for objective research...

Cannabis is just an narcotic psychedelic so it can ease mental and psychical pains.. But if you want your problem to go away you need the right therapy..

 

[Jahvisions]

Have to dissapoint you guys. To keep it short, we know two subtypes of cannabinoidreceptors CB1 and CB2. Cannabis is used to stimulate the CB1 receptor after treatment of cancer or HIV to stimulate eating and to reduce nausea. So the medicines against obesitas are CB1-antagonists (blocker of the receptor) that's why I think that loosing weight from smoking is not directly related to the effect of cannabis. at the other hand maybe because of desensitisation maybe you loose weight when not under influence of cannabis. (stimulation of the CB-1 receptor leads to differentation of fatcells and increased lipoprotein lipase) At the other hand the metabolic effects and mechanisms are still unknown and now under research)

If you like more information just let me know.

Personally I like to smoke cannabis before my trips to reduce nausea.

 

[Dantediv86]

I say i agree with you Jahvisions; i think the article is interesting. First because it might be another step towards the "un-demonisation" of cannabis and it's thousands possible uses and is giving me hope (this i'm relating on the MS Sativex part) for the possible legalization of Cannabis (i live with a person who suffers of MS and not finding a non addictive treatment of any kind is very frustrating...this person has a strong faith in the law of the country we live in, so growing Cannabis would not be a good idea).
Second obesity is a big problem, and i agree on the fact that is psychological in it's nature (being psychological therefore means that there are chemical combinations in the brain), so one of the ways to fight it nowadaysmight be to use a drug (that combines chemically in the brain, no?)

PLUS in the modern era food is readily available and cheap, we are bombarded by the media by all those fast food companies adds and not only that. Though we have a very "evolved" society our minds keep that primitive instinct that is easily stimulated and says "EAT MAN WE HAVE A SURVIVAL TO KEEP UP HERE" so it's logical that is easy to fall into the obesity loop (happened to my cousin...she will never recover 'cause the good will has been extinguished by the addiction to fats...yes fats are addictive due to a natural response in the brain) unless you have a strong mind (the same is valid for alcohol, cigarettes, etc.).
Personally i don't think that a drug is necessary to solve such a problem, but in some cases i think it could be.
I've read comments that relate to personal experience and i didn't really think it was the case to compare... because it's a different use and therefore it yields different effects (thus you can't consider it just a psychedelic, there is so much more to the use of cannabinoid compounds that any personal experience in the use of it is just oversimplistic and subjective).

However the pharmaceutical companies are indeed the Devil. For they only think about profits and not the wellfare of people, and the governments worldwide help them to make huge profits on those who suffer...but still a legal cannabinoid would be a dream come true, because: i'ts non addictive or it has a slight chance to be (still less addictive than many legal drugs), it's finally a victory and another step for the worldwide recognition that Cannabis can actually be used for medical purposes, it gives the opportunity to find a specific refined high quality cannabinoid on the market. and this gives me hope that one day all the skeptical people will understand the great potential help that Cannabis has to offer to our society.

I'd like to point out that i am a user of cannabis and i like it (that is if it wasn't clear).
and that i'm not obese or overweight (mass-height ratio is perfect)