Six Objectives For Yet Another Cannabis Research Bill Filed In Congress

A bill that would create “a national cannabis research agenda that addresses key questions and gaps in evidence” was filled on Wednesday by two congressional lawmakers, according to Marijuana Moment.

Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) introduced the measure just a few days after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a separate bipartisan marijuana research measure from Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Andy Harris (R-MD).

What’s In It

The so-called Developing and Nationalizing Key Cannabis Research Act would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on setting up a federal marijuana research agenda. 

It would include six primary research objectives:

1. Examine the safety and efficacy of cannabis in the treatment of a myriad of conditions, such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and chemotherapy-related pain, to name a few, has to be given priority.
2. Investigate the effect marijuana has on at-risk populations like children, seniors, and pregnant or breast-feeding women.
3. Define nontherapeutic impacts of regular and sporadic marijuana use.
4. Examine long-term effects of cannabis use.
5. Determine dosages and modes of delivery of cannabis that are clinically appropriate.
6. Fefine public safety considerations related to potency, youth access and misuse.

Other Provisions

The legislation also mandates federal agencies to work together to “carry out surveillance activities to collect population-wide data on cannabis use.”

In addition, the data needed would be collected from “public health surveillance systems, surveys, questionnaires, and databases of health care records.”

The bill would also seek universities to become “Centers of Excellence in Cannabis Research for the purpose of interdisciplinary research related to cannabis and other biomedical, behavioral, and social issues related to cannabis.”

All institutions looking to receive the designation, which would last five years, must submit an application to NIH. The regulatory body would then have a permit to issue grants or collaborate on research agreements with up to 10 Centers of Excellence in Cannabis Research.

“In selecting institutions of higher education for designation as Centers of Excellence in Cannabis Research, the Director of NIH shall give priority to such institutions that have proven track records in medicinal cannabis research,” the bill stipulates.

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