timelesslife:

by ERICA LIEPMANN, Causecast Editor

Boston University, UCLA, Brown University – these are trusted folks, right? Normally when they publish scientific research, the general public sits up and takes note…

Well apparently this isn’t the case when it comes to marijuana research. The mainstream media hasn’t deemed it important to cover universities’ major research breakthroughs in marijuana studies. We can only guess these studies have been overlooked because they say precisely what the government, the media and the public doesn’t expect to hear.

Back in 2006, a government funded study at UCLA concluded that marijuana was not connected to lung cancer, and instead showed some signs of reducing cancer. This wasn’t what the National Institute of Health was expecting to hear from their friends in lab-coats over at UCLA. Other universities have also weighed in on the topic, conducting their own share of marijuana research. Researchers from Brown University, Boston University, Louisiana State University and the University of Minnesota teamed up this year to publish their findings in the August issue of Cancer Prevention Research, explaining the linkage between consistent marijuana use and reduced risk of head and neck cancer.

The debate rages on in our nation over the impacts of marijuana on the human body and how legalization of the drug would affect our society. However, if the government and the media continue to shield the public from scientific studies that expose the true effects of the plant, misinformation about marijuana continues to propagate in our country. Without an American public that’s correctly informed about the effects of marijuana, how are we expected to arrive at an effective and informed drug policy?

Fuck yeah medical research!