Marijuana: why won't US fund a potential medical marvel?
Clinical trials have long shown the drug could help treat a raft of illnesses, from cancer and Crohn's disease to epilepsy and Alzheimer's, writes Donald Bradley
Certain chemicals in marijuana may kill cancer cells, shrink tumours and prevent the formation of blood vessels that feed tumours.
That's what the United States' National Cancer Institute said when reporting its findings from preclinical trials - the kind of research that typically leads to more in-depth testing. But nearly half a century ago, the folks who write the cheques for the cancer institute - the US government - proclaimed marijuana to be a stoner-only drug and stamped it Schedule I, lumping it in with heroin and LSD. That early war-on-drugs salvo cut the world's biggest funder out of medical marijuana research.
Had the US written cheques back then to turn the big research labs loose, we might know by now that marijuana is nothing more than a good buzz, as promising as the smoke that spills out of Jeff Spicoli's van in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Or, who knows? Marijuana-based drugs could be improving lives today. Maybe even saving some.
Because while America was just saying no, research - much of it from other countries - has shown that marijuana derivatives called cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD), can trigger the body's natural defences to fight things such as cancer, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Crohn's disease and epilepsy.
A Canadian study concluded cannabis reduced pain and improved sleep for sufferers of neuropathic pain. Research is being conducted in Israel on marijuana as a treatment for traumatic brain injury.
