By Paul Winter
Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, Research Scientist and Godfather of THC
In 1964, as a young researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam (pronounced “meshalem”) put in a request to study cannabis. After the request was approved he needed the plant material to research. He asked his director if he knew anyone in the police department who could provide him with “material.” After a phone call from his director, and subsequent pungent bus ride, Dr. Mechoulam was back in his lab with 5 kilos of top-grade Lebanese hashish. From that procurement he, along with colleagues Yehiel Gaoni and Haviv Edery, isolated tetrahydrocannabinol or THC―and coined the term “cannabinoid” in the process.
When asked why he chose to focus on the study of cannabis Dr. Mechoulam replied, “Well, a scientist should try to find topics of importance.” Knowing that morphine was isolated from the poppy in the early 19th century and cocaine isolated from the coca leaf in the mid-19th century, Dr. Mechoulam wondered why the main active component(s) in cannabis had not. After isolating THC, his team conducted tests on monkeys and pig brains to determine its effects and how the compound interacted with the brain. It would be 20 more years before Allyn Howlett, an associate of Mechoulam’s in St. Louis, discovered the CB1 receptor.
Today Dr. Mechoulam is 85 years old, still working in the lab, lecturing and advocating for the way-overdue clinical studies on the medicinal properties of THC and CBD (cannabidiol).
