The Leaf THE LEAF Sept-Oct 2018 | Page 30

US Has Funded Israeli Cannabis Research For 50 Years, But There’s “No Medicinal Value”? By Anna Wilcox, October 2016 ‘Herb.co’ The U.S. government says that cannabis has “no medicinal value”, yet has been funding research in Israel for a half of a century. What gives? Apparently, the U.S. government has been funding medical cannabis research for the past several decades. Only, they outsourced it to another country. For half of a century, the National Institute of Health has provided an annual grant to Israeli research on the herb. The big question is, if cannabis has “no medical value”, why has the U.S. funded Israeli research for 50 years? A half-century’s worth of funding If you’re a cannabis nerd, you may have heard of Dr. Raphael Mechoulam. Mechoulam is the man who first discovered THC. Back in the early 1960s, Mechoulam asked the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) for funding on his cannabis research. Unfortunately, true to form, they turned him down. However, according to a Newsweek report, one year after Mechoulams first inquiry, he got a call from the NIH. Apparently, after an unnamed U.S. Senator caught his son smoking a little cannabis, the senator called the NIH to find out what the herb actually did to the brain. No one had the answer. So, the same official that once rejected Mechoulams research called him with some good news. The NIH would grant $100,000 to Mechoulams team each year for further study on the health effects of cannabis. This funding has continued for over 50 years. This is amazing, as it is really tough to get an NIH overseas grant. A half-century’s worth of medical discovery In that time, Mechoulam and his team have unearthed a wealth of medical potential in the cannabis plant. This includes findings that suggest that: • Cannabinoids aid in recovery after brain injury • Cannabinoids have neuroprotective properties • CBD has antipsychotic properties • Cannabinoids may aid in autoimmune conditions • CBD lowers incidence of diabetes • CBD aids in epilepsy The few findings mentioned here are only the very beginning of what Mechoulam and associated teams have discovered. The research conducted in Israel since the 1960s has lent itself to cannabis reform time and time again. Without Mechoulams contributions, we may not have the medical cannabis programs that we have today. In his own country, Mechoulam has won several major awards and honours for his work. Now, Israel’s medical cannabis industry is blooming. Patients can access medical cannabis for cancer, chronic pain, post- traumatic stress disorder, paediatric epilepsy, arthritis, and Crohn’s disease.