Last Tuesday, voters in five states, including Maine, approved the recreational use of marijuana. As a result, recreational cannabis use will soon be or is now legal in eight states and the District of Columbia. In addition, more than two dozen states, including Maine, have laws allowing medicinal use of marijuana.
The vote in Maine was close and a recount is possible, but Tuesday’s results nationwide show that the legal marijuana market — medical and recreational — is growing. This is concerning because there is a dearth of evidence about the effectiveness of marijuana for medical purposes. Nor do we know the full extent of the dangers of recreational pot use.
Because of longstanding federal prohibition on marijuana possession and use, which has eased somewhat under the Obama administration, there has been scant research about marijuana and its effects. With the pace of legalization likely to speed up, research into the consequences — good and bad — of marijuana use must be fast-tracked to help policymakers and the public make better informed decisions.
In June, the Obama administration began to relax federal restrictions on marijuana research. It removed an extra layer of review by the Public Health Service that was required before any non-government-funded research on medical marijuana could begin. This review — required before researchers could purchase marijuana — slowed down projects, including one examining the use of marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
The administration also increased, 30-fold, the amount of marijuana the University of Mississippi, the only approved provider of marijuana for medical research, can grow. This is helpful, but too many hurdles still hinder needed cannabis research.
During this year’s campaign to legalize recreational marijuana use in Maine, supporters touted marijuana as an alternative to addictive opioid painkillers. Although this concept has been discussed in the medical community for more than a century, there isn’t scientific evidence to back it up — or to debunk it.
The first scientific examination to compare cannabis to opioid painkillers has begun in Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been sold since 2014. The research is funded with a grant from the $9 million that state has collected in marijuana taxes and set aside for such research. Although the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has had the grant for two years, it has taken that long to clear federal hurdles to marijuana research, according to a recent article in The Atlantic.
Overly strict federal restrictions have made such research nearly impossible. This is unconscionable as the drug abuse epidemic kills more than 14,000 people per year; in Maine, 189 people, a record number, died from drug overdoses in the first six months of this year.
There is also a crucial need for better understanding of the consequences of recreational marijuana use. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, for example, warns it can harm brain development and lower IQ. It also can damage lungs and increase the likelihood of being in a car crash.
It is unclear what a Trump administration will do with regard to marijuana policy and research. Donald Trump has made generally positive remarks about medical marijuana, but many in his new inner circle have stricter, more conservative views.
Whatever the administration’s policy on recreational and medical marijuana, it should not backtrack on research. In fact, it should further loosen restrictions and devote more funding to research so Americans can better know and understand the dangers and benefits of marijuana use.
