Photo: AP

OK, let’s not get carried away, but prompted by an offhand comment from our eye doctor to my wife that marijuana leads to Alzheimer’s, I had to do a web search on the matter. The doctor wondered why the rush to legalization when “marijuana leads to Alzheimer’s.” Turns out either he had been smoking some OR getting his news from an unreliable source. I quickly and easily found reports of numerous studies around the country and overseas that in fact, the THC-related compounds in marijuana actually may slow or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease! Certain compounds compete to bind with the amyloid plaque receptors in the brain–those which are associated with the ravages of the brain disease, blocking the formation of the plaque. No less a liberal source than Fox News has reported on this! So, just one more in the many medical applications for marijuana. Come on Congress–get with the 21st century an discard your antediluvian attitudes.

Oh, and don’t take my word for this, here is a very short list of the many studies out there, which came out as much as ten years ago:

Eubanks, Lisa M., et al. “A molecular link between the active component of marijuana and Alzheimer’s disease pathology.” Molecular pharmaceutics 3.6 (2006): 773-777.

Campbell, V. A., and A. Gowran. “Alzheimer’s disease; taking the edge off with cannabinoids?.” British journal of pharmacology 152.5 (2007): 655-662.

Aso, Ester, and Isidre Ferrer. “Cannabinoids for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: moving toward the clinic.” Frontiers in pharmacology 5 (2014).