In a major breakthrough, CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. Ruth Ross and an international team of scientists from other institutions have found the human hormone that can reduce the ‘high’ caused by smoking marijuana.
CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. Ruth Ross was a key author of the study.
In an animal study published in the journal Science, researchers discovered a natural chemical brake that can reduce the effects of THC - the main intoxicant in marijuana. This discovery will hopefully lead to the creation of pharmacological treatments to help control cannabis use and the development of drugs without intoxicating side effects for those who use medicinal marijuana.
“The big deal in the paper is uncovering a whole new (brain) system that we didn’t know was there,” said Dr. Ross, a key author of this groundbreaking study. “The brain has and uses (this system) very carefully to control the effects of cannabis. The implications of that will be big.” Dr. Ross is Senior Scientist at CAMH’s Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto.