Editor's Note: Colorado's research report is making national headlines; unfortunately, some of those headlines seem to be set on pushing an anti-marijuana agenda or just dramatizing the findings. This article from High Times provides a good look at what the report actually found.
The state of Colorado has compiled a comprehensive, 188-page report that summarizes most of the medical findings to date related to consuming cannabis. Looking at nearly every aspect of its effects, the report left almost no stone unturned regarding the effect of marijuana of public health. Along with the many findings published, research gaps and biases were pointed out as well.
In the majority of cases, research findings couldn’t prove causality; but, rather, only association. Though marijuana use may have been found to be associated with certain adverse effects, researchers weren’t able to prove marijuana caused the adverse effects. In addition, because marijuana was completely illegal before 1996, Â “research funding, when appropriated, was commonly sought to identify adverse effects from marijuana use. This legal fact introduces both funding bias and publication bias into the body of literature related to marijuana use.”
