Trump research cuts threaten cannabis studies, poses rescheduling questions

The Trump administration’s plan to cut federal research funding threatens 565 ongoing experiments involving cannabis, according to an MJBizDaily review and interviews with scientists and academics.An accompanying freeze of new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants is also stymieing future research at a key moment – and raising questions about the fate of marijuana rescheduling as well as suggesting profound consequences for the regulated MJ industry.

ADVERTISEMENT The NIH announced Feb.7 that it would drastically reduce to no more than 15% the amount of “indirect costs” – money used to cover administrative and facility-related bills – financed by federal research grants.

Without fully funded indirect costs, “I literally cannot do my research,” Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder who’s studied high-THC cannabis as well as the use of marijuana for pain, mood and sleep, told MJBizDaily in a phone interview.Universities immediately sued to block the NIH cuts, which are now on indefinite hiatus pending resolution of those legal challenges.

That forces researchers to continue to work despite the real possibility that a halt could happen at almost any time.It also creates potential for yet another long-term headache for the $32 billion marijuana industry.

Without reliable research, the regulated cannabis industry will be hard-pressed to fight allegations of marijuana’s drawbacks and lawsuits alleging high-potency products’ severe harms.The industry also might be unable to satisfactorily answer questions from skeptical or hostile lawmakers who want to reverse or halt key reforms, including federal marijuana rescheduling and state-level legalization.

“We’re all very concerned, because of the unpredictable nature in which things are heading,” said Dr.Ziva Cooper, a professor and the director of the University of California L...