A sticky situation: Federal restrictions on cannabis have prevented a vast majority of studies from advancing, depriving veterans of the opportunity to benefit from the research. Michigan’s marijuana regulators doled out nearly $40 million in weed taxes since 2021 to fund studies about the potential medical benefits of marijuana on military veterans.
But federal restrictions on cannabis have prevented a vast majority of those studies from advancing, depriving veterans of the opportunity to benefit from the research.
In all of the studies involving marijuana containing THC, no veterans have received cannabis in a trial. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana that produces a high.
But there is good news for research involving CBD, the non-psychoactive chemical compound in cannabis that does not produce a high. At the University of Michigan, which was awarded a $7.4 million grant from cannabis taxes in 2022, veterans have already begun participating in trials. The studies are evaluating marijuana’s role in pain management and other health issues facing veterans.
“We’ve heard from a lot of veterans who want to see if this non-intoxicating component of cannabis that has little to no abuse potential is helpful for pain,” Dr. Kevin Boehnke , one of the lead researchers and assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Michigan, tells Metro Times . “We want to figure that out. It’s a pragmatic design that meets people where they are at and helps people figure out if this is safe and effective. We want to make sure that we’re keeping the people in the study safe. That’s our number one priority.”
When Michigan voters approved a ballot measure in November 2018 to legalize recreational marijuana, the proposal included a mandate to use cannabis tax revenue to research the drug’s health benefits for veterans.
The state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency lived up to the promise and awarded grants to Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 2021 and 2022 to research the potential health effects of medical marijuana on military veterans with mental health disorders.
More than 460,000 veterans live in the state, and many of them […]
FDA deprives Michigan veterans of research on medical cannabis
