Launching Pot Into The Unknown

published on April 10, 2017 in Ruminations

Now is when we need to be doing this research, and the money is just not there. If we’re going to be the only North American country that has full legalization, there’s no reason that we shouldn’t become global leaders.”

“We’re in a weird situation where we’re about to legalize a drug and we have no idea what the downstream molecular signalling pathways are: what it’s doing in the brain.”

Steven Laviolette, professor, Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Psychiatry, Western University Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry

“I think at the end of the day everyone agrees that the best medical care is based in evidence. And unfortunately we just don’t have enough for many conditions to guide us.”

“Really, science has been stuck for the past 80 or 90 years or so, unable to do many of these tests.”

“Hopefully when it is legalized many of those barriers will fall away. Unfortunately, cannabis has developed a bit of a reputation as a panacea in some groups. We need to really test cannabis, develop good medical evidence, so people know whether or not this hope and optimism is warranted.”

Dr. M-J Milloy, professor, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia; research scientist B.C. Centre on Substance Use