Dr.
Robert Melamede
B.A., Anatomy/Physiology,
Herbert H. Lehman College, 1969; M.S., Biochemistry, Herbert
H. Lehman College, 1972; Ph.D.,Biochemistry, City University
of New York, 1980; Associate Professor and Chair, Department
of Biology, UCCS, 2001-present.
Research Interests:
Free Radicals: oxidative lesions in DNA and their repair; monoclonal
antibodies to lesions in the DNA and to base excision repair
enzymes; effect of cannabinoids on the aging process; chaos
and open system thermodynamics as a model for living systems.
Advisor for: General
biology, microbiology
Contact: rmelamed@uccs.edu
Pot-TV
Special featuring cannabanoid expert Dr. Robert Melamede
Cannabis News: Smoking
Pot Doesn't Harm Brain Function
Dr. Robert J. Melamede Ph.D. Chairman of the Biology Department
of the University of Colorado:
Conducting Scientific research on Cannabinoids
Phone: 719-262-3135
University of Colorado
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Room 232
PO Box 7150
Colorado Springs, CO 80933-7150
rmelamed@uccs.edu
The Cannabinoid System has been around for over
600 million years. Before the Dinosaurs. The Cannabinoid System
is continuously evolutioning and has been retained by all new
species. Food and feeding is at the heart of the Cannabinoid
System.
1. Cannabinoids are in every living animal on
the planet above Hydra and Mollusks, with the exception of insects.
Bodies are homeostatically maintained by the Cannabinoid System.
2. Mothers give their babies a booster shot of
cannabinoids in mothers milk to give them the munchies because
they have to learn to eat. (they've been fed thru the umbilical
cord and did not have to know how to eat.)
3. Mice lacking the CB1 receptors don't like any
changes. If they are moved to another part of the cage they
act upset and when they are put back to the original spot in
the cage they relax, but if then put into another part of the
cage they get upset again. Comment: I wonder if people, especially
drug warriors, had their CB1 receptors blocked then they would
resist change and the ones of us that have unblocked CB1 receptors
enjoy the benefits of cannabinoids are a lot more relaxed and
not paranoid about or over change. Interesting thought. It turns
out that that thought is absolutely correct. Many people' brains
are not capable of a good connection to the CB1 CB2 receptors.
4. All new species utilize cannabinoids.
5. By being alive and breathing air our bodies
produce "free radicals". Cannabinoids help to reverse
this action.
6. Cannabinoids do kill brain cells, but the brain
cells they kill are called "Glioma" or Cancer of the
brain(Tumor). All other brain cells are protected and healed
by cannabinoids. (Glioma cells cannot tolerate the action of
cannabinoids)
7. Cannabinoids protect against sunburn and skin
cancer because of the CB1 receptors in our skin.
8. Cannabinoids slow down the aging process. Mice
that their brains respond to cannabinoids live longer and mice
that have brains that block the CB1 receptors die younger.
9. Activity in the evolutionary advanced areas
of the brain is increased in cannabinoids receptors and promotes
higher consciousness levels.
10. Cannabinoids are even found in the white blood
cells (CB2 receptors). The CB2 receptors are found predominantly
on immunological cells and regulate the shift in the immune
system to the anti-inflammatory mode.
11. Cannabinoids protect the heart against Arythmia.
12. The way it works on pain is there is specific
nerves that deal with pain. They are called vanilloid-Receptors.
Anandamide(sanscript word for "Blissful Amide"), the
bodies internally produced marijuana binds with the nerve endings,
reducing pain. Anandamides are produced internally by our bodies
in response to a whole variety of conditions. As an example,
Aspirin prevents the breakdown of Anandamide, the internally
produced marijuana to activate & start working at easing
pain. How many old lady's say they "WOULD NEVER" use
marijuana & are actually using the equivalent of marijuana
that their bodies produce as a natural activity, & don't
even realize it. And how many politicians and citizens of the
US do this also & aren't even aware they are condemning
something that their bodies make naturally. Anecdotal evidence
is valid because when a person smokes marijuana & it relieves
their pain, then they smoke it again & it relieves their
pain again it becomes a fact known only to that person, but
nonetheless true.
13. In the case of most autoimmune diseases, the
bodies immune cells produces free radicals & is destroying
it's own body as a foreign object. Cannabis pushes the immune
system into anti inflammatory mode & helps slow the progression
of that disease, thereby slowing down the aging process.
14. Seizures are controlled by marijuana not only
THC, but non-psychoactive cannabidiol.(CBD) The exact mechanism
is not known, however HEMP is high in CBD's & can cancel
out the psychoactive high of THC & at the same time benefits
the user or smoker. Cannabinoids control everything in our bodies
including our minds.
15. There are many other things that Cannabinoids
do in the body, besides attaching to the CB1 and CB2 receptors,
the main cannabinoid receptors in the higher part of our brain.
Cannabinoids affect our skin and other parts of our bodies.
16. Pharmaceutical companies are working at sythesizing
different cannabinoid components and different types of strains
of marijuana. If they can succeed, then there will be more choices
for you and I to choose from and we will be able to use what
works best for our particular bodies.
17. The natural course for mankind, because of
the location of our CB1 CB2 the brains main receptors, is to
be more stoned.
18. Drug warriors are not doing what they are
doing to us because they are intentionally evil, but because
they are more primitive(obtuse comes to mind). They look at
the world with fear and hostility not cooperativity and understanding.
19. According to a brain function study of 150
depressed people Cannabis protects the brain against healthy
cell death and it also protects Neurons.
20. Cannabinoids dilate our brochial tubes and
help asthsma sufferers to breath both in and out. Because of
the balance that is maintained in our bodies for good health
there are instances where it works backwards, where death is
possible, if too much is smoked. This goes back to the effects
of cannabinoids on individuals and if it doesn't work for you,
you should not use it. There was some old studies that were
done back in 1977 where "AEROSOLIZED THC" was used
on patients. This is not what the government tells us when they
say it's not medicine, but we are all familiar with the 7 government
patients that are supplied marijuana to be used as medicine
and we know the government is lying.
21. Natural pain eradication by cannabinol used
by our receptors.
22. Cannabinoids control how we view the future.
If you're loaded with bad experiences you're going to be fearful
of the future. Lots of smoking of cannabinoids makes you want
to be in the future. Lack of change vs embracing the future
and changes. Conservative people might die prematurely, stressed,
uptight and fearful (genocide). Open minded people and mice
are able to change, whereas; people with defective receptors
and knock-out mice (mice that have had their receptors removed)
will keep going to the platform after it has been removed. They
will be fearful of change.
23. Cannabinoids prevent and treat certain types
of Cancer. Glioma (Brain Cancer) along with pheochromocytoma,
skin cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, Lymphoma and Leukemia.
Cannabinoids may prevent or cure cancer. Cannabinoids have a
way of killing the bad cells and protecting the good ones.
24. Cannabis gives relief to Liver Disease &
constant uncontrollable itching. Also, lack of sleep and depression
and has been doing so for 600 million years.
25. THC in low doses relieves anxiety, while huge
doses promote anxiety. (It's too strong like Marinol) Smoking
marijuana relieves anxiety. Marijuana promotes sleeping better
and normal persons when they are deprived of marijuana would
have difficulty sleeping. (One other thing I'd like to add:
When ingested, delta 9 THC, on the first pass thru the liver,
changes into delta 11 THC. Five times as psychoactive and much
longer lasting. I don't know how many people understand that.
Ralph)
26. Cannabis protects nerve cells from dying thus
protects against Altzheimers Disease.
27. Our bodies make up marijuana like compounds
to make us hungry. (gives us the munchies) Then turn off those
compounds & we don't have the munchies anymore when it has
had enough food. The cannabinoid system first appeared 600 million
years ago. Food & feeding is at the heart of evolution &
the development of new species.
28. Head injuries cause the body to produce Endo-cannabinoids
to protect itself as well as protecting the body against Nerve
Gas. Marijuana turns on the bodies Protective Mode, because
when you're hungry the body makes Cannabinoids to turn on your
hunger. Cannabinoids turn on the expression of a Particular
Gene (at the same time it prevents the expression of other Genes).
How the Marijuana Receptors change the Integral Bio-Chemistry.
Some of the Molecules that are involved or been studied in a
Model Organism. There is a worm that people study alot. They
have very simple Nervous Systems so you can define what exactly
is going on. It turns out this one Particular Molecule regulates
what is known as a Transcription Factor (It turns on the Expression
of Genes.) It turns out that when you turn on the Expression
of this Particular Gene of the Worm Model it actually promotes
Mimicking a condition that actually Promotes Longevity of these
worms. This Parallels what we've seen in mice. Because Marijuana
exhibits Free Radicals so people who've been using Cannabis,
Long Term, tend to Live Longer & Look Younger. Marijuana
Promotes your Health by affecting your Nerve Cells, by Balancing
your Immune System, by Reducing Fat Deposition in your Cardio-Vascular
System. It looks as if it helps Burn the Synthesis of things
like Cholesterol.
29. New research shows that the argument over
outlawing cannabis because it "Causes Cancer" is no
longer valid. There are Nicotine Receptors in your throat. There
are no Cannabinoid Receptors in your throat. Cells have a Bio-chemical
Program known as "APOPTOSIS". This Bio-chemical Program
is activated when cells too damaged to repair themselves commit
suicide. There is a Bio-chemical Pathway that controls that.
Nicotine activates a path that protects the cells from dying.
Smoking anything puts Carcinogens into your Air Passage-ways
and Cardio-Vascular system. Cells that get damaged by smoke
die and that's what you want to happen. Cells to die before
they become Cancer Cells.
30. Cannabinoids modulate pain peripherally. In
our bodies there are special kinds of pain receptors, known
as Vanaloid receptors & they are sensitive to things like
heat & excessive pressure & they are responsible for
pain. It turns out that a natural regulator of that that down-regulates
pain. The endocannabinoid known as Anandamide, the blissful
amide, when you combine Sanskrit for ananda & amide for
the chemical type. It's clearly known that cannabis can regulate
pain, that's been done in numerous studies, but recently , as
we learn more about the molecular mechanisms of pain & cannabinoid
action what we have now learned is that there is a lot of crosstalk
between the cannabinoid system & the morphine, the opioid
system. The name of an article that just came out is called
Chronic morphine modulates the contents of the endocannabinoid
tuorachidonalglycerol in the rat brain. So, tuorachidonalglycerol
is another endocannabinoid. We feel pain thru the sensory nerves
that are telling us that we're in a painful situation &
on the other hand we feel it within our minds because certain
areas of our brain subsequently get tickled. What we are seeing
now is that the cannabinoid system works both peripherally &
centrally & what we are gonna talk about here is this new
work that links the cannabinoids more with the opioids in that
opioids & cannabinoids are among the most widely consumed
drugs of abuse in humans & phenomena of cross-tolerations
or mutual potentiation demonstrated between these two drugs.
Some of the recent work on pain has come out of England as a
result of work done by G.W. Pharmaceuticals which is a company
that specializes in producing cannabis plants. They've developed
different strains that have different ratios of the cannabinoids
& those different plants have different properties. In the
past I've mentioned Bi-Polar disorder. Some people who are Bi-Polar
& are depressive find Sativa's are good to help elevate
them & if they're in an elevated mood & in a manic state
they have to be brought down alittle & the Indica's seem
to be better for that & likewise they're different ratio's
of these cannabinoids that are thought to benefit for example
pain, more than others, that are thought to benefit auto-immune
diseases. This is being worked out, but what I'd like to go
into now is that some of the new links that seem to be occurring
in this particular study that I just mentioned, what they are
finding is that chronic administration of Opioids is in fact
down-regulating the tuorachidonalglycerol which as mentioned,
is one of the endo-cannabinoids. Interestingly the Anandamide
level seem to be remaining the same, but this other one, tuorachidonalglycerol
seems to be down-regulated. In knock-out mice, these are mice
where a particular gene is missing, it turns out that you can
eliminate alot of the withdrawal systems associated with opium
if you have knocked out the receptors. When people go thru withdrawal,
they get terribly nauseous & feel horribly sick, well, what
we do know cannabinoids control nausea. That's why it's being
used by people who are receiving Chemo-therapy or disorders
where they are chronically nauseous. Cannabinoids can be very
effective for that. So what we are seeing is that morphine turns
down the Endogenous cannabinoid Arachidonic acid & that
seems to be involved in some of the addictive behavior &
this is kind of interesting because we know that cannabinoids
themselves other than very twisted circumstances do not show
addictive behavior. On the one hand we have the cannabinoid
potentiating the morphine, in that people who need morphine
for pain can often use 50% of what they normally use by including
cannabinoids & on the other hand, we're seeing that the
cannabinoid receptor system is involved in addiction & I
mentioned a long time ago, that cannabinoids can be beneficial
for some people in their attempt to withdraw & now we're
seeing support for that in that chronic morphine administration
is turning off one of the cannabinoids that's in turn, turning
on some of the withdrawal systems.
31. Cannabinoids represent a general class of
chemicals, not just cannabis & THC in plants, but rather
also cannabinoids that are produced in our bodies. These happen
to be Lipid compounds that result from burning & making
fats. The thing that is so unique about this system represents
how it works so broadly for various health reasons. That is
that every single system in our bodies & by system I mean
our nervous system or digestive system or reproductive system
or immunological system or endocrine system, you name it &
the cannabinoids are involved in maintaining what's known as
homostasis balance. We need to have the right amount of these
components of this system which includes the compounds like
THC which is better known as Lygan. They bind to specific receptors
& then they are broken down by another enzyme that breaks
down these things. So, we have a whole network of bio-chemistry
that's influencing everything in our bodies. The question that
arises is that the whole is always greater than the sum of its
parts. The system, the cannabinoid system influencing everything
in our bodies & the question is what are the nature of the
wholes? What are the greater pictures that emerge out of this
cannabinoid systems activity. So we see, for example, regulating
reproductive system, digestive system, immune system & when
they are all working together in a way that is concertedly modulated
by the cannabinoid system what can we expect to see, & I
would suggest that what's represented by the influences of cannabinoids
& cannabis on our mind, in that it opens up our minds to
new ways of thinking, it free's us from being stuck in a single
track of thinking & that's exactly the kind of thought processes
that are required as we move into the future which is generally
composed of the unknown. What the cannabinoid system is doing
is giving us a way to peacefully & lovingly adapt to change
& be open to change. We see in these mice that we can knock-out
the cannabinoid system that they are afraid of change. The implications
of this are really profound if in fact we have people that are
shifted one way or the other in terms of their ability to modulate
& accept change that is of profound importance because we
see people that are afraid to look forward, happily embracing
the future. There are health ramifications for all of this.
The cannabinoid system can help us with cardio-vascular disease
where it reduces infarctsize with auto-immune diseases where
it helps ameliorate & prevent the development of a whole
variety of auto-immune diseases including things like arthritis,
multiple sclerosis, diabetes, crones disease & it's also
involved with, as a natural regulator of our pain. So we have
this holistic medicine that's influencing so many things &
I forgot to mention that it regulates our memories & mental
pains & in fact, regulates alot of life/death decisions
in our cells, nerve cells in particular, which is why it's so
beneficial for neurological disorders often associated with
the aging, such as Alzheimer's disease. What we're seeing is
a holistic medicine & again it has to be used appropriately,
too little is no good, & we may be making enough. Individuals
may be making enough, but there could be many many people who
are not making enough or their system is not active enough who
will be able to benefit from the use of cannabis & other
cannabinoids. To regulate all of the things we've mentioned
that it regulates. So, we've got a holistic health program.
To find the balance that's required for our optimum health is
something that's totally built into the cannabinoid system.
Therefore, it should be readily available to use wisely.
------------------------------------
Letter to Karry Mullis Nobel Prize Laureate
11/14/94
Dear Karry,
Thanks for your endorsement of my senatorial attempt.
I got 1% of the vote at a cost of Webster New Collegiate Dictionary
religion 1: (2) commitment or devotion to religious faith or
observance; 2: a personal or institutionalized system of religious
attitudes, beliefs, or practices; 4: a cause, principle or system
of beliefs held to with ardor or faith.
For about 20 years I have devoted much of my mental
and spiritual efforts to developing an understanding that provides
me and others with a scientific foundation for what I see as
the common denominator underlying apparently diverse religious
beliefs. The principles of nonequilibrium thermodynamics provides
the framework for this effort. This branch of physics deals
with the flow of energy in open systems (the biosphere and all
life forms) and has been pioneered by Ilyia Prigogine who received
the Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work in 1977. Unlike equilibrium
thermodynamics (classical) which cannot account for life other
than by a miracle, this new branch can be viewed as mandating
it. Evolution of complex systems, inclusive of creativity, are
intrinsic to my interpretation of nonequibirium thermodynamics
as being the prime manifestation of the will of God. From this
perspective I would interpret man being made "in the image
of God" as meaning that we must embrace God's fundamental
characteristic of creativity, which includes cooperatively and
evolution.This principle is most elegantly displayed in the
evolution of the human brain and the political and social systems
that have co-developed with it. Scientifically, it has been
demonstrated that the number of THC (active ingredient in marihuana)
receptors increases as one looks higher up the evolutionary
ladder, and furthermore, these receptors are found in highest
numbers in those portions of the brain associated with human
intelligence. Therefore I conclude, both logically and religiously
from personal revelation, that the stimulation of these receptors
is involved in thought processes that are representative of
the will of God, i.e. the creative process. Personal exploration
of my receptors, in particular by altering their activity levels
through the intelligent religious use of natural plant products,
is mandated by everything that I know scientifically, and believe
religiously. Thermodynamically speaking, for a stable steady
state to evolve to a new regime, the fluctuations around the
average of the variables of the system must expand and in fact
mathematically approach infinity prior to a nonlinear rearrangement
that will lead to a new stable steady state. I believe that
this process will manifest itself socially and politically as
"heaven on earth". Individually this rearrangement
will be seen as a jump in man's average lifetime and average
level of health and intelligence. Practically speaking this
new age should be characterized by peace, harmony and love,
all of which are characteristics that are required for the next
level of social, individual and molecular cooperativity. I hope
your organization can help me defend my constitutional rights
against mindless authoritarianism.
sincerely
Robert Melamede Ph.D. Asst. Prof.
Dept Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Stafford Building
University of Vermont
Burlington VT 05405
http://www.uccs.edu/~rmelamed/Evolutionism/medical_uses_of_cannabinoid_2/
SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 18, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Cannabis
Science Inc. (NASD OTCBB: CBIS:), an emerging pharmaceutical
cannabis company, announced today that patent filings are expected
for two of its key innovations. "The Drug Development Team
members recognize the importance of having our first cannabis-based
medicine covered, not just by one patent, but by two,"
Dr. Mary J. Ruwart, Vice President, Research & Development
explained. "A competitor can sometimes engineer
a way around a single patent. Patenting both the manufacturing
process as well as the delivery system virtually guarantees
that our product will be immune to 'invasion' by a competing
company."
Cannabis Science CEO, Steve Kubby, is the
inventor who will assign both of his patents to Cannabis Science.
"Our new manufacturing process allows for the rapid and
uniform harvesting of cannabis 'trichomes,' the part of the
plant containing the active ingredient, THC," Kubby told
potential investors today. "Just as the cotton gin made
cotton harvesting economically feasible, our innovative process
will revolutionize trichome harvesting."
"Having a creative mind like Steve Kubby's at the helm
gives us a competitive advantage," Dr. Robert Melamede,
Chief Scientific Officer commented. "The new manufacturing
process is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The unique
drug delivery system he has designed enhances the stability
and uniform absorption of the active ingredient. We expect our
first product to outshine the competition with rapid---and prolonged---blood
levels of THC." More
here!
