With the announcement that marijuana will be moved to Schedule III, one thing we can expect for sure is an influx of research into marijuana’s abilities. This should be good news for advocates, considering that any new studies coming out now are showing very positive signs for its efficacy.
Just in the second half of this month, two new studies have shown how marijuana and CBD can help people with disabilities and athletes in recovery.
First, a Canadian study surveyed 80 elite athletes to see how they used CBD in their recovery. Of the 80 athletes, 38% used CBD at some point, and over 90% of that group believed that CBD was safe, improved their sleep, and helped them relax. Studies like this have helped remove CBD from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances and add it to Medicare this month.
Next up, a study taken from the National Survey on Health and Disability looked into how almost 2,000 respondents dealt with cannabis. More than 20% currently use cannabis, and of this group, over 70% said the use was to reduce pain. Studies like this go a long way to show how there seems to be a cultural consensus that marijuana helps with pain.
There are major flaws for both of these studies. The CBD study had a very small sample size – only 80 athletes, and less than half of which who reportedly used CBD. The disability survey notes that it isn’t “a representative sample and is majority white, female, college-educated, and affluent; therefore, the generalizability of these results to other demographics is unknown.”
So while small studies like these can point to a generally favorable direction, the rescheduling of marijuana should open the door to much vaster and robust studies to come in the next few years.
