Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) applauds Temple University’s Center for Substance Abuse Research (CSAR) for their discovery into the potential medical benefits of synthetic derivatives of marijuana for HIV/AIDS patients.
SAM, a marijuana policy initiative based on public health, promotes research on marijuana to obtain FDA-approved, pharmacy-dispensed, cannabis-based medications that are non-smoked. SAM also supports the development of a program to expedite such research and offer non-smoked marijuana extracts to the seriously ill without compromising our citizens’ health with the current medical marijuana industry.
To engage in public information campaigns focused on the scientific data, we need to be precise about what the research finds. While this is a tremendous breakthrough in the HIV/AIDS pandemic that may allow many HIV patients to live longer, these benefits were found in synthetic derivatives of THC, not in THC extracted from a marijuana plant directly, explained Servio H. Ramirez, a professor at the Temple University School of Medicine,
While we know marijuana has medicinal properties, which we must continue to invest in and research, we should not smoke the plant to derive those benefits — just as we do not smoke opium to get the benefits of morphine.
To read the Temple University Press Release visit: http://www.temple.edu/medicine/hiv_immune_cells.htm
[box type=”shadow”]Learn more about SAM’s stance on cannabis-based medication.[/box]