OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi will be home to a new center designed to help researchers nationwide address challenges that hamper research into therapeutic uses for cannabis.
The R3CR will provide cannabis research information through an interactive website, webinars, seed funding and conferences. This will help researchers generate more science-backed evidence.
Donald Stanford
Over the next five years, the resource center will allow more researchers to enter the field of cannabis research, said Donald Stanford, assistant director of the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences., the Ole Miss institute that oversees the natural products center. And those scientists will likely realize a significant improvement in the quality of their work, he said.
“People will realize significant changes in the landscape of cannabis research,” he said. “Changes such as stronger and improved regulation compliance, development of more cannabis technologies, as well as the FDA receiving relevant safety data to make decisions on cannabinoids in foods and dietary supplements, can all eventually contribute to people’s health.
Through a collaborative agreement with the National Institutes of Health, NCNPR will lead the partnership with Washington State University and the United States Pharmacopoeia to provide guidance on regulations, quality standards and best practices.
The NIH partners include the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Aging and National Cancer Institute. All have a shared interest of developing standard methods for scientific investigations into possible therapeutic effects of compounds found in the Cannabis sativa plant.
“The missions of the participating NIH institutes reflect why I am so excited about the long-term outcomes that are possible,” Stanford said. “We all have family and friends who face diseases or conditions for which alternative treatments may be effective.”
The resource center will comprise three scientific core groups that have specialized responsibilities and activities: a regulatory guidance core, a research support core and a research standards core.
Mahmoud ElSohly (center), research professor in the National Center for Natural Products Research and director of the UM Marijuana Project, discusses research conducted in the School of Pharmacy. ElSohly will lead the regulatory guidance core of the new Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. Photo by Robert Jordan/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
The regulatory guidance core will be led by Mahmoud ElSohly, research professor in the natural products center and longtime director of the UM Marijuana Project. The group will serve as a clearinghouse for rules and regulations from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that affect cannabis research.
“Because conducting cannabis studies involves a complexity of regulations of various federal and state agencies, both researchers and administrators must fully understand the requirements and must devise ways to comply in a practical manner,” ElSohly said. “Our resource center will strive to provide guidance on matters such as this.”
“Some researchers in the U.S. may be unclear on the regulatory requirements for carrying out cannabis studies with human subjects,” Welch said. “FDA and the administrators of various state-sanctioned medical cannabis programs want to see these types of studies move forward so that researchers can properly explore concerns about safety and efficacy.”
Mary Paine, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at WSU, will lead the research support core. This part of the resource center will disseminate scientific and regulatory information, organize workshops and conferences and administer seed funding grants to cannabis researchers nationwide.
Ikhlas Khan
Nandakumara Sarma, director of dietary supplements and herbal medicines at USP, will lead the research standards core that will provide best practices and technical information guidance.
The new resource center aims to work with a broad range of people and organizations engaged in studying cannabis. These include scientists, federal and state agencies, institutional administrators and suppliers of research materials.
“This is a unique opportunity to assist others and encourage further research in all fields of cannabis research,” said Ikhlas Khan, director of the National Center for Natural Products Research and leader of the new resource center.
“Establishment of this center should promote more science, and our hope is that in the near future, this center will develop evidence-based products that will address quality, safety and efficacy.”
This project was made possible by grant no. U24AT013161 from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCCIH, NCI, NIA, NIDA and the National Institutes of Health.
Top: A technician works with cannabis seedlings at the National Center for Natural Product Research. The center will house the new Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. Photo by Don Stanford/Research Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences
MISSISSIPPI. – In a legal opinion, Mississippi’s attorney general stated it is illegal to sell hemp products that are not approved by the FDA or part of the state’s medical marijuana program. Some law enforcement agencies are already enforcing the opinion.
You can hardly step foot in a Mid-South convenience store or vape shop without seeing THC-variant products. They have names like “blueberry yum-yum” or “Skywalker OG” and advertise chemicals like Delta 8 THC or 11-Hydroxy THC, which can provide similar effects to marijuana.
South of the state line, though, those products may soon be off the shelves.
“In these gas station products, they are coming in from out of state, and there is very little testing on them,” Zack Wilson, a medical marijuana cultivator, told FOX13.
Wilson explained the boom in gas station hemp products, stating that they essentially exploit a loophole in how THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is regulated.
“Basically, they let the lid off Pandora’s box, and it’s too late now,” he said.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch published an opinion on such products last month, writing that hemp products without FDA approval may not be sold in the state. Some Mississippi law enforcement agencies are already taking action.
The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it warned all convenience stores in the unincorporated part of the county of the AG’s opinion and warned that those who continue to sell such products will face felony charges.
“They did not go through the legislative process,” Charles Couey, president of the Southern Hemp Coalition of Mississippi, said. “No law has changed in the state. I think this is more of a scare tactic.”
Couey owns a CBD store in Southaven and has been pushing for hemp reform in the state. He told FOX13 if enforced, Fitch’s opinion would ban all hemp products because none are FDA approved.
That includes the CBD products sold in his store, which he said do not get users high or include any THC.
He said the unregulated products sold at gas stations and vape stores can be risky and advocates for regulation instead of a blanket ban.
“Their concerns are our concerns as well because there is bad product on the market,” he said. “There are bad players on the market. But you know why that exists? Because there is no regulation.”
The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office told FOX13 it had not issued warnings to stores or begun taking action against them.
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