A Group of Scientists Hopes to Find the Cure for Diabetes in Cannabis

Good news for diabetics: a group of American and Israeli biotechnologists is going to develop new therapies so that marijuana may be used as a treatment for diabetes and to fight other inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases.

ISA Scientific, a company of both countries dedicated to the commercialisation of cannabinoids as medicine, has signed an agreement with the company Yissum (charged with commercialising the research results of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), the Hadassah Medical Organisation in Jerusalem, and the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research in the United Kingdom. The objective? To investigate how medicines for diabetics can be developed with cannabidiol and how they could be distributed. This alliance could help to improve life for patients who are forced to take daily insulin shots.

“Raphael Mechoulam deserves all the credit for this,” explained researcher Chaim Lotan at the Hadassah University Medical Center, the researcher referring to the important work done by Raphael Mechoulam, the Israeli professor who discovered cannabis's THC 50 years ago and who has come to be regarded as the father of marijuana.

The team of researchers is already prepared to proceed to the second phase of tests with these medicines containing CBD, which might not only be able to control diabetes, but even cure it. “Unlike insulin and other existing medicines for diabetes, CBD can suppress, revert and perhaps even cure the disease,” reported Mark J. Rosenfeld, the executive scientific director at ISA Scientific.

It is not the first time that researchers have linked the effects of marijuana to improved health for diabetics. Last year a study published in the American Journal of Medicine already confirmed the positive effects of cannabis consumption to reduce the risk of suffering this ailment and obesity. Now the new research group is continuing its work so that patients can lead better lives thanks to medicinal marijuana.