Northern Arizona University says it will not allow a medical marijuana study on combat veterans to happen at its campus. The request came from a marijuana researcher whose position was eliminated at the University of Arizona.
Despite her recent setbacks, Sue Sisley says she still wants to study the effects of medical marijuana on vets with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder somewhere in Arizona. She received a nearly $1 million grant through a nonprofit California group called MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
MAPS spokesman Brad Burge said the study has been approved by the FDA and the Institutional Review Board, plus thousands of veterans who’ve signed petitions supporting Sisley’s work.
“Clearly all of these organizations in addition to these 100,000 people signing this petition and MAPS see Dr. Sisley as really the ideal investigator for the study and we’re not going to change the investigator simply because some conservative policy makers in Arizona decided they don’t like her political actions,” Burge said.
U of A and NAU haven’t said why they won’t allow Sisley to do the research, but she said she’s being punished for her outspoken views on medical marijuana. MAPS wants ASU to pick up the research project.