In a a preliminary clinical trial out of Germany, cannabidiol (CBD) a chemical in marijuana with many medical attributes, was shown to work just as well as a prescription antipsychotic, with less side effects.

The study took place at the University of Cologne and involved 39 people with schizophrenia who were hospitalized for a psychotic episode. Nineteen of the patients were given amisulpride, an antipsychotic medication that is not approved in this country but is similar to medications that are. The other 20 patients were given CBD.

Neither the patients nor the scientists knew who was receiving which drug. At the end of the four-week trial, both groups made significant clinical improvements in their schizophrenic symptoms, and there was no difference between those getting CBD or amisulpride.

“The results were amazing,” said Daniel Piomelli, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at the University of California-Irvine and a co-author of the study. “Not only was [CBD] as effective as standard antipsychotics, but it was also essentially free of the typical side effects seen with antipsychotic drugs.”

The medical properties of the cannabis plant and its many chemicals are amazing to behold, and there are surely more to be discovered. It’s long past time for the federal government to reschedule marijuana and allow full-scale research on all that cannabis can do.

Nature has provided us with many of the answers, all we have to do is ask the questions.

- Joe Klare