Absolutely. There was a systematic review done last year on the use of medical marijuana in medical conditions in The Journal of the American Medical Association. What it showed was that in certain non-psychiatric conditions there might be some benefit, but in psychiatric conditions the data is not strong enough to say that medical marijuana is a long-term useful treatment.
I think that, as you were saying, there is a divide between what the public perception is and industry. I made that comment specifically because I think it is important for this committee to appreciate that there is a lot of wish.... Every single week I get questions about prescribing medical marijuana. I don't do it. The reason is that we know and have known for a number of years that marijuana use is associated with worse outcomes in PTSD. Especially in young adults, in whom there's a developing brain, there is a risk of psychosis that has been shown repeatedly.
I think there is a major divide between the medical knowledge...and I think it calls for important research that is unbiased and that looks not only at short-term but also at long-term outcomes. If you think about alcohol, it helps with anxiety, but we also know that alcohol problems can happen, long term. I don't disagree that it may have short-term benefit, but we're trying to help people, long term, return to their best level of functioning and get back to helping their family.