The U.S. Won't Study Pot…But the Israelis Will

Imagine a place where a government's response to studying medical marijuana is something other than a seven year old putting their fingers in their ears and saying, "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LALALALALALA!" at the top of their lungs.

Amazingly, such a place exists. In fact, it's a place where most anti-drug crusaders consider holy. It's called Israel. Those "Just Say No" types would probably not be interested to know that THC was discovered there and that rabbis seem to have no problems with marijuana use.

Zach Klein, a specialist in medical marijuana policy (Wouldn't it be nice if we had one of those at the federal level?) with researchers from Tel Aviv University studied medical pot at 19 nursing homes, according to the National Pain Report.

Though it was a small-scale study with just 19 participants, 17 of the seniors regained lost weight. Complaints of pain, stiffness, tremors and insomnia went away once the patients began treatment with cannabis. It also helped those who were holocaust survivors and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Most of those taking part in the study were also able to reduce the number of pills they were taking each day.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s the future. This is God’s doing, and it’s marvelous in our eyes," Klein said. But it's not like we'd be able to find any of this out in the U.S., given the state of federal "drug enforcement."