UMass Amherst economists say research into the health and safety of marijuana has not kept up with the development of potent weed products on the market.
While recreational pot is legal in 40 states, marijuana still classified as a dangerous product by the federal government, and that makes it hard for researchers to study it. Only one lab in the country – at the University of Mississippi – has the federal contract to provide samples for clinical research.
As a result, UMass Amherst economist Lucy Wang said, there’s still little research into the health and safety of the more potent marijuana strains available.
“By the time researchers may have access to the new products, they may be already lagging behind what consumers have access to,” Wang said. “So there's some asymmetry regarding what consumers have access to in legalized states from dispensaries versus what researchers can use in their experiments.”
At the same time, Wang said, commercial patents around getting weed products to market, from gummies to drinks, are way up. And that can be risky to public health. She points out that in 2020, many consumers trying a new and unregulated vaping product developed a lung injury known as EVALI.
“That's an example about how [letting] the product market outpace scientific understanding may generate damage to consumer health,” Wang said.
Wang and her co-author, UMass Amherst economist Nathan Chan, analyzed patent filings and clinical trial data at the state level from 2000-2020. Their study was published in the Social Science Research Network.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations have proposed loosening the guidelines for cannabis research. Wang said federal legislation signed in 2022, which creates a new registration process for studying marijuana, is a promising first step.
But for now, Wang said, consumers trying to figure out the best dosage for cannabis products mostly have to rely on their own trial and error.
