Alex Berenson’s Feb. 3 commentary, “Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence,” was a lovely time machine journey back to the days of “Reefer Madness,” the 1936 propaganda film which floated a false morality tale warning children against smoking marijuana, lest they tumble into a life of crime and insanity, and possibly even murder. Berenson seems tempted to quote lines from the film’s high school principal, Dr. Carroll, when he says, “I will give you the real facts.”
The real facts left out of Berenson’s opinion piece are from world-renowned medical researcher Dr. Ralph Mechoulam. A professor of medical chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mechoulam is credited with first isolating and identifying CBD, or cannabidiol, one of over 100 identified cannabinoids in cannabis plants. For more than 50 years, Mechoulam’s team has tested both hemp and marijuana compounds and subsequently published more than 350 scientific articles on their results.
Elisha Millan (Contributed photo courtesy of Elisha Millan)Decades of international medical research has proven that CBD contains anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic and anti-anxiety properties, while also reducing pain. This research includes double-blind studies published by London’s National Health Service, the University of Toronto, Cornell University, and the University of California, San Diego, home to the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research. Specifically to Berenson’s comments on schizophrenia, in December 2017, an international team of eight clinical researchers published – in the American Journal of Psychiatry – a multicenter randomized clinical trial demonstrating the beneficial effects of CBD as an adjunctive treatment for schizophrenia.
The verified evidence of successful treatment is so strong, pharmaceutical companies have manufactured synthetic medications such as Marinol and Sydrol, designed to mimic the natural effects marijuana has on chemotherapy-related nausea; and the FDA recently approved Epidiolex, an anti-spasmodic treatment, safe for patients as young as 2 years old.
The science is clear and convincing: Cannabinoids are safe. Cannabinoids are effective. Cannabinoids can be used to treat a wide variety of conditions.