While easing the complaints of patients is helpful, scientists are looking for something else from marijuana: a preventative treatment or even a cure for Alzheimer's. Researchers are very interested in learning more about cannabinoids, but regulations surrounding marijuana research make such a task difficult. Relatively few researchers are currently exploring medical marijuana and there are just a small number of ongoing clinical trials.
Marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I substance, which is the ranking reserved for drugs with the greatest potential for abuse and with no medicinal value, is problematic because it incurs the harshest federal penalties adding bureaucratic hurdles for researchers who want to study it. It's much harder than it should be to conduct research on medical marijuana and the cannabinoids it contains. To put that in context; cocaine, heroin and opioids are Schedule 2 substances, meaning research funding and support are available.
In order to fast track medical marijuana research, changes must be made on the federal level. Legalizing marijuana across the country on the state level goes a long way in encouraging changes within the federal government. As a group, we need to pressure both state and federal legislators to make meaningful changes to current restrictive laws. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your children. And start today.
-Susan Greene, RN, MSN, GNP