He's 82 years old and has never sampled his research subject! That's a little odd, most biologists I know are prone to eating, being tattooed with, and decorating their homes with the objects of their scientific fervor.

If he has never sampled it, how does he know it's... good?

Science!

Holy smokes, marijuana can reduce tumor size in some cancer patients:

By any measure, he is one of Israel's most renowned scientists.

His groundbreaking article on the synthesis of THC was published almost 50 years ago, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Since then, he has been a recipient of numerous research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health, in Washington, DC.

An experiment he supervised 15 years ago at Jerusalem's Sha'arey Tzedek Hospital had the remarkable result of diminishing the side effects of chemotherapy on "every single child" who was given TCH in drops, under the tongue. "The nausea and vomiting simply stopped. And when the chemo ended, we stopped the treatment," he recalls.

Despite this, legal complications stemming from illicit nature of marijuana have almost completely prevented ongoing research on the effects of THC on cancer patients.

Mechoulam says this is "tragic." Others in Israel are calling it criminal.

The beneficial effects of cannabis for pain relief and in combating chemotherapy's side effects have long been documented. But now, experiments on cancerous growths themselves, conducted by the Spanish researcher Manuel Guzmán, show outstanding results in reducing the size of tumors in human beings.

And remember, Israel is one of the leaders of cannabis research! Largely due to this guy, it sounds like... but in the US, I doubt that the Feds would allow a scientist to give children THC drops no matter what.