Are you anti-marijuana?
If you’re anti-marijuana for recreational use, then well that’s up to you. But if you’re anti-marijuana for medicinal use as well (especially if for “just because”), it might be time to rethink your out-dated stance.
Medical marijuana is prescribed to treat pain, debilitating weight loss and appetite suppression — these are all side effects that are found in advanced AIDS.
According to a new study, marijuana receptors found on immune cells can actually influence the spread of the virus!
Which means that studying this and taking a closer look might just help scientists develop new drugs to slow the progression of AIDS.
Here’s what one of the Doctors said:
“We knew that cannabinoid drugs like marijuana can have a therapeutic effect in AIDS patients, but did not understand how they influence the spread of the virus itself. We wanted to explore cannabinoid receptors as a target for pharmaceutical interventions that treat the symptoms of late-stage AIDS and prevent further progression of the disease without the undesirable side effects of medical marijuana.”
Those cannabinoid receptors are called CB1 and CB2. CB1 is the one that makes you feel high, so they wanted to focus on CB2. The team found that CB2 blocked the signaling process, and suppressed infection in resting immune cells! Incredible!
“Developing a drug that triggers only CB2 as an adjunctive treatment to standard antiviral medication may help alleviate the symptoms of late-stage AIDS and prevent the virus from spreading.”
Medicinal marijuana has an actual place in healthcare, and taking that away would be cruel — no matter what you choose to believe!
As long as there’s sound, non-harmful, helpful medical applications… we say give it a chance.
[Image via AP Images.]
