Sep
The U.S. government will spend $3 million to find out if CBD can relieve pain, but none of the money will be used to study THC, the element of the marijuana plant that’s responsible for a ‘high’ feeling.
Nine research grants announced Thursday are for work on CBD, the newest trendy ingredient that’s showing up in cosmetics and foods, and hundreds of less familiar chemicals. THC research was excluded from this study.
Chronic pain is the most common reason people give when they enroll in state-approved medical marijuana programs. But more scientific research is needed to learn about which parts of marijuana are helpful and whether the intoxicating effects of THC can be completely bypassed.
“The science is lagging behind the public use and interest. We’re doing our best to catch up here,” said Dr. David Shurtleff, deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the company which is funding the projects.
The nationwide opioid addiction crisis has sparked an acceleration of interest in learning how CBD can replace prescription painkillers.
The research will involve the body’s ability to produce signaling molecules similar to marijuana’s ingredients. The study will be carried out first on human molecules, then on mice.
Human test subjects will be involved in only one of the grant projects. University of Utah researcher Deborah Yurgelun-Todd will scan the brains of human volunteers with lower back pain to see how CBD extract — mixed with chocolate pudding — affects pain-signaling pathways. Half the volunteers will get pudding without CBD as a control group.
With so many people reporting benefits after consuming CBD, we will soon have the scientific results to back it up.
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