I heard a report on NPR last week describing efforts of European countries to address this issue. Euthanasia was one viable alternative being discussed. Also discussed was building resentment by younger generations for being expected to pay for the care of the elderly.

This is a real and serious issue.

Seems to me the "Christian" thing to do with these people is take care of them the best we can! What if it were your father or mother?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071014163644.htm

Cannabis Use, Effect And Potential Therapy For Alzheimer's, MS and Parkinson's

ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2007) — Cannabis (marijuana) is the most widely produced plant-based illicit drug worldwide and the illegal drug most frequently used in Europe. Its use increased in almost all EU countries during the 1990s, in particular among young people, including school students. Cannabis use is highest among 15- to 24-year-olds, with lifetime prevalence ranging for most countries from 20--40% (EMCDDA 2006).

Recently there has been a new surge in the level of concern about potential social and health outcomes of cannabis use, although the available evidence still does not provide a clear-cut understanding of the issues. Intensive cannabis use is correlated with non-drug-specific mental problems, but the question of co-morbidity is intertwined with the questions of cause and effect (EMCDDA 2006). Prevention is of importance in adolescents, which is underlined by evidence that early-onset cannabis-users (pre- to mid-adolescence) have a significantly higher risk of developing drug problems, including dependence (Von Sydow et al., 2002; Chen et al., 2005).

The illegal status and wide-spread use of cannabis made basic and clinical cannabis research difficult in the past decades; on the other hand, it has stimulated efforts to identify the psychoactive constituents of cannabis. As a consequence, the endocannabinoid system was discovered, which was shown to be involved in most physiological systems -- the nervous, the cardiovascular, the reproductive, the immune system, to mention a few.

One of the main roles of endocannabinoids is neuroprotection, but over the last decade they have been found to affect a long list of processes, from anxiety, depression, cancer development, vasodilatation to bone formation and even pregnancy (Panikashvili et al., 2001; Pachter et al., 2006).

Cannabinoids and endocannabinoids are supposed to represent a medicinal treasure trove which waits to be discovered.

Raphael Mechoulam will tell the discovery story of the endocannabinoid system. His research has not only helped us to advance our understanding of cannabis use and its effects, but has also made key contributions with regard to understanding "neuroprotection," and has opened the door for the development of new drugs.

Endocannabinoid system

In the 1960s the constituent of the cannabis plant was discovered -- named tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC -- which causes the 'high' produced by it (Gaoni & Mechoulam, 1964). Thousands of publications have since appeared on THC. Today it is even used as a therapeutic drug against nausea and for enhancing appetite, and, surprisingly, has not become an illicit drug -- apparently cannabis users prefer the plant-based marijuana and hashish.

Two decades later it was found that THC binds to specific receptors in the brain and the periphery and this interaction initiates a cascade of biological processes leading to the well known marijuana effects. It was assumed that a cannabinoid receptor is not formed for the sake of a plant constituent (that by a strange quirk of nature binds to it), but for endogenous brain constituents and that these putative 'signaling' constituents together with the cannabinoid receptors are part of a new biochemical system in the human body, which may affect various physiological actions.

In trying to identify these unknown putative signaling molecules, our research group in the 1990s was successful in isolating 2 such endogenous 'cannabinoid' components -- one from the brain, named anandamide (from the word ´ananda, meaning ´supreme joy´ in Sanscrit), and another one from the intestines named 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) (Devane et al., 1992; Mechoulam et al., 1995).

Neuroprotection

The major endocannabinoid (2-AG) has been identified both in the central nervous system and in the periphery. Stressful stimuli -- traumatic brain injury (TBI) for example -- enhance brain 2-AG levels in mice. 2-AG, both of endogenous and exogenous origin, has been shown to be neuroprotective in closed head injury, ischemia and excitotoxicity in mice. These effects may derive from the ability of cannabinoids to act through a variety of biochemical mechanisms. 2-AG also helps repair the blood brain barrier after TBI.

The endocannabinoids act via specific cannabinoid receptors, of which the CB1 receptors are most abundant in the central nervous system. Mice whose CB1 receptors are knocked out display slower functional recovery after TBI and do not respond to treatment with 2-AG. Over the last few years several groups have noted that CB2 receptors are also formed in the brain, particularly as a reaction to numerous neurological diseases, and are apparently activated by the endocannabinoids as a protective mechanism.

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For more http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/reprint/25/8/1904.pdf

Kaneh bosm!

Mobiusss,

Rather than old tough humans as a protein source for the starving children. How about this?

From: Hemp Line Journal, July-August 1992, pp. 14-15, Vol. I No. 1

HEMP SEED: THE MOST NUTRITIONALLY
COMPLETE FOOD SOURCE IN THE WORLD
Part On

• • • • • by Lynn Osburn

Seeds of the plant cannabis sativa, hemp seed, contain all the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human life. No other single plant source has the essential amino acids in such an easily digestible form, nor has the essential fatty acids in as perfect a ratio to meet human nutritional needs.
The importance of hemp seed nutrients to human health cannot be fully appreciated without some understanding of bio-chemistry in life. Unfortunately, any attempt to understand the flow of life leads into the realm of the most troublesome of the three infinities -- the infinitely complex.

Some deep thinkers believe life is a paradox not to be understood but experienced to the fullest. However, the Sages have said, "Know thyself." At any rate it is paradoxic to attempt simplifying the infinite complexity of flowing life. Yet, it is far better for the health and development of any thinking and feeling, uniquely individual human being, to pursue knowledge than to lounge in ignorance.

One out of two Americans will die from the effects of cardiovascular disease (CVD). One out of four Americans will die from cancer. Researchers believe cancers erupt when immune system response is weakened. Pioneers in the fields of biochemistry and human nutrition now believe CVD and most cancers are really diseases of fatty degeneration caused by the continued over-consumption of saturated fats and refined vegetable oils that turn essential fatty acids into carcinogenic killers. And if this is not scary enough, more Americans are succumbing to immune deficiency diseases than ever before. Sadly it is ignorance of human nutritional needs that will cause this overwhelming majority of Americans to die slowly from these afflictions -- the greatest killers in affluent nations.

HEMP SEED PROTEINS AND THE
BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE AND IMMUNITY

snipped www.ratical.org/renewables/hempseed1.html