Marijuana Policy Project

Applying the "routine activities theory" of crime, this NIDA-funded study used data from 95 census tracts in Sacramento to analyze two types of crime (violent and property) in areas with varying concentrations of dispensaries. Results indicated that while factors traditionally understood to lead to increased crime ��� large percentages of land zoned for commercial rather than residential use, a high percentage of one-person households, the presence of highway ramps, a higher percentage of the population being ages 15-24 ��� were positively associated with crime in those areas, the density of medical marijuana dispensaries was not associated with violent or property crime rates. In their conclusion, the researchers theorize that measures dispensaries take to reduce crime (i.e., doormen, video cameras) may increase guardianship, thus deterring crime.

This analysis of the anti-cancer properties of cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive constituent of marijuana, studied its effect on mice and found that it reduced polyps, tumors, and other carcinogenic precursors, and in colorectal carcinoma cell lines, "protected DNA from oxidative damage, increased endocannabinoid levels and reduced cell proliferation," leading the authors to conclude that cannabidiol does exert a chemopreventive effect.

This meta-analysis of 38 other randomized-controlled trials that studied the use of cannabis based treatments found that, of these, 27 (71%) "concluded that cannabinoids had empirically demonstrable and statistically significant pain-relieving effects" while 11 (29%) did not.

This double-blind, randomized trial compared the effects of cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive constituent of marijuana, to amisulpride, a potent antipsychotic, in treatment of acute schizophrenia. Results showed that both treatments were safe and effective, but treatment by cannabidiol involved a much safer side-effect profile and presented greater evidence of long-term clinical improvement.

This placebo-controlled, crossover study on the effects of smoked marijuana on spasticity, a common and difficult to treat symptom of multiple sclerosis, found that marijuana was significantly more effective than placebo at both reducing muscle spasticity and patients' pain sensations.

State-By-State Laws Report, 2011

17 Laws Summary

Medical marijuana briefing paper from the Marijuana Policy Project (2011)

This study of marijuana and HIV-related neuropathy arguably closes the case regarding one important indication for medical marijuana: neuropathic pain.

Vaporization methods heat marijuana and release cannabinoids, the therapeutically active components of marijuana, in the form of vapor -- without combustion and associated noxious byproducts.