Michigan wants to study marijuana’s health benefits. It’s not easy. – Cannabis Business Executive

The Food and Drug Administration blocked one Michigan study into post-traumatic stress disorder, contending it’s too dangerous to have participants inhale marijuana, even though that’s how most veterans use the drug. In another series of proposed studies, it took researchers nearly two years to secure a federally approved marijuana supply for study — by law, they can’t use pot widely available at dispensaries. Those studies are still months from beginning.

The delays in Michigan underscore the challenges of studying potential health benefits and consequences of marijuana in the United States, where it remains federally illegal even as it is lawful in most states. Scientists hope that research will accelerate if the federal government soon loosens restrictions on the drug. But they fear that federal regulators’ deep-rooted skepticism of marijuana and legal barriers will continue to hamper studies that must balance safety and scientific rigor with the immutable reality that millions already smoke joints, inhale vapes and eat edibles to medicate themselves.

[Read more at The Washington Post]