 The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, which falls under the National Institutes on Health, recently published a “Request for Information” from the scientific community on the, “interest in and barriers to research on the health effects of cannabis and its constituents.”
The published notice acknowledged that, “Cannabis has been used medicinally for over 3,000 years,” and, “Recently, there has been growing interest from health care providers and the public in the potential medicinal properties of cannabis-related products.” The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health’s Director, Helene Langevin, said that so far, most of the federally funded research on cannabis has “narrowly focused on the potential harms” of THC, and it’s important gain a more holistic scientific understanding of potential benefits and harms. She pointed out that some of the biggest barriers to this have been that, “some researchers may not know how to navigate the process of securing a Schedule 1 license,” and others “might be hindered by the lack of broadly accepted measures for what constitutes a ‘dose’ or modes of administration, “ and therefore it’s imperitive that they, “identify barriers to conducting research and subsequently develop approaches that can help overcome them.” The head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse said she personally avoids studying Schedule I substances because of those bureaucratic challenges. Langevin said, “It’s time to chart a path forward—one that can lead to new understanding and reveal potential novel applications for these complex compounds.” Eight of NIH’s component agencies, including NCCIH, are partnering on the new initiative. Comments are closed.
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