CMCR Investigators' Meeting August 2025
Resource Center for Cannabis & Cannabinoid Research
(R3CR): A Newly Funded Center
August 28, 2025
At the August CMCR Investigators’ Meeting, Mahmoud A. ElSohly, PhD, Research Professor and Professor of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery at the National Center for Natural Products Research in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi, and Director of the NIDA Marijuana Project, as well as President and Laboratory Director of ElSohly Laboratories Inc., introduced the newly funded Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research (R3CR). Supported through the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and in partnership with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the R3CR is designed to help overcome longstanding barriers to cannabis research.
The center brings together the University of Mississippi, Washington State University, and the U.S. Pharmacopeia to provide coordinated expertise across three “cores”: regulatory guidance, research standards, and research support. Together, these groups will generate best practices, provide regulatory clarity, and disseminate resources through workshops, webinars, and an interactive website (R3CR.org).
A central feature of R3CR is its seed funding program, offering up to $50,000 annually to help investigators navigate regulatory hurdles, secure compliant infrastructure, and prepare grant applications. While funds cannot support direct clinical or laboratory research, they are intended to remove logistical roadblocks that often prevent studies from moving forward.
Dr. ElSohly emphasized that NIH created the center in response to widespread concerns from researchers about the difficulty of conducting cannabis studies—particularly with Schedule I restrictions, supply limitations, and inconsistent standards. By fostering collaboration across federally funded cannabis research centers, R3CR aims to expand access to high-quality materials, streamline compliance, and support rigorous, mechanism-driven science.
Dr. ElSohly stressed that the ultimate goal is service to the research community, ensuring that cannabis and cannabinoid science can advance with clarity, credibility, and impact.
Dr. ElSohly is a Research Professor and Professor of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery at the National Center for Natural Products Research in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi. He is the Director of the NIDA Marijuana Project and the President and Laboratory Director of ElSohly Laboratories Inc. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Cairo University in Egypt and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. He has spent more than 50 years working on the isolation of natural products and has over 40 patents and more than 400 publications, mainly on cannabis and cannabinoids.
CMCR Investigators' Meeting July 2025
Dose-dependent effects of cannabidiol in social anxiety disorder:
A randomized experimental therapeutics trial
July 24, 2025
At the July CMCR Investigators’ Meeting, Charles Taylor, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director, Positive Emotion & Anxiety Research Laboratory (PEARL) at UCSD presented findings from a novel randomized controlled trial that investigated the dose-dependent effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on social anxiety disorder. This Phase 2 study, funded by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), evaluated whether CBD could decrease threat reactivity and modulate plasma anandamide levels in adults with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD).
Fifty-seven participants were randomized to receive either 300 mg or 900 mg of oral CBD or placebo for four days. Using a standardized public speaking challenge, the team measured anxiety responses through subjective distress ratings, state anxiety inventories, and self-reported negative cognitions. CBD plasma concentrations and anandamide levels were also assessed.
Findings showed that both doses of CBD reduced anxiety relative to placebo, with the 900 mg dose demonstrating more robust and consistent effects across anticipation, performance, and exploratory outcomes. A dose-response relationship was supported by both group comparisons and plasma CBD levels. However, contrary to hypotheses, CBD reduced – rather than increased – plasma anandamide levels, prompting post hoc considerations around sympathetic nervous system activity and context-dependent stress responses.
The study highlights the importance of dose selection in CBD research and provides preliminary support for advancing the 900 mg dose to longer-term trials. Although the anandamide findings were unexpected, the trial offers valuable insight into CBD’s anxiolytic potential and the complexity of cannabinoid biomarker interpretation.
This work represents one of the most rigorous trials of CBD for anxiety to date and underscores the need for targeted, mechanism-driven research in the cannabinoid space.
Dr. Taylor is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego and the Director of the Positive Emotion & Anxiety Research Laboratory (PEARL). His research over the past 20 years combines experimental psychopathology and clinical trials approaches to anxiety and depressive disorders to identify and target processes that give rise to negative emotional states or inhibit the experience of positive emotional states, with a focus on developing and optimizing intervention approaches designed to enhance social connections and well-being.
CMCR Investigators' Meeting May 2025
Terpenes Attenuate Pain Hypersensitivity via Indirect Engagement of CB1 Receptors Through Release of Endocannabinoids
May 24, 2025
At the May CMCR Investigators’ Meeting, Catherine Cahill, Ph.D., a neuropharmacologist at UCLA supported by NIH funding including HEAL drug development initiatives, presented her research on the potential of cannabis-derived compounds for the treatment of chronic pain. Chronic pain affects approximately 20% of the U.S. population, and current therapies often fail to provide adequate relief, underscoring a critical unmet medical need. Dr. Cahill highlighted the high prevalence of cannabis use among individuals with chronic pain, referencing clinical data in which patients reported a 64% reduction in opioid use following cannabis substitution. Her presentation focused specifically on myrcene, a dominant terpene found in cannabis. Preclinical findings demonstrated that myrcene produced significant analgesic effects in rodent models of neuropathic pain, with anti-allodynic efficacy observed at doses of 100–200 mg/kg in males and as low as 10 mg/kg in females. Further mechanistic studies suggested that myrcene’s effects were mediated via CB1 receptor signaling, despite lacking direct receptor binding affinity. Notably, myrcene elicited sex-specific responses, producing aversive effects in females but not in males, pointing to the complexity of cannabinoid–terpene interactions in pain modulation. Ongoing investigations aim to further elucidate the pharmacodynamics of myrcene and β-caryophyllene and assess their translational potential as a non-opioid analgesic.
Catherine Cahill, Ph.D
Dr. Cahill is a neuropharmacologist who aims to advance understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of substance use disorder and chronic pain. Her research is funded by various NIH grants including HEAL drug development proposals.
CMCR Investigators' Meeting April 2025
Still Testing Positive: Implications of Persistent Blood THC Concentrations in Regular Cannabis Users
April 24, 2025
At the April CMCR Investigators’ Meeting, Ray Suhandynata, Ph.D., DABCC, Assistant Professor at UC San Diego in the Department of Pathology and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, presented his ongoing research investigating the implications of THC blood levels on driving impairment among regular cannabis users. A total of 191 users were randomized into three groups—0% THC (placebo), 5.9% THC, and 13.4% THC—and assessed through driving simulations, blood/saliva analyses, and standardized field sobriety tests. Baseline THC concentrations varied, with frequent users showing higher residual THC even after 48-hour abstention. Results indicated no relationship between immediate post-smoking blood THaC levels and driving performance. Importantly, many regular users exceeded “per se” DUI cannabis (DUIC) thresholds, including 40% surpassing zero-tolerance limits and nearly 25% exceeding the 2 ng/mL cutoff days after last use. Despite these elevated baseline THC levels, driving simulation scores were unaffected. The data challenge the validity of current DUIC “per se” statutes, suggesting they may lead to unwarranted impairment charges. Incorporating additional toxicological measures, such as oral fluid THC assays, significantly enhanced classification accuracy, reducing false positives. Future research will explore impairment effects using contemporary cannabis products (e.g., concentrates).
Ray Suhandynata, Ph.D., DABCC
Dr. Suhandynata is an Assistant Professor at UC San Diego in the Department of Pathology and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He serves as the Associate Director of the CMCR Reference Laboratory and provides clinical oversight for Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Toxicology laboratories at UC San Diego Health. His research includes developing mass spectrometry applications in forensic, pre-clinical, and clinical laboratories, focusing particularly on enhancing the predictive value of forensic toxicology in officer-performed field sobriety testing.
CMCR Investigators' Meeting March 2025
Steering the Integration of Medicinal Cannabis in Healthcare: The Cannabis & Health Research Initiative
March 27, 2025
At the March CMCR Investigators' Meeting, Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., Professor at the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit (BPRU) at Johns Hopkins University, presented his ongoing research in the field of medicinal cannabis. Dr. Vandrey described the Cannabis & Health Research Initiative, a longitudinal observational study tracking adults newly initiating medicinal cannabis use through a patient registry. The study examines trends in cannabis product use, dosage, and associated health outcomes across different medical conditions, with the goal of assessing changes over time. Dr. Vandrey also highlighted the development of the Cannabis Use Questionnaire (CUQ), an instrument designed to capture detailed information on cannabis product types, chemotypes, doses, frequency, and other usage characteristics. Additionally, he presented a related project leveraging machine learning and natural language processing to systematically extract and analyze cannabis-related data from electronic medical records. Dr. Vandrey encouraged those interested in further details to visit cannabisandhealth.org.