June’s Cannabis News

Every month, we carefully curate the top stories from across the fields of medical research, testing, processing, and plant science. We also bring you the latest in the world of cannabis business and legislation. Want it all in your inbox? Sign up here.

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What’s Going On?

Research and Medicine

Combining cannabinoids with psilocybin could treat various physical and mental health issues, case study suggests. Link

Cannabinoid receptor-1 blocking drug reduces the effects of cannabis in phase I study and could be used to treat cannabis use disorder. Link

Despite having “the munchies,” frequent cannabis users are found to be leaner and less prone to diabetes, according to researchers at the University of California. Link

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health find that legal recreational cannabis use and binge drinking is on the rise for people over 30 in the US, while binge drinking is decreasing for 12-30 year olds. Link

A study by the University of Michigan and Columbia University finds that the use of non-LSD hallucinogens has nearly doubled in the US amongst young adults since 2018. Link

And Finally…

The century long war on cannabis: a war on science?

I came across this interview with Harvard physician Peter Grinspoon discussing his efforts to curb the stigma surrounding cannabis. With the release of his new book (Seeing Through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth about Marijuana), Grinspoon simply explains where we’ve been going wrong and what he has concluded from his life’s work in cannabis. 

One point that I found particularly interesting was around physician education – “If doctors haven’t learned anything helpful or true about cannabis and they’ve been given a lot of nonsense about it, it’s very hard for them to have helpful conversations with their patients,” said Grinspoon.