Rick Doblin of MAPS Talks Medical Cannabis Trials and a Possible Legalization Timeline for the Field

MAPS (see below) has been trying to get federal approved medical cannabis studies done since the Early 1990s. As the article shows, the government’s been anything but helpful and still makes research much harder to do than it should be based on the existing world-wide research literature proving efficacy and safety.

But MAPS has remained on the case, playing by the rules and is optimistic that sound, more universal policies are eventually on the way. An interesting, enduring and growing organization to learn about if you haven’t heard much about it.

Excerpt from an interview with Rick Doblin, Executive Director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a nonprofit running FDA-approved clinical trials to study the medical efficacy of Schedule I controlled substances such as cannabis and MDMA….

“Leafly: How long has MAPS been trying to research medical cannabis?

Rick Doblin: We tried to do work with marijuana back in 1991. It took an entire year to find anyone who wanted to do research on it. Nobody wanted to because cannabis was monopolized by NIDA and they made it very difficult to get permission to do research looking at benefits–it was okay if you wanted to look at harms.

Leafly: Did you have any success in the 1990s?

Doblin: Donald Abrams agreed to try to do research. We wanted to study the potential benefit of medical cannabis to stimulate appetite in HIV patients with wasting syndrome, where appetite loss is a huge problem that can cause death. In 1992, he tried to do the research but NIDA refused to provide the marijuana. It was very frustrating.”

Things have only slowly and slightly gotten better since, but MAPS has persisted and sees reasons for optimism at the federal level….

“Anoter key point at this moment, the FDA is our main ally. They’re not pro-marijuana. They’re pro-science over politics and they want to address human suffering.

They said–at the meeting back in 1992, actually–that it would be an open door for research but they had to be held at the same standards that the FDA uses for Big Pharma to study any other drugs. We said we will accept that challenge, because at least that’s a fair process.”

Much more in the article about topics we haven’t often covered. Recommended.

#MMJ #MAPS #Research #PTSD #MDMA #UTpol #GetSerious #TRUCE

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