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Gone to Pot?
ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 6 July 2006 | Mary Beckman

Posted on 07/08/2006 2:48:58 AM PDT by neverdem

In what could be a coup for antimarijuana forces, new research shows that rats exposed to pot's active ingredient at an early age devour more heroin as adults than rats without early exposure. Some experts, though, say the jury is still out on whether the finding is enough to officially label marijuana a "gateway" drug.

According to statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, most adults who take illicit drugs start doing so in their early teens. In addition, the earlier kids start smoking dope, the more likely they are to use harder drugs later on. For example, of people who first puffed weed before age 15, 62% went on to use cocaine and 9% to use heroin. But of those who started smoking pot after age of 20, only 16% moved onto cocaine and 1% to heroin. Some researchers think this means that marijuana is a gateway drug--one that leads to harder drug use. Others point out that such a claim is hard to prove because the same factors that lead people to use marijuana in the first place might also lead them to use other drugs.

To see through the smoke, neuroscientist Yasmin Hurd, now at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, gave 4-week-old rats THC, the most common psychoactive component in cannabis. The researchers injected the rats with the THC equivalent of about three-quarters of a joint (scaled down for a rat's size) every third day for 3 weeks until they reached mid-adolescence, about 7 weeks old. The dose probably created a mild buzz, but not high enough that the rats stumbled. After a week-long break, the rodents were allowed to self-administer heroin using levers that provide the substance.

Rats that had been exposed to THC as "teens" took about 25% more heroin than did their just-say-no peers. Biochemical tests of the adult animals showed that THC-doused brains had the same number of receptors that responded to THC as unexposed rat brains, but more receptors for heroin and more of a compound associated with reward behavior in their neurons, the team reports online 5 July in Neuropsychopharmacology. Whether this indicates marijuana is a "gateway" drug depends on the definition of "gateway," says Hurd. She says both groups of animals took the same amount of time to start taking heroin, suggesting THC use doesn't start them on the path to hedonism, but the THC-primed rats got more into it, suggesting it paves the way for increased use.

"The important finding is the fact that adolescence is a time of increased vulnerability to drugs," says neuropharmacologist Sari Izenwasser of the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida, who notes that such behavior may alter fundamental brain processes. But pharmacologist Aron Lichtman at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond inserts a note of caution. "The data really are very provocative," he says, but not conclusive. He questions whether other reward-reinforcing behavior, such as eating food, would also be increased under these conditions.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: addiction; bogus; cannabis; drugskilledbelushi; garbage; health; heroin; leroyindenial; leroyknowshisrights; libertarians; medicine; onesided; potheads; propaganda; science; warondrugs; wod; wodlist
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To: A CA Guy
"Research has shown that a person can safely drink up to 10 liters of water a day. That would equal 10 one-liter bottles of water."

I wasn't sure about your number, so I double-checked it on my calculator. You were right.

What I'd like to know is how many 10-liter bottles can a person safely drink?

81 posted on 07/09/2006 6:31:35 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen; winston2
winston2:
The constitution does not guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.

paulsen:
You are free to pursue your goal of seeking legislation that legalizes the use of marijuana.

We should all pursue the goal of restoring rights unconstitutionally criminalized by those who prohibit them, people like paulsen.

82 posted on 07/09/2006 6:39:45 AM PDT by tpaine
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To: robertpaulsen
"Research has shown that a person can safely drink up to 10 liters of water a day. That would equal 10 one-liter bottles of water."= a ca gal

I wasn't sure about your number, so I double-checked it on my calculator. You were right.

IWhat I'd like to know is how many 10-liter bottles can a person safely drink? - rp

You guys sure are humg up swatting at gnats. In the meantime, the crows are carrying everything shiny away!

83 posted on 07/09/2006 8:50:37 AM PDT by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
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To: robertpaulsen
"I claim that the ingestion of a naturally occurring plant is one of the "pursuits of happiness"(winston2) The constitution does not guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.

The Constitution did claim to protect our rights - not suppress them.

You are free to pursue your goal of seeking legislation that legalizes the use of marijuana.

How generous of you!

Do you think the colonists should have sought legislation from England to approve their Boston Tea Party?

84 posted on 07/09/2006 10:12:35 AM PDT by winston2 (In matters of necessity let there be unity, in matters of doubt liberty, and in all things charity:-)
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To: robertpaulsen
"I wonder what those numbers would be if "nicotine cigarettes" were substituted for "weed"."
And if they were nearly the same, then what?

Well obviously, more research dollars would be needed, since tobacco would be a "gateway drug" as well.

85 posted on 07/10/2006 4:45:27 PM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: robertpaulsen
Why would you conclude that? She only mentioned alcohol and tobacco.

I didn't quote her, but another portion of the article about pleasure receptors (which AFAIK every drug stimulates) in support of my statement ... so why are you misleadingly asking about what she said?

So, do you concede that marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco are gateway drugs?

If this research is correct, some portion of the "gateway effect" of marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco is neurochemical. What of it?

86 posted on 07/16/2006 10:52:43 AM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: All; MotleyGirl70; hole_n_one; RedBloodedAmerican

Really Funny Stuffhttp://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=908


87 posted on 07/16/2006 10:56:44 AM PDT by cmsgop ( President Mahmud Ahmadinejad Must Purify Himself in The Waters of Lake Minnetonka)
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To: muawiyah
Well, then, when they start stealing enough to pay for Big H, they are no longer protected by poverty.

So your "argument" is that poverty protects druggies from hard drugs ... except when it doesn't. Very persuasive.

88 posted on 07/16/2006 10:59:59 AM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Know your rights
Well, you have your druggies who aren't thieves, and then you have your druggies who are thieves.

Are there different kinds?

89 posted on 07/16/2006 3:41:51 PM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: muawiyah
you have your druggies who aren't thieves, and then you have your druggies who are thieves.

Your point being ...?

90 posted on 07/16/2006 7:56:01 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Know your rights

That being a druggy involves choices that may have moral consequences.


91 posted on 07/16/2006 7:58:15 PM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: muawiyah
Also true for many categories other than "druggy."
92 posted on 07/16/2006 8:04:07 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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