MJBizMag March 2022 - 12

HEMP NOTEBOOK Kristen Nichols
Too Little, Too Late
New COVID-19 studies underscore the ongoing problems
with cannabis research
E
xciting news hit the hemp
industry just in time for
the second anniversary
of the COVID-19 pandemic. A
group of studies suggested that
cannabinoids in the hemp plant
(both real and synthetic) might
offer some protection against the
virus that causes COVID-19.
The studies underscored
the therapeutic potential of
cannabis extracts and gave CBD
entrepreneurs some clinical studies
to back up reams of anecdotal
data showing that the plant has
medicinal value.
But they also highlighted the
insanity of barriers to research
higher-THC varieties of cannabis.
ROADBLOCKS REMAIN
There's been no shortage of lip
service from the U.S. government
about researching cannabis.
Regulators have been saying
for decades that we don't
know enough about the plant's
therapeutic value.
Those same regulators have done
precious little to allow that to
change, though.
After decades of limiting research
to varieties grown by the University
of Mississippi, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration said
in December that it would allow " a
number " of additional organizations
to grow cannabis for medical
research.
It only took a global pandemic
and more than two decades of
private businesses bootstrapping
their own research in violation of
federal drug law.
So, the federal warming to
cannabis research strikes me as too
little, too late.
One of the lead researchers on
CBD and COVID-19, Oregon State
University's Richard van Breemen,
said his researchers wanted to
explore THC acids, too-but they
couldn't because of legal red tape.
Ridiculous.
Oregon has allowed recreational
cannabis use since 2014. But public
universities such as Oregon State
still must comply with arcane
federal laws regarding academic
research.
That means the smartest minds
in science aren't bothering to look
at the whole plant, which could
contain real medicine, all because of
stupid government bureaucracy.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
I'm not naïve enough to argue that
pigheaded resistance to cannabis
research has extended the COVID-19
pandemic.
But who knows how much
farther along we'd be exploring
cannabinoid therapies if the
government was not so restrictive
about cannabis research, all in the
name of " protecting " society?
Even as we celebrate the CBD
" The studies underscored the therapeutic
potential of cannabis extracts and gave CBD
entrepreneurs some clinical studies to back
up reams of anecdotal data showing that
the plant has medicinal value. "
12 March 2022 | MJBizMagazine
research coming out of Oregon
State University and the University
of Waterloo, let's pause to consider
what other illnesses we could be
treating if global drug regulators
weren't so damn slow to embrace
marijuana research.
Kristen Nichols is the
editor of Hemp Industry
Daily. She can be
reached at kristen.nichols@
hempindustrydaily.com.
MJBizMag March 2022

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