By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com
Nigel Duara / AP Photo
In this photo taken Thursday June 21, 2012, a marijuana plant grows in a greenhouse at a medical marijuana co-op in Ontario, Ore.
They monitored patients with AIDS and HIV as they toked on joints or placebos to determine whether marijuana could quell agonizing pain from nerve damage. It provided relief.
They tested a “Volcano Vaporizer” to see whether inhaling smokeless pot delivered healthier, low-tar cannabis. It did.
Over a dozen years, California’s historic experiment in medical marijuana research brought new science to the debate on marijuana’s place in medicine. State-funded studies – costing $8.7 million – found pot may offer broad benefits for pain from nerve damagefrom injuries, HIV, strokes and other conditions.