On April 28, 2012, the results of a recently completed exploratory study of medical marijuana in veterans with PTSD were presented (slides available here in PDF format) by Dr. Mordechai Mashiah, Deputy Director of the Abarbanel Mental Health Center in Israel, at the 7th National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, hosted by Patients Out of Time in Tucson, Ariz. The study was sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Health.
MAPS Israeli Clinical Research Associate Mimi Peleg, Lead Clinical Research Associate Berra Yazar-Klosinski, Ph.D., Clinical Research Assistant Linnae Ponté, and Executive Director Rick Doblin, Ph.D., assisted Dr. Mashiah with data analysis and preparation of his presentation and abstract. MAPS also allocated about $6,000 to assist Dr. Mashiah in analyzing and presenting his results, and will further support him in preparing of a paper for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
To date, there are still no published, placebo-controlled studies of the use of marijuana by people with PTSD. MAPS’ protocol for a study of the safety and effectiveness of marijuana for 50 veterans with PTSD has been approved by the FDA, but the National Institute on Drug Abuse has blocked the study, preventing it from proceeding (see MAPS’ point-by-point annotated response (PDF) to the NIDA review).
