A question asked by some UCLA researchers might seem like an oxymoron for anyone raised on the now debunked “gateway” theory, the one that says using marijuana leads to using harder drugs:

Can cannabis play a role in easing the nation’s opioid epidemic?

That idea is one of many being explored at UCLA’s new Cannabis Research Initiative.

The university quietly launched the interdisciplinary research center four months ago. The mission is to study how cannabis impacts society, looking at everything from public health and the environment to the economy and the legal system.

“I think California is going to be a decisive area where we really learn about all of the potential positive and negative impacts of cannabis legalization,” said Dr. Jeff Chen, the institute’s executive director.

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There are challenges. The federal illegality of cannabis, coupled with the stigma lingering from decades of prohibition, make it difficult to get permission and funding to research marijuana. In fact, Chen describes cannabis as “arguably the single-most difficult substance to study in America.”

That’s helped marijuana take on an almost mythical reputation. While a growing body of research suggests cannabis can help combat seizures, chronic pain and more, there’s a dearth of clinical studies to support much of the anecdotal evidence for other conditions. And, with an emerging multi-billion-dollar industry backing studies that might push the benefits ahead of the overdue science, Chen said “it’s good to be skeptical.”

“We hear these miraculous stories, and we definitely have to discard some of it,” Chen said. “But we can’t discard all of it.”

And the more researchers learn about how cannabis works in our bodies, Chen said the more it makes sense to him that the plant might have far-reaching impacts on a number of seemingly unrelated conditions.

CREATING THE CENTER

Chen was a third year medical student at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA when he noticed that a lot of patients were either already using cannabis or interested in using it as part of their treatment. But the potential benefits and risks of marijuana aren’t taught through standardized curriculum in medical schools, leaving Chen and his colleagues at a loss.

“We could never give them any answers,” he said. “California had legalized (medical) cannabis 20 years prior, (but) we still couldn’t tell patients whether cannabis could actually help them.”

Chen first thought about joining a research project on the topic. After all, UCLA professors have been doing their own studies involving cannabis for years.

Read the full story at The Cannifornian.