Strategy and tactics of marijuana research

BEFORE UNDERTAKING MARIJUANA RESEARCH, CERTAIN DEMANDS MUST BE MET IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: educational and health facilities, the legal position, funding, Food and Drug Directorate regulations and law enforcement. Methodological problems include those concerned with pharmacology, nature of effect, set, setting, subjects, dependent variables and controls. The second portion of this paper describes the methodology and findings of a clinical study of 81 volunteers, selected according to specified criteria, screened psychiatrically and psychologically, then assigned to one of seven experimental groups. Dosage and smoking procedure were standardized for both marijuana and placebo. The experience was evaluated subjectively by the volunteers at the end of each experimental session and again on the following morning.