Re: Can marijuana help paraplegics recover?

"bhanwara" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I happened to meet a person who became a paraplegic 13 years
> ago in a diving accident.  But he had recovered enough to be
> able to walk by himself now, though he still needs crutches
> most of the time.
>
> He had used marijuana to keep himself happy despite his
> accident.  But I wondered if there was a causal
> connection.
>
> Nerual connections will grow when stimulated.  A drug
> like marijuana will modify neural activity, and
> maybe it is possible that it could provide stimulation,
> helping the lost connections grow.
>
> Could therapy provided while the patient was "under the
> influence" lead to recovery?  (I don't mean marinol
> type stuff, but something that provided actual
> drug-impact causing "high"s, i.e. changed neural behavior.)

No   over time though the brain and body can learn to form new neural
pathways to recover many if not all of lost motor skills.

There is a school/ hospital somewhere in Europe (I forgot exactly where, it
was a long time since I have seen the Nova or NG show about it) where they
rehabilitate quadriplegics in a new and intense manner.
the story focused on 2 youths ( 19 yrs old) who were diving off rocks in a
quarry and both hit their heads and broke their fool necks on the same rock.
Both became Quadriplegics.
They were treated for years at that facility and in the end both were able
to get around and feed themselves.
The cost is not cheap though.

I guess sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't.

Has nothing to do with grass.
He might have even recovered more with out it although I am sure it helped
his spirit while he was stuck in a  broke body.

HGJ