Holocaust Survivor’s Family Funds Medical Cannabis and Alzheimer’s Study

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap]lexander Spier somehow survived Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and many years later, medical cannabis seemed to be the only thing that helped him with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Now Spier’s family members, who run the massive Mayfair Realty & Development Corporation, are partnering with researchers to support a study on medical cannabis and Alzheimer’s disease at Harvard’s McLean Psychiatric Hospital.

Spier passed away from Alzheimer’s-related complications in 2017. Toward the end of his life, Spier suffered from confusing dementia, which included scary flashbacks from Auschwitz and other dark memories. But Spier’s family experimented with medical cannabis, which seemed to be the only thing that allowed him to sleep.

Spier’s son Greg and a niece, who live in Colorado, resorted to giving him cannabis-infused edibles—and they worked. “It was the most difficult time of my life, having to see him deteriorate. My father spoke five languages, and he was speaking Dutch and German, reliving the three concentration camps he survived,” Greg Spier told ABC News “The only thing that seemed to give him any reprieve was the marijuana.”

Spier and other family members are behind the Spier Family Foundation, a family philanthropy project that will be teaming up with scientists. Dr. Brent Forester is chief of the division of geriatric psychiatry at McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Forester has already conducted research on the synthetic THC drug dronabinol and dementia patients. According to Forester, many dementia and Alzheimer’s pharmaceutical drugs actually make the symptoms worse.

Medical cannabis is quickly demonstrating its abilities to potentially help block the accumulation of amyloid beta plaques, the “hallmark characteristic” of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, early stages of other studies indicate that cannabis actually improves the memories of older mice.

With cannabis still classified as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, obtaining funding for medical cannabis research is difficult, to say the least. Now Forester and others at the McLean Psychiatric Hospital will receive private funding from the Spier Family Foundation.