It was said last year that Canada was poised to become a global leader in the realm of medical marijuana research. It made perfect sense, too, what with the country being one of the first to ultimately end marijuana prohibition nationwide. There would be nothing to stop the barrage of researchers all across the northern nation from rolling up their sleeves to learn more about the therapeutic powers of the cannabis plant. <\/p>\n
It was exciting news for those of us living in the United States, especially since the federal government continues to uphold a prohibition standard. The powers that be still refuse to embrace the possibilities of cannabis and will not lighten the nation\u2019s drug policies enough to give science a fighting chance at showing the value in weed. But as long as our friends in Canada were up there, proving to the world that cannabis is medicine, the naysayers of the nug couldn\u2019t stand in the way of progress for much longer.<\/p>\n
Well, so much for hope.<\/p>\n
Come to find out, Canadian researchers haven\u2019t even started exploring medical marijuana in any real capacity. A\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from CTV News indicates that hundreds of research facilities are still too busy trying to cut through the red tape and deal with other complexities of the approval process. <\/p>\n Although cannabis is entirely legal in Canada, scientists there are still required to hold a license before they engage in a single study. Furthermore, the hundreds of research licenses that existed before the country went legal are being forced to transition over to the Cannabis Act. As for newcomers, well, their approval isn\u2019t exactly happening with haste. So far, only around 65 new licenses have been approved since the country\u2019s monumental pot law took effect in October.<\/p>\n Some researchers say the approval process is \u201cso difficult\u201d that many \u201cdon\u2019t even try\u201d for a license. Why all of the snags, however, is something most of them cannot wrap their heads around.<\/p>\n While a lot of these folks are eager to get involved in cannabis research to find out how it might benefit patients with dreadful diseases, solve the stoned driving conundrum and other unknowns, the research policies outlined in Canada\u2019s new pot law are designed more for the industry itself.<\/p>\n And that has thrown a bit of a wrench in the idea of science exploring marijuana for the sake of humanity.<\/p>\n Health Canada requires researchers to provide details about physical security measures to prevent unauthorized access; Storage measures \u201cappropriate to the amount of cannabis required;\u201d Record-keeping practices \u201cthat ensure the accurate tracking of the inventory, production and destruction of cannabis; and Prevention of diversion or retail sale of research products,\u201d the report shows.<\/p>\n Now, if you\u2019re thinking to yourself: \u201cHey, this sounds more like some of that B.S. that U.S. researchers are going through instead of a country where cannabis is completely legal,\u201d we would be inclined to agree. One would think that legalization would have automatically created more research opportunities. In fact, last year, Forbes\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the country now had a head start in global research and that the \u201copportunity would be profound.\u201d But they apparently didn\u2019t foresee the current licensing hassles.<\/p>\n So, what gives?<\/p>\n According to Health Canada, \u201cResearch licenses are intended to provide a mechanism to authorize otherwise prohibited activities with cannabis for the purpose of research.\u201d OK, sure we get that. We wouldn\u2019t want a bunch of scientists supplementing their incomes by dealing weed on the side, would we? Still, some researchers say they need less than 30 grams (the possession limit for recreational use) for their studies. Their primary gripe is the country continues to keep a tighter leash on cannabis than it does for booze. If both products are legal, what\u2019s with all the bureaucrap?<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing driving research and we want to use cannabis in the same way we might use alcohol,\u201d Simon Fraser University Ph.D. candidate Bertrand Sager said in an interview with the news source.<\/p>\n Still, Health Canada insists that it is not trying to hinder medical marijuana research. While \u201cthere have been challenges in processing times for new research license applications,\u201d the agency said, it \u201crecognizes the importance of cannabis research and is committed to promoting and enabling that research.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps another year will make a difference. Just don\u2019t hold your breath for results to come pouring in anytime soon. The research aspect is just another reason why some believe Canada screwed the pooch on legal weed. <\/p>\n The country could have dominated the market, yet it decided instead to put so many restrictions in place that it was sort of finished before it ever got started. Maybe that will change later this year when the country premiers its\u00a0edible cannabis<\/a>\u00a0sector. But we have a sneaking suspicion that this part of the market isn\u2019t going to end up being the boost that many hope it will be. \u00a0<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0are you surprised that even though cannabis is legal in Canada, marijuana is not being researched for its medical uses?<\/p>\n The post Medical Marijuana Research in Canada Is Going Nowhere<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
It was said last year that Canada was poised to become a global leader in the realm of medical marijuana research. It made perfect sense, too, what with the country being one of the first to ultimately end marijuana prohibition nationwide. There would be nothing to stop the barrage ofContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34,50,687,53,139,4331],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36893,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36892\/revisions\/36893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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