Medical Marijuana Vs Alzheimer's

What is Alzheimer's disease? Alzheimer's disease is a mental deterioration in seniors that causes severe memory loss.

How is the brain affected? Well, a normal brain will slowly shrink with aging. Yet, neurons will not die off in large numbers. During Alzheimer's, the chemical and electrical communication between neurons in the brain are grossly distorted. This results in the death of cells. The hippocampus portion of the brain is in charge of making new memories. However, when Alzheimer's takes over, this area of the brain is exceptionally vulnerable. The hippocampus will begin to shrink up. Dementia Care Central explains this process, "Picture a large city with all its lights on. Each home, street, and shopping center has its own light switch... Now imagine that a problem occurs with the wiring or circuits... Each home, street, and shopping center gradually loses power and the people are unable to carry on as normal. It eventually becomes harder to cook dinner, drive through the city, and do business in stores." This anecdote shows the strain it would take for someone with dementia to constantly perform daily tasks without fail when all of the circuits are frayed. Ever hear the phrase "lights are on but nobody's home?" Yep, that has also been used to describe dementia.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (more commonly known as THC) is a chemical compound found in cannabis. THC activates certain psychological reactions in the body. One of these important reactions to be addressed is how THC affects amyloid betas (the main component in plaque found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.) One study conducted in La Jolla, California by the Salk Institute concluded that cannabis can lower the number of beta amyloids in the brain. Not only that but there were also results showing that inflammatory responses from nerve cells were prevented. Furthermore, the nerve cells that came as a result of the amyloid beta proteins sustained themselves. These results concluded that THC was beneficial, as it showed signs of preventing Alzheimer's by protecting the brain from plaque manifesting in the brain. According to Alzheimers.net, one of the most crucial elements associated with Alzheimer's is inflammation. In the end, it became aware that THC and THC-like compounds can easily become involved in preserving brain cells from dying.

Personally, I have seen a vast improvement in my grandfather's manners when he uses this treatment. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's just last month after we noticed his dementia progressing at a rapid rate. When he uses medical marijuana (typically around the hour he begins to sun-down) he spends more time in the living room talking to his family rather than being cramped up in his room watching Netflix. His mood lightens up, he talks to everyone, and he overall seems to enjoy the evening far more than when he isn't using medical marijuana. When he talks to my mom and me, he actually makes sense. I can understand almost every word he is saying! Actually, the first time my grandfather used this treatment for his Alzheimer's, the first sentence out of my mouth was "Mom! I can understand grandpa!" He wasn't mumbling and stumbling over his words. And if he did happen to stumble over his words, he didn't get so frustrated that he entirely stopped talking to us for the night. My grandfather is genuinely a happier person when he uses medical marijuana to treat his Alzheimer's disease.

I am not encouraging people to go out and try cannabis just because they heard it may be able to prevent Alzheimer's when used in moderation. I am encouraging the people who see medical marijuana as a controversial topic to see it from the point of view of others. The people who can say their mother is now cancer free, who are hearing the news that their cousin isn't having as many seizures now, the people who aren't suffering from as bad multiple sclerosis. Aiding Alzheimer's disease and dementia will one day no longer be controversial just because it was done using cannabis.