Research Approved to Study Effects of Medical Marijuana on PTSD
After a lengthy approval process, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted research to study the effects of medical marijuana on people living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This summer, the research group MAPS was given the go-ahead by FDA to conduct a:
Placebo-Controlled, Triple-Blind, Randomized Crossover Pilot Study of the Safety and Efficacy of Five Different Potencies of Smoked or Vaporized Marijuana in 50 Veterans with Chronic, Treatment-Resistant [PTSD].
The effects of medical marijuana on PTSD has been a growing area of inquiry given the difficulty of treating the condition and its prevalence among U.S. troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as others. PTSD affects as many as 7.8 percent of Americans and according to the New York Times:
Currently, nearly a third of the 4,982 patients approved for medical marijuana in New Mexico suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, more than any other condition, according to the state’s health department.
Preceding final approval by the federal government to conduct PTSD research using medical marijuana, the Journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience published an article in June 2011 on “The role of cannabinoids [the compounds found in the marijuana plant] in modulating emotional and emotional memory processes in the hippocampus.”
Unfortunately, MAPS still needs approval from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) before it can begin trials, but Americans for Safe Access looks forward to the eventual completion of this research and the greater acceptability of using marijuana to treat a debilitating condition that affects millions of people in the U.S.
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