New wave of legal edibles coming this fall
Federal Agency Official Critical of Ottawa For Not Directing Funds To Cannabis Research
By Peter Boisseau
The Freelance Bureau
Last updated June 18, 2019
(June 7, 2019) -- A senior official with a federal agency for health research
is criticizing Ottawa for not setting aside funds for cannabis research, even as a whole new wave of legal marijuana edibles are about to hit the market.
“We have received absolutely no targeted funding from government to support research, which is very disappointing both for us as an agency and for the research community,” said Eric Marcotte, Associate Director of the Institute of Neurosciences at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
“We have received absolutely no targeted funding from government to support research, which is very disappointing both for us as an agency and for the research community,” said Eric Marcotte, Associate Director of the Institute of Neurosciences at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
All of the $32 million CIHR set aside for its cannabis research strategy came from existing resources, Marcotte told a recent cannabis research conference in Toronto.
“While $32 million may sound like a lot, it is wholly insufficient,” he said. “And we know the tsunami is just going to get worse this fall when edibles become legalized.”
Health Canada recently confirmed a second wave of legalization no later than Oct. 17 this year, when new classes of cannabis edibles will be permitted for sale, including edibles, concentrates and topicals. But government officials expect that only a limited selection of products will appear in physical or online stores “no earlier than mid-December 2019”.
Medical cannabis has been legal in Canada for almost 20 years but recreational marijuana – including oils, plants and seeds – was only legalized in the fall of 2018.
Meanwhile, a senior Health Canada official at the summit also acknowledged scientists are experiencing delays in getting licensed for their research projects.
While the federal government intended to lower barriers for cannabis research, a lot of researchers have found the opposite to be true so far, conceded Hanan Abramovici, Manager of Health Canada’s Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch.
Abramovici said there are a number of reasons for the delays, including a massive transition to a new licensing system that researchers and bureaucrats are still trying to learn.
Approximately 10 per cent of Canadians have consumed cannabis in the last year and 40 per cent have used it at some point.
Experts say research is lacking on both the potential benefits and risks. Adding to the challenge is the fact 140 different cannabinoid compounds have been identified in cannabis.
©2019 Peter Boisseau and The Freelance Bureau
