New cancer treatments are being blocked by anti-drug laws. A new editorial that was published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience says the drug wars are also stifling potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses.

New cancer treatments are being hindered on research on illegal drugs like marijuana. David Nutt, the lead author of the editorial, is the neuropsychopharmacology chair at Imperial College London. He and his colleagues complain that restrictions on research on illegal drugs like marijuana slow progress in neuroscience. Restrictions also deter drug companies from pursuing important leads. In 2009, Nutt was fired as the top advisor to the British government on drug policy because he publicized data showing that ecstasy (MDMA) is less harmful than drinking or horseback riding.

Nutt compared the harm to science to harm the Catholic Church did to science when they banned the works of Gallileo and Copernicus. He says, “People have not even realized how much research and how many possible new treatments have been blocked by drug laws.”

Nutt says in spite of the growing legalization of marijuana it is still difficult to carry out research using the drug. In the United States, marijuana can only be obtained for study legally throught the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Marijuana studies require a special review. It must follow FDA-approved protocols. Nutt says these are not necessary when researchers want study legal drugs or most experimental compounds. It is easier to study heroin than marijuana in the United Kingdom because heroin is a legal painkiller in the country.

Nutt says that the research that has been done on cannabis suggests significant promise. It shows potential for treatment beyond relieving pain and nausea. New studies suggest that marijuana might fight diabetes and obesity. Other recent research suggests that cannabinoids have the potential to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Dozens of studies have shown that cannabinoids act against various cancers.

Nutt says, “Inadvertent consequences of drug laws set up to stop people coming to harm failed to do that and inadvertently really screwed over research. It increases the cost of my research by between 5 and 10 times,” says Nutt, who is one of the few who holds licenses to do such work in humans. He notes that the two co-authors on his paper are both retired and says that one colleague wanted to co-write it but didn’t for fear of losing future government funding. Active researchers are terrified.

 by Tony Sokol