Forum Post: Dr. Sanjay Gupta comes out in support of medical marijuana: ‘We have been terribly and systematically misled’

Gupta, who is CNN's chief medical correspondent, said he had been too dismissive of research and case studies that pointed to benefits of medicinal marijuana.

In an interview with Piers Morgan on Wednesday night, Gupta admitted to trying the substance himself "a while ago." "I didn't particularly care for it, actually. It made me kind of anxious. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling," he said. Still, he added, it doesn't make sense to categorize marijuana in the highest class of dangerous substances, ahead of cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes. Gupta said he did not come across a single incident of marijuana overdose in his research. Scientists in the U.S. face a stumbling block to marijuana research in that it must be approved by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, "an organization that has a core mission of studying drug abuse, as opposed to benefit," Gupta wrote. Recent studies in other countries have explored the anticancer effects of marijuana on brain cancer cells, and to ease the symptoms of PTSD. "I promise to do my part to help, genuinely and honestly, fill the remaining void in our knowledge," he wrote.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/dr-sanjay-gupta-support-medicinal-marijuana-article-1.1421757#ixzz2bPsnrmZ5