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The Cannabis plant grows almost anywhere.
It is found in Asia - China, Malaysia,
it's found in the Middle East, it's found in Africa
and it also grows, of course, in Europe and the US.
It is used by hundreds, millions of people
for the changes it causes in our thoughts,
in our behavior, in our feeling.
Unfortunately, it is certainly a dangerous drug.
It can cause tolerance, it can cause addiction in some cases.
Luckily, addiction caused by Cannabis
is not as potent as that of *** and ***
and can be treated relatively with ease.
Until quite recently actually, until the mid-sixties,
the active constituent was not known.
We identified the compound: Tetrahydrocannabinol, THC,
which is the only one that causes these changes.
For many years it was unknown whether these changes
are just a non-specific action of THC.
But in the mid-eighties
it was found that there is a receptor in the brain
that is acted upon by THC and starts a cascade of reactions
which causes the changes that we identify as High.
But how come that the brain has a receptor
for a plant constituent? After all,
our brain doesn't have a receptor for every plant constituent,
actually, it doesn't have a receptor for any plant constituent.
So we started working on the assumption,
that maybe there are compounds in the brain
that act on this particular receptor and THC in the plant
actually mimics the action of the compounds in the brain.
Indeed, about 10-15 years ago, we were able to isolate two compounds:
one we called Anandamide and the other is known as 2AG,
that stimulate, that bind to this particular receptor,
and they start a cascade of reactions that we identify as High.
Why do we have that system of receptor endogenous Cannabinoids? Why?
I mean, just in order to cause High? No. This is a very important physiological
system which is involved in a large number of physiological reactions
and in a large number of therapeutic reactions.
For example, Anandamide and 2AG
are involved in Neuroprotection.
When we have a brain trauma, for example,
the brain tries to reduce the damage by overproducing,
if you wish, these compounds which lower the damage.
They are also involved in anxiety. It is involved in sleep, it is involved
in essentially all physiological reactions that have been investigated.
Chances are that this particular system will be the basis on which
a large number of drugs will be developed
At the moment, there is one major drug that has been introduced in Europe.
A company produced an antagonist to the Cannabinoid System
and they use it in order to reduce the appetite
and also to enhance metabolism of fats, so that ultimately we see an effect on
obesity, an effect on all these diseases that are associated with obesity.
Many other companies are working on many different aspects of Cannabinoids;
for example, inflammation, neurological diseases,
maybe Alzheimer's,
and I assume that within the next 10 years,
we shall have a whole array of new drugs,
as many companies are at present working on all these aspects.