The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 42,000 Americans died from an overdose of opioids in 2016 alone. Meanwhile, the consumption of cannabis by members of the American public has been growing rapidly over the years. How are these two issues related to the planned research on cannabis?
Plenty of anecdotal evidence exists to support the claim that cannabis has painkilling abilities. Several scientific studies also point to the possibility of cannabis having painkilling effects. However, little reliable scientific information is available to support or disprove those claims.
That may no longer be the case if the proposed study by a team of researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is completed successfully.
The researchers would like to ascertain what combination of CBD and THC provides the highest degree of painkilling effects for opioid patients.
Dr. Jeffrey Chen is the Executive Director of the Cannabis Research Initiative, which came up with the idea of conducting this study.
The actual study was designed by a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, Edythe London. She explained that the research isn’t intended to provide evidence for or against the cannabis industry. The study is a scientific undertaking to understand a substance that is reputed to have so many medicinal effects.
The double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study seeks to shed some light on one particular claim, the claim that cannabis can help to ease the pain suffered by patients.
The success of the study in proving that cannabis can combat pain would provide a glimmer of hope that a solution may be at hand for the opioid crisis facing the nation. Such a solution is desperately wanted, given the fact that about 40 percent of the opioid overdose fatalities reported by the CDC in 2016 were connected to prescription opioids.
Dr. Chen points out that the scientific community needs to play catch up quickly so that more information can be available to the public about cannabis. This information could save people from falling for yet-to-be-substantiated claims by cannabis product manufacturers.
However, the researchers have a huge task to overcome two major obstacles before the study can commence.
First, cannabis is federally regarded as a schedule 1 controlled substance, “a substance without any medical value and has a high potential for addictiveness.” The researchers must convince the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), to grant them permission to proceed with the study. It isn’t clear how easy, or how quickly, such regulatory approval can be secured.
Secondly, the researchers must look for funding for their study. Some money has been secured from UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and from some private donors. Additional funding requests have been made to local and federal sources. Entities like Canopy Rivers Corporation (TSX: WEED) (NYSE: CGC) and FinCanna Capital Corp. (CSE: CALI) (OTC: FNNZF) must be keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that the necessary funding and approval is obtained so that the debate on the painkilling effects of marijuana can be put to rest once and for all.
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