Marijuana For Depression: New Study Reveals Drug As Viable Treatment
Marijuana for depression may be the next cause that defenders of marijuana legalization latch on to after a new study has indicated the drug could be a viable form of treatment.
Huffington Post reports that neuroscientists from the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions found that “endocannabinoids — chemical compounds in the brain that activate the same receptors as THC, an active compound in marijuana — may be helpful in treating depression that results from chronic stress.”
This marijuana study was conducted on rats and found that production of this chemical compound goes way down under conditions of chronic stress, thus causing a reduction in “our cognition, emotion and behavior,” the news site adds.
While the science isn’t exact at this point, researchers believe that a lack of production for endocannabinoids could explain a lot when it comes to the development of depression, as they “have been linked to reduced feelings of pain and anxiety, increases in appetite and overall feelings of well-being.”
After placing the rats in the study under stress, they applied marijuana cannabinoids to the creatures and found it to be an effective way of restoring the levels of endocannabinoids that are naturally produced in the brain. [more]
