cannasouth.co.nz
Professor Raphael
Mechoulam, a scientist
at Hebrew University
A HIGHER CALLING: HOW ISRAELI MARIJUANA
RESEARCH CHANGED THE WORLD
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s much of the world debates how to address marijuana
use, the vast majority of American states have legalized
it or allow it for medical purposes.
Enhancing health
through the science
of cannabinoids.
Global pharmaceutical companies and hospitals seeking effective
treatments using cannabis should look to Professor Raphael Mechoulam,
a scientist at Hebrew University. Mechoulam, a pioneer in the field, was
the first to isolate, analyze and synthesize the major psychoactive and
non-psychoactive compounds in cannabis and has developed a number
of revolutionary marijuana-related treatments.
Today, roughly 147 million people use medical marijuana for effective
relief of various ailments, including AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s
disease, cancer treatment side effects and Parkinson’s.
Experts believe these numbers will grow exponentially in the coming
years, and Mechoulam is now widely recognized as the godfather of
medical marijuana, the high priest of his field.
Mechoulam began studying marijuana as a young professor in 1964. He
learned that researchers had isolated morphine from opium over 150
years ago and cocaine from coca leaves a century prior, yet no one had
tried to understand cannabis and its psychoactive and non-psychoactive
ingredients.
Mechoulam and his colleagues became their own test subjects
and after a few months not only understood marijuana’s
ingredients, but found a way to test its medicinal properties.
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Not long after Mechoulam’s human experiments with THC, the major
psychoactive compound in cannabis, he applied for a grant with the
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