In 2012, the total healthcare costs for diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. reached $245 billion.53 In the lead editorial of the July 2013 issue of the American Journal of Medicine, Dr. Joseph S. Alpert, its editor-in-chief and a professor of medicine at the University of Arizona, posed the question: “Is it possible that THC will be commonly prescribed in the future for patients with diabetes or metabolic syndrome . . . ?”54 Alpert’s editorial accompanied a new epidemiological study by University of Nebraska researchers, which indicated that current cannabis users had significantly healthier levels of insulin, as well as less insulin resistance than nonusers of cannabis.

Healthy levels of insulin and insulin resistance translate into fewer instances of diabetes.58 Diabetes and prediabetes affect over 100 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.59 Cannabis and cannabinoid medicines might eventually provide new treatments and prevention approaches for diabetes and related metabolic syndromes.