September 8th, 2008
How pot may win the war against super-bacteria
The previous story here featured important information relevant to your life, especially if you’re ill. But I guarantee more of you will read this one.
Pot may be our best weapon in the fight against bacterial infection.
Yes, spleef, mary jane, reefer, wacky tobacky, the stuff that made Cheech & Chong famous. It could save your life.
Scientists working in Italy and England have found that all five cannabinoids — the chemicals found in marijuana — “showed potent activity against a variety of MRSA strains of current clinical relevance.”
In other words, there’s something in there that works against the nastiest of bacteria, those resistant to all current antibiotics, the skin-eating kind, but we’re not quite sure what it is.
A press release on the finding says the substances could also provide a more “environmentally-friendly way” to add anti-bacterial properties to soaps and cosmetics.
Mr. Bubble, now with that extra-special something that gets your kids right to sleep. After some heavy snacking.
Of course, we assume, such marijuana would have to be “de-natured,” rendered harmless or drug free, before it could be used. But what if the same chemicals that get you high are the chemicals that cure?
Here is where science will meet politics. After 10 years we are no closer to dealing with the issue of medical marijuana than we were before. Activists are still being tossed into jail despite some states’ attempts to regulate it. (Alaska is one.)
By and large politicians have succeeded in scaring patients away from marijuana as a way to deal with the pain of cancer. Can they also succeed when the active ingredient becomes our best hope against super-germs?
I wouldn’t bet against them.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 09/08/08
