Reviewing the need for, and barriers to, additional medical marijuana research

Students in my Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform seminar are continuing to "take over" my class through presentations on the research topics of their choice, and are continuing to provide in this space some background on their topic and links to some readings or relevant materials. The second of our presentations taking place this week will focus on medical marijuana research, and here is how my student has described his topic along with background readings:

Medical Marijuana and the federal government have a long, complicated history.  By complicated, I mean not complicated at all.  Marijuana has been illegal at the federal level ever since the Controlled Substances Act was signed into law.  Medical marijuana research in the U.S. has so far been limited, although two FDA approved, marijuana-derived drugs have been on the market since the 1980’s.  The overwhelming consensus is that the research space is not nearly as large as it could be, given the large user base, and that potential therapeutic effects of marijuana are largely unknown.

Even though its medicinal use goes back millennia.  Even today, many users self-report more managed symptoms from a variety of diseases and ailments; nausea and vomiting, chronic pain, and spasticity.  Researchers in the United States would like to further study some of these self-reported medicinal benefits of marijuana, but they claim that the federal government makes marijuana research too hard to be worth the effort.

This paper and my accompanying presentation begin by discussing the brightest research areas for medical marijuana consumption, and why those are not enough.  Then I will explore why marijuana has not received as much attention as the scientific community would like to give it.  Finally, I will discuss potential legislative fixes.

Sources and Background Reading

N.I.D.A., What is the scope of cannabis (marijuana) use in the United States? (2022).

Nat’l Academies of Sciences, Eng’g, and Med., Health and Med. Div., The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research (2017)

U. of Mississippi, Marijuana Research (2022)

21 U.S.C. § 811

Michael H. Andreae et al., An Ethical Exploration of Barriers to Research on Controlled Drugs, 16 Am. J. Bioeth. 36 (2016).

Caleb Hellerman, Scientists Say the Government’s Only Pot Farm Has Moldy Samples – and no Federal Testing Standards (2017)