DIGG THIS

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, colloquially known as MRSA or the superbug, is now responsible for more annual US deaths than AIDS. Yet despite this sobering statistic, its unlikely that either JAMA or anyone in the mainstream US media will report on the findings of a forthcoming Italian study — you didnt actually think I was going to say that this took place in America did you? — demonstrating that compounds in cannabis possess exceptional antibacterial activity against multi-drug resistant pathogens, including MRSA.

Although the use of cannabinoids as systemic antibacterial agents awaits rigorous clinical trials, their topical application to reduce skin colonization by MRSA seems promising, the studys authors write. Cannabis sativa represents an interesting source of antibacterial agents to address the problem of multidrug resistance in MRSA and other pathogenic bacteria.

(You can read the full text ahead of publication here.)

Ironically, the study notes that preparations from cannabis were investigated extensively in the 1950s as highly active topical antiseptic agents. Predictably — in yet another victory for prohibition — authors declare that little, if any, research into this potential clinical application has taken place since.

Several years ago, when I first began writing the booklet Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, I mused about what sort of advancements in the treatment of disease may have been achieved over the past 70+ years had U.S. government chosen to advance — rather than stifle — clinical research into the therapeutic effects of cannabis.

Now, more than ever, this is a question that our elected officials must be forced to answer.

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