The New Marijuana-Inspired Weight Loss Pill

Doctors may have found a new way to keep the numbers on your scale low - and it has to do with getting high.

Whereas smoking marijuana inevitably leads to the munchies (and the calories that come with it), Taranabant, the new diet pill currently undergoing trials in the States, has the opposite effect. The drug has been designed to block the feel-good, munchie-inspiring cannabinoid receptors in the brain that are stimulated following pot use, thereby suppressing the appetite, accelerating the metabolism, and leading to weight loss. Holy smokes!

"The effects of marijuana on appetite have been known for millennia from its medicinal and recreational use," Dr. Steven Heymsfield, of Merck Research Laboratories in New Jersey, told The Daily Mail. "The ingredient responsible stimulates cannabinoid receptors. When you block the cannabinoid system with an antagonist like taranabant, you suppress appetite."

Though still in the testing phase, clinical trials show that Taranabant has contributed to mild weight loss in test subjects. In a 12-week trial involving 533 obese subjects, the volunteers on Taranabant lost more weight (between 3 and 9 pounds) and consumed a third fewer calories than those taking a placebo. The volunteers' metabolism was more effective, even following low doses of the drug.

Researchers are now focused on determining the drug's long-term effects and the proper dosages. High doses of Taranabant can lead to side effects including nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, and irritability.
Guess losing the munchies means losing that buzz too.