New Research Initiative Aims to Clarify the Efficacy of Medical Cannabis
Despite its widespread use, medical cannabis remains shrouded in uncertainty. A new study aims to change that by tracking the responses of a nationally representative cohort of 10,000 patients to cannabis treatment. The National Cannabis Study, part of the Cannabis and Health Research Initiative, will combine data from existing observational studies and electronic medical records to compare the outcomes of medicinal cannabis users with non-users.
The initiative’s creators, including Ryan Vandrey, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, acknowledge that while cannabis is available as a therapeutic option, the quality of data on its efficacy is lacking. “We have the availability of cannabis as a therapeutic, but we’re lacking the quality of data that we have with other medicines,” Vandrey says.
The study will collect data on patients as they progress from cannabis naivety to a year or more of medical cannabis use, with multiple assessments throughout the first year. The database will include variables such as the chemical composition of different cannabis products, delivery methods, interactions with other medications, and dosage amount, frequency, and timing.
The goal of the study is to provide clinicians with the data they need to make informed decisions about medical cannabis use and to inform policy and regulatory structures. The registry could also support the development of clinical trials and basic science research. “Under the umbrella term of cannabis exist hundreds of products that are all different in very important and significant ways,” Vandrey says. “We’re trying to narrow the scope a little bit, find areas of real promise and focus the science on those.”
The study is supported by a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and is being conducted in collaboration with experts from Johns Hopkins and Realm of Caring, a Colorado-based nonprofit that provides information about cannabinoid therapies.
