Marijuana investor grants Harvard, MIT $9 million to study MMJ

A major cannabis industry investor has made what is thought to be one of the largest private donations to study marijuana’s health effects.

It’s a move that could prove beneficial for the cannabis industry at large by spurring research in the United States and perhaps increasing medical marijuana’s acceptance among physicians.

Charles R. Broderick, managing director of Uji Capital – a New York City family office that has invested in Tweed, Aphria and other marijuana businesses – donated $9 million that Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology will split, according to a Harvard Medical School news release.

Researchers hope to “unravel the biology of cannabinoids, illuminate their effects on the human brain, catalyze treatments and inform evidence-based clinical guidelines, societal policies and regulation of cannabis,” according to the release.