$9 Million On Mmj Research, About Time!

[trix]

Colorado -- More than a decade after voters here first said marijuana could be medicine, Colorado is preparing to embark on the largest state-funded effort to study the medical benefits of cannabis.

 

Under a bill signed this year by Gov. John Hickenlooper, the state health department will give out about $9 million in grantsin the next five years to researchers for marijuana studies. Most importantly, the research is expected to include clinical trials on the kinds of marijuana products actually being used in Colorado — something that federally funded studies on marijuana have lacked.

"Our intent is to be rigorous scientifically, but to also act with some expediency because these are products that a large percentage of our population is using today," said Dr. Larry Wolk, the executive director and chief medical officer of the health department. "We want to make sure that what's happening out there in everyday practice isn't harming people."

 

Nearly 20 years after California became the first state in the U.S. to pass a medical marijuana law, the research on marijuana's health effects is still largely polarized.

 

Several studies — matching the anecdotal experiences of medical marijuana patients — have found cannabis or its isolated components can be effective in managing pain, tremors, nausea, inflammation and other conditions.

 

Other studies, though, have taken a dimmer view of marijuana, summed up by a new National Institute on Drug Abuse review, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, that concludes marijuana is bad for brain development and can lead to addiction. Although the review says marijuana may have therapeutic potential, it finds the evidence less than convincing.

 

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Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/F1O7Memv

[pic book]

Colorado -- More than a decade after voters here first said marijuana could be medicine, Colorado is preparing to embark on the largest state-funded effort to study the medical benefits of cannabis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But 'funding envy' between the states is probably more likely to do it than is bama.