The National Institutes of Health says hospitalizations for marijuana in Arizona rose about 20% over five years as the state legalized recreational use. Now researchers in Colorado want to know if a cannabis compound can treat addiction.
The compound is a cannabinoid called CBD and it doesn’t intoxicate. The University of Colorado is studying if CBD can help people with marijuana dependency consume less.
As many as one in five marijuana users develop an addiction, but there are few treatments.
Researchers want to know if CBD can help fill that void. It interacts with some of the same brain receptors as marijuana’s psychoactive compound called THC.
CBD can also influence serotonin levels to potentially reduce withdrawals. The study is funded by a $3 million federal grant.
-
Phoenix has a reputation, fair or not, of a boom town where old buildings often get demolished. Hit songs were recorded in midtown decades ago. In the 1960s, that success led to construction of what was once the top studio between Dallas and LA. -
Under the initiative, possession of marijuana would still be legal, but it would target parts of the law that allow for licensed dispensaries and cannabis advertisement. -
President Donald Trump has ordered the reclassification of marijuana out of the most dangerous category of controlled substances. -
Having chronic pain can qualify you for Arizona’s medical marijuana program. But research led by UCLA says there’s a lack of evidence that cannabis treats chronic pain and most other conditions for which it may be prescribed. -
October marks the start of a new term for the U.S. Supreme Court, and the justices are being urged to take up a case on marijuana and gun rights.
