Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer's

Researchers at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla have discovered that use of marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer's more effectively than many prescription drugs. Yet another possible medical use for medical marijuana, and yet the "drug zcar" uses our tax money to campaign in vartious states claiming marijuana has no documented medical uses. What it apparently does is to prevent an enzyme called acetlycholinesterase from accelerating the formation of "Alzheimer's plaques" in the brain. Of course it's only research with mice at this stage.

I'm sad that drug law reform has not been an issue at all in the presidential campaign. Early on various advocates got most of the Democratic candidates, including Obama, to vow not to use the feds to go after patients and dispensaries in states with medical marijuana laws. McCain, of course, took exactly the wrong position on the issue. But it really hasn't come up since. I remember 1992, when Clinton won, going to a Drug Policy Alliance convention and finding most reformers ecstatic, convinced real reform was on the way. But Clinton soon set new records for marijuana arrests. Never underestimate the capacity for hypocrisy of a politician.