B.C. is getting its first-ever “cannabis professor” – which seems like a natural progression after Canada legalized pot last month.
The newly created position at the University of B.C. will see a dedicated professor, M-J Milloy, overseeing clinical trials of cannabis in relation to opioid treatment.
Milloy’s position is branded as the Canopy Growth Professor of Cannabis Science, and it comes partly because of a $2.5-million infusion from the cannabis research firm, Canopy Growth. The provincial government also contributed $500,000 to the program.
“What we hope to achieve together is to minimize the harm that substance use may cause the Canadian society and to maximize the potential benefits of cannabis as a therapeutic treatment,” said Dr. Mark Ware, chief medical officer with Canopy Growth.
Hear that? The “potential benefits of cannabis as a therapeutic treatment.”
We highlight this statement to counter the fearmongering that’s come since pot became legal in Canada. Some people have reacted as though our society is about to descend into chaos.
Such hysteria has made some people forget pot’s main benefits.
People suffering from such diseases as cancer have found relief through cannabis.
B.C. adding a pot prof is further proof that cannabis has real positive benefits.
For example, some of the work done in Milloy’s new role will seek to corroborate and further recent studies he’s been a part of. Research Milloy recently conducted showed that among 2,500 hard drug users in the Downtown Eastside, cannabis helped 20 per cent of those people stay with treatment after a six-month period.
Some of Milloy’s research earlier in the decade showed those with HIV had significantly lower levels of the virus in their blood if they used cannabis once a day.
“This was for me as close to an eye-opening moment because it suggests cannabis was not simply about symptom management or about recreation,” Milloy said. “Indeed, it was addressing the fundamental disease process for people living with HIV. It opened my eyes.”
So maybe stop acting like cannabis is a demon that will destroy Canadian society.
We hope local politicians will also stop trying to “protect” us from cannabis by being so frustratingly cautious about how many cannabis stores will be allowed in our community.
For now, private stores seem to be a non-starter, which seems just plain dumb.
When the province allowed private liquor stores years ago, municipal politicians weren’t clutching their pearls the way they are over pot as they approved them.
We’re not saying open the floodgates, but it’s time to loosen up and start allowing more options for people who want to use something that is now legal.
