Doug drew my attention to the following article about the Center for Medical Cannabis Research at the University of California: The Gaps in Medical Marijuana Knowledge – voiceofsandiego.org: Q & As.

I had heard of the Center but never really focused on it.
The article says that the Center has been conducting what are the equivalent of Phase II clinical trials on the therapeutic uses of cannabis, specifically pain relief.

What?

So maybe I need to educate myself further on the question as to whether there have been clinical trials of cannabis. If there have in fact been clinical trials, and Dr. Grant indicates that he thinks that what the CMCR has been doing, then where are the clinical trials showing NO benefit which Dr. Karpati alleged at the hearing on Friday?

There are many, many interesting things about this story, but the one that jumps out is the idea that this is a state-funded research program. In other words, it is a publicly-funded whose focus seems to be researching therapeutic uses of cannabis – not doing studies trying to show how dangerous it is.

Dr. Grant says that his funding will run out next year so the studies will stop. He says “I don’t see where the funding will come from.”

How about – taxes on the dispensaries? Federal funding diverted from raids on dispensaries or eradication efforts? In other words, divert a little rivulet of the drug control budget into evaluating the claim that cannabis has no therapeutic benefit.