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| 18th century cannabis cures are making a comeback. (Source: Wikipedia) |
WHILE the latest research on cannabis confirms
anecdotes that weed slows and even removes Alzheimer’s, the dagga couple of SA
still have a long fight to change the illegal status of the drug in South
Africa.
On their non-profit organisation website, Fields
of Green for All, the infamous dagga couple, Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke,
said their case will finally come to court on July 31, 2017. And after all their
effort to get there, the Pretoria high court will have to escalate the questions
raised on the constitutionality of being arrested for possessing dagga to the
Constitutional Court. The couple have also sued seven South African government
departments on charges of enacting unlawful laws.
KZN-based Cannabis Community and Regulatory
Authority’s (Saccra) Janet O’Donoghue said much rides on the case, with South
Africa’s traditional and self-medicating markets waiting to have arrests
stopped, especially for possession, as well as other legislation changed to
allow the medicinal use of cannabis.
Do this when arrested
The dagga couple said the police waste a
staggering amount of money on dagga cases each year. On their website, they cite
SA Police statistics from 2014, which show that R43 784 664 000 was spent on
arresting and unsuccessfully trying to convict 182 436 people — an average of
507 people a day — for possessing weed.
While they are trying to change the law that
causes this waste, O’Donoghue advised anyone arrested for possession to be calm
and polite, plead not guilty, quote the dagga couple’s case, and then ask the
warrant officer for police bail.
“Then the worst that can happen is the case will
be remanded to the high court and become part of the dagga couple’s
queue.”
‘Poison’ still healing
Ironically, dagga was not just legal pre-1906,
but Dutch colonial laws could see one jailed for not growing marijuana to supply
fibre for hemp.
The wheel has turned full circle since the
banning of marijuana as a dangerous substance in California, and more
laboratories are now confirming the plant’s vital properties for the human body
and mind.
The latest such study by the Salk Institute
found tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other compounds found in marijuana can
promote the cellular removal of amyloid beta, a toxic protein associated with
Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of
dementia and its incidence is expected to triple during the next 50 years.
“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,” said Salk’s Professor David Schubert, the senior
author of the study, in a statement.
“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,” said Schubert.
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| Professor David Schubert |
THC and inflammation
In a manuscript published in June 2016’s Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, the Salk
team also studied nerve cells altered to produce high levels of amyloid beta to
mimic aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers 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,” said 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 signalling in the brain.
Schubert emphasised 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.
The study was supported by the U.S. National
Institutes of Health, The Burns Foundation and The Bundy Foundation.
… but don’t tell anyone
Back in Cato Ridge, O’Donoghue pointed out that
the current Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Act of 2015 subtly
prohibits even telling people of any of the above.
“The act gives a very broad definition for
medicine as any substance that heals or prevents ill health in humans or
animals, and the spirit of this act is that only qualified doctors are allowed
to discuss ‘medicine’ with their patients.
“In terms of the context of this definition in
the act, even water, which certainly prevents ill health in humans or animals,
can qualify as medicine, and in the current context of the law we cannot tell
each other about it.
“There is still a lot to fix in our legal system
to free up traditional healing and self-medication,” O’Donoghue said.
The dagga couple are less diplomatic. “Cannabis
prohibition is an unlawful and racist law and we are taking it all the way to
the Constitutional Court.
“We intend taking our case all the way to the
International Court of Human Rights — taking every government in the world to
task on this issue — so this plant never has to be put on trial again, anywhere
in the world,” the couple state on their website.
