Marijuana May Be A Weapon Against Brain Aging, Suggests New Study

We'll never know the benefits until our idiotic federal legislators remove the Schedule 1 designation and clinical research can begin in earnest. I will get some from some legal state or country after my next stroke. DO NOT follow me, I'm not medically trained and am stroke-addled. You can ask if this is better than young blood.

My 13 reasons for marijuana use post-stroke. 

Consuming Cannabis Could Slash Your Chances Of Blood Clots, Stroke: Study

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2017/05/30/marijuana-may-be-a-weapon-against-brain-aging-suggests-new-study/#6d616c6f7269

David DiSalvo , Contributor

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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Since the legalization movement began hitting full stride, new research discoveries about marijuana’s potential health benefits have been surfacing with regularity. Among the most recent, a study shows that the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), restores cognitive function in the brains of mice by rolling back the aging process.
The study builds from a theory that the brain’s endocannabinoid system (home of the receptors that THC binds to) is related to cognitive aging and decline. The older we get, the more the activity in this system slows down; our brains gradually produce fewer naturally occurring endocannabinoids. The outcomes from this slowdown aren’t entirely understood, but there’s enough evidence from animal models to suggest that it’s tied to memory loss and decreased learning ability.
"With increasing age, the quantity of the cannabinoids naturally formed in the brain reduces," quoting Professor Andreas Zimmer, one of the study’s authors. "When the activity of the cannabinoid system declines, we find rapid aging in the brain."

So, if it’s possible to somehow recharge the system, it could be possible to reverse or at least reduce the cognitive slowdown. That’s what the researchers tried with old mice, and the results were remarkable. When they studied the brain tissue and gene activity of the mice after a low-dose THC treatment, they found that the genetic signature no longer looked like that of old mice, but of very young mice. And they found increased nerve links in the brain tissue, which correlates with learning and thinking speed.
Again quoting Zimmer, “It looked as though the THC treatment turned back the molecular clock.”
Yes, these are mice and not humans, and yes, this sort of research would be difficult to perform on humans for obvious ethical reasons–but it’s still extraordinary. It sounds implausible to think that adding low doses of a chemical from a plant could reverse the brain’s aging process, but that’s exactly what this study shows glimpses of in the brain tissue of mice.
While we can’t draw solid conclusions from this study for humans, the results add to a promising list of findings that should continue encouraging cannabis research. It's imperative that that door stays open.
The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

DEA nearly ready to decide on rescheduling marijuana

Our fucking failures of stroke associations should have been on the forefront of this push providing tons of information on its usefulness for stroke. But looking at the websites; NSA, ASA, WSO, there is nothing on this. 
My 13 reasons for marijuana use post-stroke.  

http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2016/08/03/dea-nearly-ready-to-decide-on-rescheduling-marijuana/
Despite their claim to decide by the first half of 2016, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is still in the process of considering whether or not to reschedule marijuana.
The DEA is currently working through an eight-factor analysis to change marijuana’s current Schedule I classification, reports the Cannabist.
“But I can’t give you a time frame as to when we may announce a decision,” said Russ Baer, an agency spokesman, to the Cannabist on Tuesday. “We’re closer than we were a month ago. It’s a very deliberate process.”
Downgrading marijuana to a lesser schedule won’t necessarily help towards legalization, but would open up restrictions to research the plant for medical and scientific purposes.
Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule I substance that’s considered to be dangerous with no medical value, despite the fact that over half of U.S. states have legalized marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes.
DEA officials made their intentions to consider rescheduling marijuana in a letter sent to U.S. lawmakers earlier this year in April.
“DEA understands the widespread interest in the prompt resolution to these petitions and hopes to release its determination in the first half of 2016,” the agency wrote in the 25-page letter.

Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer's proteins from brain cells

I bet no matter what scientific proof is given our legislators will not remove marijuana from Schedule I classification. States will have to do it and drag our federal government kicking and screaming into a new world. Stroke survivors will likely need this due to our increased chances of getting dementia/Alzheimers.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-06-cannabinoids-plaque-forming-alzheimer-proteins-brain.html
Salk Institute scientists have found preliminary evidence that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other compounds found in marijuana can promote the cellular removal of amyloid beta, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.

While these exploratory studies were conducted in neurons grown in the laboratory, they may offer insight into the role of inflammation in Alzheimer's disease and could provide clues to developing novel therapeutics for the disorder.
"Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer's, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells," says Salk Professor David Schubert, the senior author of the paper.
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that leads to memory loss and can seriously impair a person's ability to carry out daily tasks. It affects more than five million Americans according to the National Institutes of Health, and is a leading cause of death. It is also the most common cause of dementia and its incidence is expected to triple during the next 50 years.
It has long been known that amyloid beta accumulates within the nerve cells of the aging brain well before the appearance of Alzheimer's disease symptoms and plaques. Amyloid beta is a major component of the plaque deposits that are a hallmark of the disease. But the precise role of amyloid beta and the plaques it forms in the disease process remains unclear.
In a manuscript published in June 2016's Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, Salk team studied nerve cells altered to produce high levels of amyloid beta to mimic aspects of Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers found that high levels of amyloid beta were associated with cellular inflammation and higher rates of neuron death. They demonstrated that exposing the cells to THC reduced amyloid beta protein levels and eliminated the inflammatory response from the nerve cells caused by the protein, thereby allowing the nerve cells to survive.
"Inflammation within the brain is a major component of the damage associated with Alzheimer's disease, but it has always been assumed that this response was coming from immune-like cells in the brain, not the nerve cells themselves," says Antonio Currais, a postdoctoral researcher in Schubert's laboratory and first author of the paper. "When we were able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to amyloid beta, it became clear that THC-like compounds that the nerve cells make themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from dying."
Brain cells have switches known as receptors that can be activated by endocannabinoids, a class of lipid molecules made by the body that are used for intercellular signaling in the brain. The psychoactive effects of marijuana are caused by THC, a molecule similar in activity to endocannabinoids that can activate the same receptors. Physical activity results in the production of endocannabinoids and some studies have shown that exercise may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Schubert emphasized that his team's findings were conducted in exploratory laboratory models, and that the use of THC-like compounds as a therapy would need to be tested in clinical trials.
In separate but related research, his lab found an Alzheimer's drug candidate called J147 that also removes amyloid beta from nerve cells and reduces the inflammatory response in both nerve cells and the brain. It was the study of J147 that led the scientists to discover that endocannabinoids are involved in the removal of amyloid beta and the reduction of inflammation.

Explore further: Alzheimer protein's structure may explain its toxicity

More information: Antonio Currais et al. Amyloid proteotoxicity initiates an inflammatory response blocked by cannabinoids, npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease (2016). DOI: 10.1038/npjamd.2016.12

Psychosis five times more likely for cannabis users: study

My god, the stupidity of not knowing what cause and effect is. I would say it is vastly more likely that those with psychosis are self medicating with marijuana. But don't listen to me, I'm stupidly stroke-addled. It is obvious they had a conclusion already in mind that they had to support even if it meant not following scientific principles.
You will have to make the decision if the benefits of helping stroke recovery outweigh any possible harm.  But first you will need to pound into your representatives and senators stupid little heads that marijuana does not belong on the Schedule I drug list.
My 13 reasons to use it post-stroke.

http://news.yahoo.com/psychosis-five-times-more-likely-cannabis-users-study-005717669.html

Does Marijuana Harm the Brain?

You will have to make the decision if the benefits of helping stroke recovery outweigh any possible harm.  But first you will need to pound into your representatives and senators stupid little heads that marijuana does not belong on the Schedule I drug list.
My 13 reasons to use it post-stroke.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-marijuana-harm-the-brain/