A new study suggests that marijuana might be an effective way to treat residents with Alzheimer’s disease. 

The reason: the key compound found in marijuana helped remove amyloid beta proteins from lab-grown neurons. Other compounds also helped reduce cellular inflammation, which is believed to promote the disease’s progression.

“We believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells,” says Salk Professor David Schubert, Ph.D., senior author of the paper.

Full findings appear in the journal Aging and Mechanisms of Disease.