VANCOUVER, Wash. - A Southwest Washington psychology professor has received federal stimulus money to study marijuana and pain management.

WSU Vancouver Professor Michael Morgan qualified to receive $148,438 for his two-year study, which aims to determine whether the use of marijuana along with other anti-pain medications such as morphine provides better pain relief than either drug alone.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health is part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the economic stimulus package enacted by Congress and signed by the president in February.

"This research is innovative in the field," Morgan said in a news release. "Currently there are no other projects that are studying this chemical relationship using these parameters."

His project was picked because of "its potential to stimulate the economy and create or retain jobs within the community" as well as its likelihood of making scientific progress in two years, school officials said in a news release.

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