“Ideally, this development will lead to drugs that bind to and activate the THC receptor, but are devoid of the side effects that limit the usefulness of marijuana,” said Lakshmi A. Devi of the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and one of the senior researchers involved in the study. “It would be helpful to have a drug that activated or blocked the THC receptor, and our findings raise the possibility that this will lead to effective drugs with fewer side effects.”

“Last year, scientists found that our skin makes its own marijuana-like substance. Now, we see that our brain has been making proteins that act directly on the marijuana receptors in our head. The next step is for scientists to come up with new medicines that eliminate the nasty side of pot—a better joint, so to speak.”

Better by whose standards? And what exactly is “the nasty side of pot” that “limits the usefulness of marijuana”? Why it’s “the high” of course. That’s what everyone’s afraid of. They don’t want you actually enjoy your medication, now do they. That would be bad.

via Human Brains Make Their Own ‘Marijuana’ — ScienceDaily.

Categories: Pharma, Research

Tags: cannabinoids, cannabis, endocannabinoid system, endocannabinoids, marijuana, medical marijuana