Inside The Largest Ever Independent Cannabis Study In The UK
10-Oct-22 09:50:07
Earlier this month, UK's King's College of London launched Cannabis & Me, a scientific study into the effects of cannabis on mental health, considered the largest cannabis study of its kind.
The study, which aims to involve 6,000 participants, will research environmental and biological factors behind the different effects of cannabis consumption on the human brain and provide information to physicians in the UK and across the world for prescribing cannabis safely.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) granted $2.8 million (£2.5 million) of funding for the study in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed its start.
Cannabis & Me's lead researcher, Dr. Marta di Forti, has extensive experience studying cannabis from a psychiatric perspective.
She published several studies about causal links between cannabis use and psychotic disorders over the years, and, in 2019, she obtained funding from the Maudsley Charity to develop the UK's first and only Cannabis Clinic for Patients with Psychosis.
How the study works
Cannabis & Me's study consists of a 40-minute online survey, which aims to explore "the different effects that people experience when they use cannabis and how these might relate to other recreational drug use, live events, including trauma or illnesses, but also positive situations and social context."
Furthermore, researchers aim to understand how internal and external factors might influence the use of cannabis and vice-versa.
Participants will be split into two groups: Those currently using cannabis and those who have never used it in their lifetime or have only used it a maximum of three times.
Participants have to meet several criteria, including being over 18 years old, resident in the London area, fluent in English, willing to take part in a face-to-face assessment, willing to donate a blood sample, and to take part in virtual reality (VR) experience, and being without a previous or current diagnosis of psychotic disorders and without currently receiving treatment for psychotic disorders.
Successively, both groups will be invited to meet the research team and complete a face-to-face assessment.
Why is this study important for cannabis research?
To understand the reasons behind the need for this study is necessary to have a glance at the legal status of cannabis around the world.
Although it is still illegal at the federal level, more and more US states have legalized medical and adult-use cannabis in recent years.
Meanwhile, European countries have started a public debate over cannabis legalization at the national level, and some countries are attempting to regulate its use in different ways.
As a result, cannabis is changing its perception at the social level, and recent reports have shown how its consumption is growing.
But even though cannabis research is making progress in understanding better this plant that has been stigmatized for decades and criminalized by adopting restrictive policies, little is still known about risks associated with cannabis use and, most importantly, how to avoid them.
Dr. Di Forti explained that this study aims to use data to provide more balanced information in terms of public health.
This study will help assess risks associated with cannabis use, how they can be avoided, and how people can make informed choices if they use cannabis for medicinal or recreational reasons.
Furthermore, through the data of this study, researchers want to provide a series of tools to physicians who prescribe medical cannabis to make them more confident about how to prescribe medical cannabis products, monitor side effects, and be aware of potential risks.
"Given that I am a psychiatrist, the harm I am interested in is the one related to the brain. I am talking about a minority of cannabis users developing psychosis, even transient or more persisting. I want to see if we can screen out those who have benefited from cannabis and keep safe those patients that show psychotic symptoms and that visit my clinic every week," Dr. Di Forti said.
The study will involve around a dozen researchers and experts with a wide array of expertise and specializations.
Dr. Di Forti plans to reach a number of participants of 6,000 units: 3,000 cannabis users and 3,000 non-cannabis users or former cannabis users.
Epigenetics, DNA testing, biology, and VR experience at the service of cannabis research
The data from the latter group will help understand cannabis epigenetics.
As epigenetics studies how people's behavior and environment can cause changes that affect their genes, researchers want to understand whether cannabis follows the same path as tobacco and alcohol, which affect epigenetic profiling and tend to be partially or completely washed out when quitting.
As our DNA can be switched on and off depending on internal and external factors, researchers want to understand how it behaves when people use cannabis and what the difference is between those who have beneficial effects from cannabis and those who develop psychotic disorders following its use.
SOURCE: FORBES