Indopedia All Things Marijuana
As state-legal medical cannabis programs are becoming the rule rather than the exception, researchers are looking to replace long-held myths about cannabis users with scientific facts. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is stepping in to fund one of the largest studies on cannabis use to ever be undertaken in the U.S. In the $5.5 million study, researchers will look at 5,000 twins to determine how cannabis legalization has shaped their lives.
University of Colorado researchers will be partnering with the University of Minnesota to conduct the study, with each university looking at 1,250 pairs of twins located in their own state. Researchers hope to compare the impact of legalization by comparing twins from the canna-legal state of Colorado to twins from Minnesota, where the drug is still illegal. By looking at pairs of twins, the researchers will be able to better assess whether genetic or environmental factors are influencing any possible negative outcomes of cannabis use.
“Increasing numbers of states are legalizing recreational marijuana, but we know almost nothing about the health and social consequences of this dramatic and rapid shift in public policy,” said…
