The Pittance for Pot Research Proves Prohibition is Alive and Well

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), part of the National Institutes of Health, plans to award $1.5 Million in grant money in 2019 to study the painkilling effects of cannabis components other than THC, it has been reported in the outstanding cannabis publication, Marijuana Moment.

Per the MM article, NCCIH is "seeking seeking applications from researchers to conduct studies on “minor cannabinoids and terpenes..." and that "... of particular interest are studies looking at cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), cannabichromene (CBC), nyrcene, β-caryophyllene, Limonene, α-terpineol, linalool, α-phellandrene, α-pinene, β-pinene, γ-terpinene and α-humulene."

Our readers will note that the NIH is allowing CBD to be characterized as a "minor cannabinoid"... (!) That they seem to have no idea what they're talking about in 2019 speaks volumes about the harm that cannabis and hemp Prohibition has done to the health potential of people around the world.

Of note, the $1.5 Million will be distributed to four grant recipients.

Wait... $1.5 Million, divided by 4? That's right, people, only $375,000 for a research center to conduct a major scientific study of 14 compounds (never mind the entourage effect - how could that be measured without the whole plant?), and report data on to investigate 11 topics (see below).

As usual, the US Government is giving cannabis a shamefully short shrift.

So what's driving this itty bitty effort into understanding cannabis now?

Seems that over 70,000 people died last year from opioid overdoses, (including a BIG REVEAL about the Sackler family's active direction of efforts leading up to this disaster) and that cannabis has demonstrated analgesic properties (among many others)... and seems to have a counter-balancing effect on areas where opioids are taking a heavy human toll.

Looks like the Federal Government is finally trying to connect the dots.

As usual, the states are ahead of the Federal government: New Jersey just named Opioid Abuse" as a qualifying condition for using medicinal cannabis, as did Pennsylvania and New York; it's being considered in Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia, Maryland and others.

Why? Here's one reason:

"States permitting the use of cannabis for medical purposes had 2.21 million fewer doses of opioids prescribed per year under Medicare Part D compared with those states without the availability of medical marijuana."

The $1.5 Million will be distributed to four grant recipients, to study the following:

* To investigate the potential analgesic properties and adverse effects of minor cannabinoids, alone or in combination with each other or terpenes;

* To investigate the mechanisms by which minor cannabinoids and terpenes may affect pain pathways, including ascending and/or descending neural pathways, cellular and molecular signaling pathways, neuroimmune interactions, or other innovative regulatory pathways related to pain;

* To explore the impact of sex, age and ethnicity on potential analgesic properties of minor cannabinoids and terpenes;

* To explore analgesic potential of minor cannabinoids and terpenes for different pain types (e.g., acute pain, chronic pain, inflammatory pain, neuropathic pain);

* To investigate the pharmacology (pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles) of minor cannabinoids and terpenes;

* To explore binding affinities of minor cannabinoids and terpenes to cannabinoid and opioid and other pain-related receptors;

* To investigate the impact of dose and/or route of administration on potential analgesic effects of minor cannabinoids and terpenes;

* To characterize if/how specific terpenes may influence potential analgesic properties of cannabinoids;

* To explore potential opioid sparing effects of minor cannabinoids and terpenes;

* To explore the interaction between the microbiome and minor cannabinoids or terpenes;

* To improve methods to quantify systemic levels of minor cannabinoids and terpenes

Such a large study for such a pittance seems absurd to us, but what do we know?

We're just civilians with a limited kit of approved and potentially fatal tools such as alcohol, nicotine, opioids to dull the pain of existence.