I also support vaporization, which uses a much faster method than tincture but its just as safe and more efficient than the rest.
According to the linked blog post, the benefit of the Cold Method is that the cannaboids are kept intact, whereas the benefit of the Hot Method is that the cannaboids are not kept intact (THCA converted to THC).
A friend on IRC points out an important caveat: This experiment was not anywhere close to in vivo research.
" In a 96-well plate, triplicate samples of a 20 μL solution of 23 nM Aβ, 2.30 μM HuAChE, and various concentrations of THC in 0.215 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 8.0, were prepared. "
Is alzheimer's prevention relevant at all ages? Or do the relevant substances only build up after a certain point?
It is noteworthy that THC is a considerably more effective inhibitor of AChE-induced [Abeta] deposition than the approved drugs for Alzheimer’s disease treatment, donepezil and tacrine, which reduced [Abeta] aggregation by only 22% and 7%, respectively, at twice the concentration used in our studies.
Waitwaitwhat? A drug was approved for the purpose of reducing AChE-induced Amyloid beta deposition, with an effect size of only 7%? That's not effective at all! How did that happen?
Donepezil was never approved as an aid to prevention of Alzheimer's or even as a treatment focused on the pathophysiology. The only thing it appears to be effective in (which is also its only FDA-approved use) is as symptomatic relief, in improving memory and cognitive symptoms in various stages of Alzheimer's. It's believed to do this by enhancing cholinergic neurotransmission in the brain (damage to these synapses is thought to be the reason for part of the cognitive damage done by Alzheimer's). I believe that the prescribing information explicitly says that there is no evidence that it delays the progression of the disease. EDIT: that is correct, see 12.1 in the prescribing info
I haven't looked in detail at tacrine, but IIRC its pharmacological rationale is the same as that of donepezil. (Also, all the regulatory information above is US-centric.)
In a post last August called Alzheimer's vs. Cryonics, I left the following comment:
wedrifid made an insightful response:
wedrifid nailed it. Transhumanists have a huge interest in making the necessary lifestyle adjustments to prevent Alzheimer's. Even if cryonics were certain to work, I'd like it to be me that is resurrected when the technology is available, and I won't still be me if Alzheimer's gets its way.
So I've been keeping an eye out for relevant information. I haven't done rigorous research yet, but a friend recently sent me a study: "A molecular link between the active component of marijuana and Alzheimer's disease pathology." I've uploaded the full text of the article here.
A sample from the abstract:
From the conclusion:
I, for one, would like to know if smoking weed could help prevent a fate that's plausibly worse than death-and-cryonics. So for those who know more about biology than I do: how promising are these results? What else has been shown to help prevent Alzheimer's?