Cannabis and Cannabinoids

* About the Editors * Contributors * Foreword * Preface * Definitions and Explanations * Part I: Botany, Taxonomy, Chemistry, and History * Chapter 1. Botany of Natural Cannabis Medicines * Introduction * Natural Life Cycle * Agricultural Field Production * Vegetative Crop Production * Resin Gland Development * Cannabis Origins * Cannabis Taxonomy * Medical Cannabis Today * Medical Cannabis Tomorrow * Conclusion * Chapter 2. Taxonomy of Cannabinoids * Phytocannabinoids * Synthetic Analogues * Anandamide Congeners * Receptor Antagonists * Chapter 3. Chemical Constituents of Cannabis * Chemical Constituents * Conclusion * Chapter 4. History of Cannabis in Western Medicine * Cannabis Before the Birth of Christ * Cannabis in the Classical Era * Hashish in the Arabic World * Hemp in Central Europe * Cannabis in European Medicine of the Eighteenth Century * Cannabis in Nineteenth-Century Western Medicine * The Positive Trend Holds True * 1880-1900: The Climax * Cannabis As a Medicine in the Twentieth Century * An Era Comes to an End * Conclusion * Part II: Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics * Chapter 5. Effects of Cannabis and the Cannabinoids * Effects on Psyche and Behavior * Central Nervous System and Neurochemistry * Circulatory System * Other Organ Systems and Effects * Tolerance * Drug Interactions * Cannabinoid Interactions * Actions of Other Cannabinoids * Chapter 6. Pharmacokinetics * General * Absorption and Bioavailability * Distribution * Metabolism * Excretion * Plasma Levels versus Administration Route * Chapter 7. Sites and Mechanisms of Action * The Endogenous Cannabinoid System * Cannabinoid Receptor Ligands * Palmitylethanolamide * Inhibitors of Endogenous Cannabinoid Tissue Uptake or Metabolism * Other Types of Cannabinoid Receptors * Concluding Discussion * Chapter 8. Mechanisms of Cannabinoid Analgesia * Pharmacological Actions of Cannabis sativa * Do Cannabinoids Have Analgesic Activity? * An Endogenous Cannabinoid Pain Control System * Cannabinoids and Central Analgesic Pathways * Cellular Actions of Cannabinoids in Pain Pathways * Summary * Chapter 9. Cannabinoids As Neuroprotectants Against Ischemia * Introduction * Cannabinoids and Ischemia * Cannabinoid Receptors and Presynaptic Calcium Channels * Cannabinoid Receptors and Postsynaptic Calcium Channels * The Cannabinoid System As an Endogenous Regulator of Calcium Influx * Cannabinoids and NMDA Receptor Blockade * Oxidants and Ischemia * Cannabinoids As Neuroprotective Antioxidants * Chapter 10. Possible Mechanisms in Autoimmune Diseases * Part III: Indications for Cannabis and THC * Chapter 11. Review of Therapeutic Effects * Hierarchy of Therapeutic Effects * Indications * Surveys * Chapter 12. Medical Use of Cannabis: Experience in California * Effects of Proposition 215 * Usage Surveys * Chapter 13. Anorexia and Cachexia * Anorexia and Cachexia in Cancer Patients * Mechanisms of Cancer Cachexia * Anorexia and Cachexia in AIDS Patients: Wasting Syndrome * Cannabis, 9-THC, and Cancer Cachexia/AIDS Wasting * Conclusion * Chapter 14. Antiemetic Effects of Cannabinoids * Antiemetics in Clinical Use * Rationale for the Use of Cannabinoids As Antiemetics * Clinical Data * Current Role of Cannabinoids As Antiemetics * Chapter 15. Pain Therapy * Pain Disorders and Their Treatments * Theoretical and Experimental Data * Clinical Trail Data and Case Histories * Summary * Chapter 16. Migraine * Migraine and Its Symptoms * Standard Treatment of Migraine * Clinical History of Cannabis in Migraine Treatment * Theoretical and Experimental Data with THC Pertinent to Migraine * Value and Place of Cannabis in Migraine Treatment * Chapter 17. Spasti