Let's face it, many Americans don’t fear sickness, they fear the cost of getting sick and what insurance will cover. It seems our insurance coverage focuses on the most expensive drugs making a catastrophic illness worse for the patient that now has to worry about the cost of illness as well and a medical system that seems in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies.
As recent as 2012, Arizona State University Associate Professor Madeline Meier paid students to complete a study on long-term marijuana use and found lower IQ between childhood and adulthood. Another study that she conducted found (only) less healthy teeth and gums in the users along with a host of other positive symptoms that included no evidence of lung dysfunction or heart problems in the consumers or students, better than average cholesterol readings, better than average body mass index and waist circumference along with better blood-sugar control (Stern, 2017).
Maybe not but it’s good to see continued research into the healing properties of cannabis and we hope the studies no matter how miniscule continue. No, no naiveté here, medical cannabis is clearly not for everyone but worth a second glance in terms of cardiovascular care (American Heart Association, 2017).
-Carole Shelton-Toney MS, LMMC, BA, PhD (abd)
Although the two studies have good and some concerning results, paying students to smoke weed as part of the studies holds interesting value you must admit (Medical Marijuana, 2015). Are we ready to take cannabis out of the schedule 1 drug bin?
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