Pioneering cannabis chemist Dr. Raphael Mechoulam dies at the age of 92
dr Mechoulam was the first to isolate THC in the 1960s, and his research laid the groundwork for the legalization of medicinal and adult cannabis.
Legendary cannabis researcher and professor Dr. Raphael Mechoulam died at the age of 92. The details of his death are not public at this time.
“Raphael Mechoulam was probably the most important and influential cannabis and cannabinoid researcher of the 20th century,” said Nick Jikomes, PhD of Leafly. “From the initial isolation of THC and CBD from cannabis to the discovery of the body’s endogenous cannabinoids, his contributions to our understanding of cannabinoid biology are unmatched,” said Jikomes following news of Mechoulam’s death.
In 1964, Mechoulam published the first ever research to isolate and identify THC as an active ingredient in cannabis. Over the next six decades, Mechoulam helped legitimize and destigmatize cannabis through scientific research. In July 2022, he published a review chronicling his life’s work in the field of cannabis.
“After a traumatic childhood in Europe during World War II, I found scientific research in Israel to be a pleasure beyond my expectations. For the last 65 years I have been involved in the chemistry and pharmacology of natural products. For the past several decades, my research has focused primarily on plant-based cannabinoids… Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol and Cannabidiol are approved drugs… For me, intellectual freedom – the ability to conduct research based on my own scientific interests – has been the most satisfying part of my professional life. Looking back, I conclude that I was lucky, very lucky, both personally and scientifically.”
dr Mechoulam, “A delightful journey along the path of the chemistry and pharmacology of cannabinoids and endocannabinoids”
why dr Raphael Mechoulam began studying cannabis
Mechoulam was born in Bulgaria in 1930, escaped the Holocaust and went on to study biochemistry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“I was looking for natural products that weren’t well reviewed and could potentially be used medicinally or for biological purposes…I was surprised to find that morphine had been isolated from opium 150 years ago and cocaine from cocoa leaves 100 years before that.” active ingredient in cannabis has never been isolated in its pure form. Some people have been working on it. But the techniques were apparently not good enough. While they more or less knew the active ingredients, they never got a pure compound. And so I thought, ‘It’s a good idea to try and look at the chemistry.’”
DR Mechoulam
like dr Raphael Mechoulam changed cannabis research
dr Mechoulam took the first step in a long line of research that has led to legal medical and adult cannabis in certain states in the US and a handful of countries around the world. Prof. Mechoulam began his research by requesting and receiving hashish from the local police. “It turned out we broke the law,” he recalled in a 2021 interview with Live Doctors. “We didn’t know that. And the police broke the law. And we should have ended up in jail.”
He eventually got the okay from the local health minister and began legally obtaining evidence from the police to use in his research.
“I didn’t have a car then. I got on a bus and people started looking around, ‘Hey, what’s this smell like?’”
DR Mechoulam
dr Mechoulam and his team injected monkeys with the isolated compounds they found in cannabis and learned that THC was the only active one, as it lulled the monkeys to sleep. “We released that in 1964,” he said. “(But) there was very little interest at the time.” Mechoulam said he could not get a scholarship in the US and was told, “No Americans have used cannabis, only Mexicans.”
How the work of Dr. Mechoulam impacted legalization in the US
But things changed a year or two later when Dr. Mechoulam said the son of a US politician rushed to him for advice. They wanted to know if his son’s brain was at risk from smoking weed.
“They came by and by that time we had isolated the first pure batch of THC,” said Prof. Mechoulam. “They took it, they smuggled it into the US. They didn’t have permission.”
DR Mechoulam
according to dr Mechoulam, “some of the research that was initially done in the US was done on the material that we had.” Decades later, US researchers identified the endocannabinoid receptors by building on Mechoulam’s work. Medical and recreational cannabis laws would soon follow, thanks in large part to this cannabis culture pioneer.
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