A new documentary sets the spotlight on medical cannabis

A new documentary due to be released later this month takes an in-depth look at the science behind cannabis as medicine, from the pioneering researchers who first discovered the healing powers of cannabinoids, to the pioneering patients who lived through the plant was changed. Mad Machine Films' documentary, CBD Nation, will be available on August 25 in North America through multiple viewing platforms. Director David Jakubovic's film features leading figures in the medical cannabis movement, including scientists, patients and activists such as Steve DeAngelo, co-founder of the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the largest and one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries in the country. "CBD Nation brings you the real science that has hidden decades of US government-sponsored misinformation from the public," DeAngelo said in a press release for the documentary. "Check it out and find out why cannabis is perhaps the most valuable medicine that humans have ever discovered. The film explores the work of Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, an Israeli organic chemist who, along with other scientists, was the first to isolate, describe and synthesize Delta-9 THC and is widely regarded as the father of cannabinoid research. He notes that cannabis has been known for its medicinal properties for decades, but development of the plant's potential was severely hampered until patients and families led the way. "We published our results thirty-seven years ago: Cannabidiol (CBD) blocks epileptic seizures in patients. How did it come about? Nothing for thirty years," said Mechoulam, president of the Multidisciplinary Center for Cannabinoid Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is. "Nothing happened until desperate parents like the one in this movie did their own research and found that cannabidiol could help children with epilepsy. But epilepsy is just one of many diseases that we know cannabis medicine can treat. If that If the world chooses not to look at all of science, then that is not ignorance - it is negligence. The film also traces the journeys of patients whose determination to gain access to a drug that will make them healthy when others may not have made them spokesmen for a movement. People like teenage girl Rylie Maedler, who was diagnosed with a rare degenerative bone disease called aggressive giant cell granuloma when she was 7 years old, which caused tumors to eat their way into the bones of her face. After treatment with CBD, she became the only person with the disease whose bones have regenerated. "I hope US doctors, educators, and politicians see this film," said Maedler, who worked closely with lawmakers in her home state of Delaware to pass the Rylie Act, a measure that allows children under certain conditions medical cannabis granted. "Because I am living proof that cannabis and CBD have a place in modern medicine".