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.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013, 5:21 PM
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta says he has reversed his negative stance on medicinal marijuana.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta has something to say about marijuana: I was wrong.
The high-profile doc, who is CNN's chief medical correspondent, apologized for "not looking hard enough" at the research on medicinal marijuana that suggests it can help treat conditions from chronic pain to post-traumatic stress disorder.
"We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that," he wrote in an op-ed published Thursday on CNN.com.
"It doesn't have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works."
Gupta, who authored a 2009 Time magazine article titled "Why I would Vote No on Pot," changed his mind while working on his documentary "Weed," which airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on CNN.
ABIR SULTAN/EPA
U.S. scientists face numerous stumbling blocks in getting marijuana research approved, Gupta wrote in a CNN.com op-ed.
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 anti-cancer 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.
tmiller@nydailynews.com
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