Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jan 2018
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2018 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Kate Allen
Page: A16

POT GRANT 'IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD,' BLAIR SAYS

Research grant of $1.4M shared by 14 projects that will help 'inform
policy'

Pot czar Liberal MP Bill Blair appeared at Toronto's Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health on Wednesday morning to announce the
winners of a $1.4-million cannabis research grant - money that
scientists say is necessary, but also too little and too late.

Blair unveiled 14 projects that would each receive $100,000 over one
year. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) "catalyst"
grants, a funding opportunity first announced last spring, range in
focus from efforts to monitor cannabis-impaired driving to
understanding the impacts of pot use in youth.

"There is an absence of evidence" that should be informing policy,
Blair said. Canada's cannabis researchers have been working "with one
hand tied behind their back, because they have not had a regulated
environment in which to do their research. They have been trying to
get this work done in a prohibitive environment, and they have not had
the investment from government in the type of scientific research that
is necessary. The catalyst grants announced today I think are an
important step forward."

Marijuana researchers said they appreciated the grants, but questioned
both the amount and the timing: the government plans to legalize pot
this summer.

"The money was announced today. There's no realistic way to begin
gathering data before legalization happens," said M-J Milloy, a
research scientist at the B.C. Centre on Substance Use and an
investigator on one of the 14 winning projects. Without a proper
baseline, Milloy and others said, it will be difficult to gauge the
success or failure of any policy changes.

"What do you compare any data that you gather after legalization
to?"

Milloy and others said the funding was welcome but insufficient:
$100,000 over a year is a fraction of the typical CIHR grant. But they
also said that underfunding of CIHR generally is part of the problem.

"From the social side to the biochemistry and pharmacology, there are
just such tremendous knowledge gaps," said Cory Harris, a professor at
the University of Ottawa who studies the chemistry, bioactivity and
ethnobotany of cannabis.

"Fundamentally, we need to understand the plant better."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt