It is beyond unfortunate that the government-perpetrated War on Drugs has hindered the progress necessary for medical marijuana to be used by people that could truly benefit from it. Thus far, medical marijuana has been utilized by many to treat a vast array of health conditions such as cancer, seizure disorders, chronic pain, and digestive diseases. And who knows what other possibilities medical marijuana holds? And how can we know what those possibilities are without further research?
Thankfully, we are making some headway. For example, the DEA recently approved a $2 million trial to test the efficacy of medical marijuana in treating PTSD in veterans. Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Eugene Monroe recently donated $80K to a study on medical marijuana in football players with chronic pain. Researchers have even made claims as to the effectiveness of medical marijuana in veterinary medicine.
On the flip side, the pat answer that cannabis is the most researched drug in history is just not true. It is true to the extent that we know it is not going to kill anyone, but we still have so much more to learn about it, and the following are just some of those things:
- What is it good for? Yes we know some things, but there are no doubt many more.
- What are its side effects when used for x? What about when used for y?
- In what ways is it better than or not as good as pharmaceuticals for each and every condition?
- What strain is best for x? What strain is best for y?
Just answering the above will take decades even if full scale university quality research is allowed to advance freely. Yes we know a lot already, but it is probably only 10% of what we could know. We need more research and we say that to both sides of this issue: to both those who want no research because they believe cannabis is a joke and to those who claim either that cannabis is the answer to every single medical issue every time or who claim that the research is complete.
These times, they are a-changin. And this is just the beginning.
What kinds of medical marijuana research do you hope to see?
