Many activists, investigative researchers, and supporters let out a collective cry when the Drug Enforcement Administration upheld a 46-year-old policy of classifying marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic with no medicinal properties. Federal officials did something completely unforeseen and loosened restrictions on the cultivation of marijuana for research purposes.
“It may spur the development of different plants, which may, for example, have more CBD than THC or the other way around,” stated Dr. Igor Grant, director of the University of California at San Diego’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
The difference between CBD, cannabidiol and THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, is the answer to how investigative researchers and the government study, prescribe and ultimately classify marijuana.
As of now, THC is licensed by the FDA as a drug called Marinol or Dronabinol and is used to suppress nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, or to increase appetite and weight gain in people with AIDS. It also reportedly is helpful in the treatment of certain kinds of neuropathic pain, for example alleviating muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis patients.
“The important thing will do is improve the availability of cannabis and hopefully the type of cannabis available for research so we can answer more of these questions,” Grant says.
The cumbersome process of obtaining marijuana for research purposes requires first being approved by the FDA and then by the DEA. It’s a step up from how things were formerly done when the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research was founded back in 2000.
At the time, UCSD was the only researcher in the department and the university largely graveled the way for more streamlined protocols to obtaining and examining marijuana.
Grant’s center has been at the vanguard of cannabis research from the start and researchers there remain certain that marijuana’s medicinal future could be bright if only the federal government would continue to ease up on regulations.
“I’m really hoping that with some of these gradual changes, both at the federal level and more rapid changes at the state level, research on medical cannabis will accelerate,” Grant stated.
“What we really need is much larger-scale studies and, in particular, we need studies that are longer going – something that works for a few weeks or a month might not be safe for a year or two.” Next month, Grant’s team will kick off two new studies.
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