The purpose of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research is to coordinate rigorous scientific studies to assess the safety and efficacy of cannabis and cannabis compounds for treating medical conditions.
2017 National Academies Report
CMCR Legislative Report
2000 IOM Report
1999 IOM Report
The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) is seeking to fund primary and pilot cannabis-related studies that further enhance the understanding of the efficacy and adverse effects of cannabis and cannabinoids as pharmacological agents for the treatment of medical and psychiatric disorders, and their potential public health impacts. More information about this funding opportunity, including application instructions and important dates can be found in the request for applications (RFA).
Angelica LaVito, CNBC, May 31, 2019
Food and Drug Administration regulators grilled manufacturers and advocates Friday for evidence that CBD actually does anything they claim it does.
Companies are adding CBD, short for cannabidiol, to just about everything, including makeup, tea, pet treats and soft drinks — even though there's little data to support the many claims of its benefits. FDA regulators trying to learn more about the cannabis compound held the agency's first hearing on it Friday.
More than 100 people testified at the hearing. Speakers pushed the FDA to set up a regulatory framework to legally add CBD to food products and dietary supplements. They praised CBD and the purported benefits — and FDA panelists repeatedly asked for data. Scientists warned of the little research and many potential risks CBD brings.
Brooke Staggs, Orange County Register, May 31, 2019
Nearly three years after California voters approved a cannabis legalization bill that promised, among other things, to clarify the issue of driving while high, researchers and law enforcement have few concrete answers about a potentially deadly problem.
It’s unclear, for example, if marijuana-related arrests or car crashes have increased statewide. It’s up to each county to track that data, and many still don’t distinguish between cannabis and other drugs in their arrest and accident reports.
There also aren’t yet any reliable methods for testing whether drivers were actually impaired by marijuana when they’re behind the wheel. Research in this area is hampered by federal law and left scrambling to catch up with the wave of marijuana legalization that continues to sweep the country.
Read the rest of the article here
Brooke Staggs, Orange County Register, May 8, 2019
Nearly three years after the Drug Enforcement Agency announced it would end a monopoly on who can grow cannabis for legally sanctioned research, there’s still only one federally authorized cannabis cultivator in the United States.
And the limited supply of research cannabis is hampering the speed, quality and range of studies that scientists can conduct on the potential medical benefits, or harms, of marijuana — even as demand for reliable cannabis research soars.
“It is politics and not science that is interrupting the conduct of this research,” said John Hudak, a fellow at the nonprofit Brookings Institution who specializes in marijuana policy. “And that is not something that Americans should stand for.”
Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe, April 30, 2019
An investor in the cannabis industry has donated $9 million to Harvard and MIT to study the drug’s health effects, in what the institutions describe as the largest private gift to support marijuana research in the United States.
The Broderick Fund for Phytocannabinoid Research, announced Tuesday morning, will be shared equally by Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with the goal of filling vast gaps in the understanding of how marijuana affects the brain and behavior.
“The lack of basic science research enables people to make claims in a vacuum that are either anecdotal or based on old science,” said the donor, Charles R. “Bob” Broderick, an alumnus of both universities. “For generations we haven’t been able to study this thing for various sorts of societal reasons. That should end now, as well as the prohibitions that are falling around the world.”
Igor Grant, MD
Marijuana as Medicine: Can We See Past the Smoke?
North American Cannabis Summit presentation January 2019 (PDF)
Igor Grant, MD
Introduction/Overview
CMCR Symposium, June 2018
Daniele Piomelli, MD, PhD, PharmD
The health impact of cannabis
CMCR Symposium, June 2018
Ziva Cooper, PhD
Therapeutic potential of cannabis for pain alone and as an adjunct to opioids
CMCR Symposium, June 2018
Iain McGregor, PhD
Medicinal cannabis research down under: Introducing the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics
CMCR Symposium, June 2018
Thomas Marcotte, PhD
Cannabis and public safety: The challenge of cannabis-impaired driving
CMCR Symposium, June 2018
Ryan Vandrey, PhD
What's in real-world cannabis?
CMCR Symposium, June 2018