How much scientific research on cannabis has been done? It might be more than many people think.
One of the go-to reasons for lawmakers and regulators not moving forward on various aspects of cannabis – medicinal and otherwise – is a purported lack of research. But over the years, and especially in the last decade, there has been a lot.
According to the results of a keyword search performed by NORML of the USA’s National Library of Medicine/PubMed.gov website, more than 49,500 scientific papers on marijuana have been published; some dating back as far as 1840.
Most of the papers have been published in recent decades. NORML says more than 70 percent of all peer-reviewed papers have been published in the past ten years, and over 90 percent of this literature has been published since 2002. This year, for the fourth consecutive year, more than 4,000 scientific papers specific to cannabis have been published.
The first paper appears to have been published in 1840, with the rather lengthy title of “On the Preparations of the Indian Hemp, or Gunjah (Cannabis Indica), Their Effects on the Animal System in Health, and Their Utility in the Treatment of Tetanus and Other Convulsive Diseases”. The next was in 1843, with the much shorter title of “Observations on the medicinal properties of the Cannabis Sativa of India”.
From 1843 to 1966, there were only around 211 papers published. But over the remainder of the 1960’s and into the mid-70’s; there was a surge; with nearly 3,000 papers – perhaps not surprising given the nature of the times. Publishing dropped off somewhat after that until the beginning of this century. The year with the highest number of papers published was in 2022, with 4,441, followed by 2021 with 4,285.
Commenting on the overall results, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said:
“It is time for politicians and others to stop assessing cannabis through the lens of ‘what we don’t know’ and instead start engaging in evidence-based discussions about marijuana and marijuana reform policies that are indicative of all that we do know.”
To see the results for yourself, try this search.
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