A funny thing happens when the US government begrudgingly allows for double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of inhaled cannabis.  

Investigators discover time after time that it works! 

Here are the results from the latest study, conducted at California’s Center for Medical Cannabis Research.   

Low-dose pot eases pain while keeping mind clear
via Reuters News Wire

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Giving carefully calibrated doses of smoked marijuana to people with neuropathic pain, which can be difficult-to-treat and extremely painful, can ease their pain without clouding their minds, California researchers report.

Read the full story here. 

Unfortunately, according to recently released legal filings, fewer than 20 investigators in the United States currently possess federal approval to conduct legal clinical research on whole smoked cannabis. (Not surprisingly, most of these researchers are conducting trials that seek to assess the potential physical and mental harms allegedly associated with the drug.) In addition, state funding for the CMCR — which has backed virtually all of the medical cannabis research conducted over the past several years — has dried up and no new appropriations are likely.

Of course, federal officials could readily step in with grant money to keep this important clinical research going — after all, just last month the US National Institute on Drug Abuse announced that it would be spending millions to establish the first-ever ‘Center on Cannabis Addiction‘ — but, needless to say, I’m not holding my breath.

According to a recent UPI news wire story, researchers are now proposing prescribing the psychoactive prescription drug Lithium to so-called ‘pot addicts’ to help them kick the habit.  But just who are these alleged ‘addicts?’    

According to the latest statistics from the US Department of Health and Human Services, a startling high number of US government-defined marijuana ‘addicts’ don’t even smoke pot! That’s right, according to a recent DHS report, more than one-third of Americans entered into drug treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana ‘dependency’ haven’t used pot in the month prior to their admission.

How’s this possible? It’s possible because the majority of folks admitted to ‘drug treatment’ for pot don’t need treatment at all, but were arrested and ordered by a judge to attend rehab in lieu of going to jail.

Nevertheless, the White House touts this phony ‘data’ as evidence that marijuana is allegedly more dangerous than cocaine or heroin, and NIDA touts these numbers as evidence to support multi-million dollar ‘Cannabis Addiction Centers.’

Looking for the truth about marijuana use and dependency? Look no further than my recent Alternet.org essay on the subject here, or you can ‘digg’ it here.