Long-term harmful effects of marijuana include risk for heart attacks and strokes in addition to impaired learning and memory.
The active chemical in marijuana, called delta-9-tetrahyrdocannabinol (THC), is believed to exert these effects by binding to cannabinoid (CB) receptors located on several cell types in various organs.
Scientists have found CB receptors in many organs including the brain, heart, liver, kidney, and spleen. In this study, researchers investigated if persistent heavy marijuana use might be associated with changes in different blood proteins in order to check if the abnormalities in the identified proteins might be related to other side-effects of marijuana.
The study was conducted with 18 long term heavy marijuana users and 24 non-drug using volunteers. People with major medical and psychiatric illnesses, hypertension, head injury, HIV positive, alcohol dependency and other drug usage, were excluded from the study. Blood proteins were measured in both control volunteers and marijuana users using a new method (protein chip) that has the potential to identify several new target proteins.
That approach showed that apolipoprotein C-III (apoC-III) showed significant increases in marijuana abusers. ApoC-III belongs to a large family of proteins that interact with lipids and helps lipids to move into and out of cells. ApoC-III is involved in transport of triglycerides and delays the breakdown of triglycerides. Increases in apoC-III levels in the blood occur in parallel with increases in triglyceride levels.
Even though it is unclear how heavy marijuana use might cause increases in apoC-III levels, this protein might be one of the reasons why some marijuana users have increased risks of heart attack and strokes.
Citation: Heavy Marijuana Users show Increased Serum Apolipoprotein C-III levels: Evidence from proteomic analyses
S Jayanthi, S Buie, S Moore, RI Herning, W Better, NM Wilson, C Contoreggi, JL Cadet, Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication 13 MAY 2008 – 05:00 PM EST
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Take a look at how these
Take a look at how these morons selected their "heavy user" group. Nobody smokes that much cannabis.
"'Chronic marijuana use is not only causing people to get high, it's actually causing long-term adverse effects in patients who use too much of the drug,' Cadet, whose study is in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, said in a telephone interview. 'Chronic marijuana abuse is not so benign.'
The marijuana users in the study averaged smoking 78 to 350 marijuana cigarettes per week, based on self-reported drug history, the researchers said."
Having once been a heavy pot smoker many years ago, I cannot recall ever having smoked even at the low end of that range. At my heaviest level of use with virtually unlimited supply I might smoke at most 4 to 5 joints per day at the high end. Two to three was more typical. I can't recall any of my former pot-smoking buddies smoking that much either. 350 joints per week? That's a person smoking 50 joints per day: simply unbelievable.
That's what we get from government sponsored cannabis research though: prevarications, exaggerations, and outright lies to further a political agenda.