Medical cannabis has been legal in Canada for more than two decades. As a result, it represents the largest medical cannabis market in the world. Despite its track record, the nation and its cannabis supporters still don’t have all of the answers they should have regarding either efficacy or specific types of treatments for specific conditions.
Now, one of Canada’s largest medical cannabis companies aims to change that with a new study. Santé Cannabis recently announced a recruiting drive aimed at soliciting up to 3000 medical cannabis patients to share their experiences. When all is said and done, the company and its research team hope to have answers to questions Canadians have been asking for almost 25 years.
Cannabis’s Therapeutic Potential
At the heart of the research will be cannabis’s therapeutic potential. Researchers plan to look at everything from chronic pain to epilepsy, sleep disorders, and anxiety and depression. Santé Cannabis is not funding the entire study themselves. A number of other cannabis companies are already committed to pitching in, even while Santé Cannabis continues to look for more financial partners.
The interesting thing to me is that it has taken so long to put together a study of this nature. Unlike the U.S., Canadian law does not substantially hinder cannabis research. It seems to me that an industry with nearly a quarter of a century under its belt would have already funded in depth research multiple times over. The fact that it has taken so long raises eyebrows.
Nonetheless, the research will take place. Medical cannabis proponents in this country can only sit back and wait for the study data to come in. Exactly when that will happen is unknown. I am guessing it will be at least a year or two.
The Type of Study Will Matter
Studies of this type can take many forms. They can be clinical, observational, double blind, etc. For my money, the type of study will matter in terms of the usefulness of its results. Let us say it is an observational study, which seems pretty likely based on the recruiting announcement.
Observational studies make use of patient reports. In other words, what do patients say about medical cannabis and its efficacy? Their answers, as legitimate as they might be, are always open to scrutiny.
I am not opposed to observational studies or the data they produce. But I do think that it is time to admit that observational study data is no different than anecdotal data. And if we are going to put stock in it, we need to put equal stock in its anecdotal counterpart.
What People Say Matters, Too
Ultimately, the only way to measure medical cannabis efficacy for symptom relief is to ask patients what they think. So yes, what they say matters. A Utah chronic pain patient reporting to his Beehive Farmacy pharmacist that he feels better after taking medical cannabis is just as trustworthy as a study participant who reports the same thing.
For the record, Beehive Farmacy is a medical cannabis dispensary with locations in Brigham City and Salt Lake City, UT. Company representatives report plenty of happy customers who stand by medical cannabis as an effective therapy for their particular conditions.
We should know in a year or two how the Canadian study turns out. If I were betting on the outcome, I would put my money on solid data in support of medical cannabis efficacy. I have been researching and writing on medical cannabis long enough to know the real users swear by it. I cannot imagine the data showing anything different.
