With cannabis legalization on the horizon
next year, the federal government must make it easier to study the
potential medical benefits of the drug and evaluate how ending
prohibition might affect society, according to an open letter to
politicians from dozens of the country’s leading academics and
public-health researchers who study the drug.
“Under widespread global prohibition,
cannabis research has been limited by the criminalization and
stigmatization of cannabis use and users, leading to substantial gaps in
knowledge around the harms and benefits of both medical and non-medical
cannabis,” reads a letter sent Monday to federal lawmakers on the
letterhead of the BC Centre on Substance Use, an organization funded by
the provincial government to study drugs.
“For
example, although cannabis’ role as a pain reliever is increasingly
well known, urgent questions remain about what effect increasing access
to medical cannabis might play in the response to the ongoing opioid
overdose crisis. Now is the time to ensure biomedical, epidemiological,
and social sciences cannabis research is prioritized; supported with
adequate funding; and facilitated through reduced administrative
barriers.”
The
letter was signed by noted researchers such as Julio Montaner, a
renowned HIV/AIDS researcher, and Mark Ware, a McGill pain researcher
and vice-chair of Canada’s recent federal panel on legalization, as well
as organizations such as the BC Cancer Agency and the Canadian AIDS
Society.
Uruguay is the only other
country to have legalized the recreational sale and use of marijuana,
but sales have been slow to roll out and the tiny South American country
has a population about a 10th the size of Canada.
That
means Canada has an opportunity to provide the world’s first national
case study on the dangers – and potential benefits – of cannabis.
But
the letter states the researchers are worried that not enough is being
done to ensure quality data are being collected on how Canadians are
using medical and illegal cannabis right now – before legalization
changes people’s habits.
Bureaucrats in
Washington and Colorado have lamented that their states were not
properly collecting clear statistics and information on the drug before
they rolled out the legalization of recreational pot.
Health
Canada spokesperson Maryse Durette said Monday that the government has
already taken action to start gathering this important baseline data,
noting a new Canadian Cannabis Survey “will monitor patterns of and
perceptions around cannabis use amongst Canadians, including youth, on
an annual basis.”
She also noted the
data gap will be addressed by last month’s call for research proposals
by the government-funded Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
That
body is set to award 10 grants of up to $100,000 for year-long projects
by next January, with the money becoming available March 1, 2018.
However,
it is likely already too late to collect meaningful data before next
summer, when the laws are expected to change, according to M.J. Milloy,
an infectious-disease epidemiologist who is studying the therapeutic
effects of marijuana at the BC Centre on Substance Use. That’s because
grant recipients must go through ethical reviews for their research –
which can take up to two months – and then must begin the often onerous
process of recruiting people “in the wild” to talk about their cannabis
use, he said.
“It’s not a quick process
and so it will be very challenging,” Dr. Milloy said. “We can’t unring
the bell as soon as they start selling legal cannabis – that’s it.”
One example, he said, of where these data are so important is regarding how much to tax legal cannabis.
“If
we set the price too low we might in fact encourage problematic use; if
we set it too high the idea that the legal cannabis system will replace
the current cannabis system is unrealistic,” said Dr. Milloy.
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