THE RECORD
THE CURIOUS CASE OF CANNABIS
Expert opinion on the way forward .
BY GABRIELLE JOHNSTON
Igor Grant , MD Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine
With California ’ s recent legalization of recreational-use marijuana , interest and debate has never burned hotter at UC San Diego ’ s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research ( CMCR ). Established by the California State Legislature in 2000 , CMCR was the first cannabis research facility in the United States and is currently headed by Igor Grant , MD , chair of the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine . We asked Dr . Grant about the early days of cannabis research , where the field is now and what lies ahead .
Why should we study cannabis ? Over the years there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence that cannabis is medically helpful , but there have been precious few academic studies that verified this . When the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research was set up , we were one of the first groups to look at this question seriously and conduct controlled studies . There had been a lot of buzz out there , but not many facts to support it .
What piqued your interest in the substance ? As a resident in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania , I became very curious about the possible negative effects of cannabis use on the brain . There was a lot of conversation at this time — especially since use was increasing during the late 1960s and early ’ 70s — that pot would make you stupid or cause your brain to rot . So I and another trainee conducted a neuropsychological study of Penn medical students , some who were users of pot and others who were not . It turned out that there was absolutely no difference between users and non-users , so that piqued my interest in other drugs of abuse and their effects . A good part of my career has focused on alcohol and other drugs and their impacts on the brain and behavior .
Why has use of cannabis become such a controversy ? My belief is that by mixing up social policy with the medical side , we have created a problem that didn ’ t need to exist . Cannabis consists of many chemicals — some of which may have therapeutic value and others that may not . Like all medicine , cannabis has pluses and minuses . There are no perfect medicines or medicines that are perfectly safe , and cannabis is no different .
Historically , cannabis was one of many botanical products thought to have medical value . At the end of the 19th century , cannabis was used as medicine for pain and other indications . I even have a picture of a bottle from the Eli Lilly Company circa 1913 that states on the label : Cannabis Americana . Analgesic . Hypnotic . Antispasmodic . With increased use , some of the abuse properties became more evident , which led to a backlash and more of a criminal justice approach resulting in a series of laws that criminalized this substance . But the question remained : Was cannabis just something hippies and disreputable people partook of and thus should be illegal ? Or was it something that could be of value medically ?
16 TRITON | FALL 2018