Could Medical Marijuana
Have Prevented Gulf War Syndrome?
Derivative Combats Nerve Gas, Say Israeli Reports
From Scripps Howard News ServiceJune 5, 1998
By Julian Borger, The Scripps Howard News Service
See
Marijuana
Derivative Blocks Irreversible Brain Damage After Accidents; Another Way Marijuana
Prohibition Kills
(Ed. note: Many people believe that the "Gulf War
Syndrome" is the result of chemicals given to protect against nerve gas and/or the
consequence of exposure to Iraqi nerve gas. This report is a bit muddled. Dexanabinol is
not a "substitute for hashish," but simply one cannabis constituent. In any
case, this is just one more example of the hidden cost of the suppression of medical
marijuana. Now disabled vets who use medical marijuana to ease their symptoms have to live
in fear of the government they fought for. And why are we having to find out about US Army
tests from the Israeli press? Because they would "send the wrong message about
marijuana" and interfere with the persecution of disabled veterans?)
MARIJUANA SUBSTITUTE COMBATS NERVE GAS
JERUSALEM—The best available protection against nerve gas attack comes from an
Israeli-made synthetic equivalent of marijuana, U.S. military experiments have shown.
In U.S. Army tests, rats injected with Dexanabinol, a chemical
substitute for hashish, were more than 70 percent less likely to suffer epileptic seizures
or brain damage after exposure to sarin and other nerve gases, according to results
published in the Israeli press Thursday.
The drug was developed by an Israeli pharmaceutical firm, Pharmos, to treat head
injuries and strokes, but now it looks likely to become part of the standard chemical
warfare kit carried by NATO troops after the results of the tests were announced at a
conference in Maryland last month.
Dr. Anat Biagon, deputy director-general for research at Pharmos, told the newspaper
Ha’aretz: "Dexanabinol can be used as part of the standard treatment in an
attack using nerve gas, along with atropin. The drug can
diminish nerve damage of the kind we witnessed in Gulf War syndrome."
It is thought to interact with neural receptors in the brain in the same way as
marijuana, and thereby block the damaging effects of nerve agents.
The U.S. tests suggest it’s effective as an antidote and as a preventative
measure. So far, tests have only been carried out on rodents, but experiments on humans
are expected to be the next stage.
Until then, no one can be sure whether Dexanabinol has the same mellowing side-effects
as organic marijuana.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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