Medical marijuana company gives $1M to UBC HIV researcher

A UBC researcher is getting $1 million dollars from a medical marijuana company to fund research into pot's potential to treat HIV/AIDS and alleviate pain and nausea in patients.

M.J. Milloy, an infectious disease researcher at UBC, published a study earlier this year how daily marijuana use can help HIV positive people.

The donation comes from National Green Biomed, a Richmond, B.C., company co-founded by former Liberal MP Herb Dhaliwal.

"Because cannabis has been seen primarily as a recreational drug, its medical implications have been much overlooked in formal research circles," said Dhaliwal in a UBC press release.

The company is still awaiting a Health Canada license to cultivate marijuana at a site in the Fraser Valley, according to the release.