Overview

Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement. Symptoms start gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common, but the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement.Our bodies make natural cannabinoids that control sleep, appetite, mood and other processes by binding to receptors throughout the body and brain. These receptors are found in particularly high numbers in the basal ganglia, a circuit of brain cells that controls movement and is affected in Parkinson's.Although the medications that doctors prescribe can be helpful, there remain gaps in what the medications can treat. Understandably, people with PD are eager to find alternative methods to help their symptoms, leading many of these patients to look into whether other therapies, such as medical marijuana, also known as medical cannabis, can be useful.Pre-clinical work, including several studies funded by MJFF, shows that cannabinoids may protect brain cells through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.Clinical studies have evaluated whether marijuana can ease Parkinson's motor and non-motor symptoms as well as levodopa-induced dyskinesia, involuntary movements that may result with long-term use of levodopa and many years of living with PD. In general, trials show mixed results (some positive, some negative), which leaves patients, doctors and researchers with insufficient evidence that medical marijuana and cannabinoids are an effective treatment for Parkinson's. Because the cannabinoids in marijuana bind to the receptors in our body and brain, researchers have looked at whether they could bind to basal ganglia and other receptors to modify the course of PD or help ease symptoms of disease.arkinson's disease (PD) can be very challenging to cope with, causing a mixture of motor and non-motor symptoms that affect nearly every aspect of daily living.

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