Pubdate: Thu, 20 Nov 2014
Source: Ubyssey (CN BC Edu)
Copyright: 2014 Ubyssey
Contact:  http://www.ubyssey.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/706
Author: Karolina Kapusta

POT AND PSTD

PROFESSOR STUDIES THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Aside from being a common recreational drug, marijuana may be able to
help with the side affects of anxiety and fear that are common with
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Zach Walsh, who is an associate professor of psychology at UBC
Okanagan, studies the roles of substance use and the impact of drugs
on behavior. Walsh started researching the impact of cannabis six
years ago, as he was interested in finding out more about the world's
most widely-used illegal substance.

Walsh believes that cannabis has great remedial potential that hasn't
been examined because of "the stigma around marijuana and the
prohibitions against research related to it."

Walsh is also interested in studying how and why people use marijuana.
As part of his latest project, Walsh hopes to look into the ways that
marijuana may help with the symptoms of PTSD.

"People who suffer from PTSD, veterans in particular, report
anecdotally that cannabis is helpful with their symptoms," said Walsh.

According to Walsh, a couple of states in the US already have laws
that include PTSD as one of the conditions for which medical marijuana
can be prescribed.

Walsh also said that there are brain imagery studies that show reduced
levels of naturally occurring cannabis-like chemicals and higher
numbers of endocannabinoid receptors in the brains of people who have
PTSD. There are also several animal studies that show that the
endocannabinoid system is important for the maintenance of
fear-related memories which play a big role in PTSD in humans.

Walsh's study, which would conduct clinical trials that look into the
effects of smoking marijuana for people with PTSD, still needs the
go-ahead from a UBC ethics committee and Health Canada in order to
proceed.

If the study is approved, Walsh and his team of researchers expect to
have the results of the clinical trial by late 2016. By aiming to back
up the links between cannabis and PTSD treatement with research, Walsh
hopes to eventually help it be recognized as a prescription medication
for PTSD in Canada.

"There is a lot of therapeutic potential and we just need more
research to figure out the parameters of what that might be," said
Walsh.
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MAP posted-by: Matt