Pennsylvania Making Progress in Medical Marijuana Research

In April of 2016 Pennsylvania became the first state to enact legislation specifically designed to encourage clinical medical marijuana (MMJ) research. Since then, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA-DOH) has certified ten Academic Clinical Research Centers (ACRCs) to conduct clinical research studies in collaborative partnerships with grower/processors licensed for research as Clinical Registrants (CRs).  Pennsylvania’s largest medical schools, universities, their cannabis industry partners and the laboratories are all working in the Pennsylvania “incubator” to bring new research to the medical cannabis community.

Clinically significant findings in medical marijuana research have been coming from Pennsylvania since the program first opened in 2018.  An impressive list of forty-seven research publications is available from the PA-DOH on its website.  Much of the work is done to develop a deeper understanding of the “patient experience” in developing effective MMJ therapeutic strategies.  Important contributions have been made in Mental Health, Quality of Life, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Cancer, Neuropathy and Chronic Pain.

While this body of work demonstrates the initial success of the research program goals, it is important to maintain research momentum and a commitment to funding new studies in the future at a time when regulatory and market changes are being proposed in Pennsylvania.

The ten Pennsylvania Academic Clinical Research Centers and their Clinical Registrant partners are listed below: