Fourteen years ago, California voters approved the passage of a bill that allowed for medical use of marijuana, and with the bill came the funding for a research lab to study its affects. Today, the UC study results came in and the first official marijuana study in twenty years proves cannabis’ medical benefits.
The study, carried out over a decade, concluded that pot helps to relieve pain and aches in muscles and joints associated with multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions.
The five state-funded clinical trials performed at the UC Davis research center could be seen as a turning tide for marijuana’s further acceptance across the country as a medicinal pain reliever. It is an effective treatment for tingling, numbness and pain in joints and muscles, along with helping to relieve stress. No conclusions were reached about marijuana’s affect to make everything you say in a dorm room sound “deep.”
If you're gonna protest, get the sign right
Proponents of medical marijuana hope that the study could pave the way for a federal push to legalize the drug, a move which has been studied as having huge economic ramifications.
What I am most curious about, though, was how long the lines were at UC Davis after the initial call for volunteers when the study began. They most have gone down the block. Medicinal advantages aside, the study didn’t take into account the advantages that students had to show up late and stoned to class and argue that they were doing so in the name of science. Trippy man.
The article also noted that the funding has run low on money and is facing a budget shortfall to continue research. Part of me wonders if this is due to the economic downturn or because of the amount of money spent on pizza and Doritos for the test subjects.
This study could definitely be seen as leading to marijuana gaining wider acceptance and was about to be published in papers across the country, but the researchers forgot where they left it. Fortunately it’s posted online here: www.cmcr.ucsd.edu
