The Trump administration’s move last week to reclassify medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug could open the door to more research into its use, which leading cannabis researchers in New York say is sorely needed.
There are still many unanswered questions about the drug’s therapeutic benefits and potential for abuse, even as access on the legal market has expanded in New York state and across the country, according to the researchers.
“It cannot be overstated how little we still know about the health effects of marijuana and other cannabis products on the market right now, both as a medicine and in terms of potential health harms,” said Ellicott Matthay, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine who studies the public health effects of cannabis policies.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that state-licensed medical marijuana will now be classified as a Schedule III drug rather than Schedule I, a shift that recognizes some medicinal benefit and a lower potential for abuse than drugs like heroin. The department will hold a hearing in June to consider reclassifying marijuana more broadly.
Researchers conducting studies on Schedule III drugs still need to register with state authorities and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but there are less burdensome storage, security and reporting requirements, researchers said.
Matthay said the move could attract more cannabis researchers and potentially open up new sources of cannabis products for them to study.
As a Schedule I drug, marijuana could only be obtained for research purposes from certain federally approved sources — which for many years was limited to a single, government-owned farm in Mississippi.
New York state’s medical marijuana program has been around since 2014 and has loosened restrictions in recent years as the recreational market has opened up. New Yorkers seeking relief from any medical conditions their doctors deem suitable can now qualify to purchase products from medical dispensaries.
According to the state Office of Cannabis Management, some common conditions people treat with marijuana include autism, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, chronic pain and certain mental health conditions.
A recent analysis of marijuana research published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry found a lack of evidence that the drug is effective in treating anxiety and several other mental health conditions.
Researchers say more rigorous studies are needed to determine the benefits and risks of the particular products on the market, and how they affect different populations.
“It's just distressing that the industry is telling us what a medication is and politicians are telling us what a medication is, in lieu of any of the data we so desperately need,” said Margaret Haney, a professor of neurobiology in psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical School who studies cannabis.
Haney said large, randomized controlled trials that compare cannabis products with placebos are needed. She said those have been harder to conduct because of Schedule I restrictions.
Yasmin Hurd, a leading cannabis researcher and director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, said, if nothing else, she’s hopeful the Trump administration’s action will attract more interest and funding for the issue.
