WSU researchers present on cannabis study efforts

WSU faculty specializing in cannabis research this week told a legislative panel their wide-ranging portfolio is dependent upon collaboration with outside stakeholders.

In a virtual work session before the state House of Representative’s Commerce & Gaming Committee, researchers Michael McDonnell, Ryan McLaughlin, Dr. Celestina Barbosa-Leiker provided legislators just a sample of the university’s cannabis research that is funded by proceeds from 2012’s Initiative 502, which decriminalized cannabis in Washington.

McDonnell, Associate Professor at the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and Chair of the Collaborative for Cannabis Policy, Research & Outreach shared that the research collaborative has conducted 73 projects, leveraging state funding to secure external funding to support  $4.1 million in research activity.

“We believe as a land grant institution that we are better together” shared McDonnell, referencing collaborations and close partnerships with the Liquor and Cannabis Board, Washington State Department of Agriculture, Washington Health Care Authority, the University of Washington Cannabis Research Center, the Tribal-Qwibil Consultation Research Center and the national Council on Government Research’s Cannabis Research group.

McLaughlin, Assistant Professor at the WSU College of Veterinarian Medicine, works in the Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience program at WSU. He presented his research in modeling cannabis use in rodents and how he has used that to subsequently model use of cannabis in human populations such as adolescents or pregnant women.

Barbosa-Leiker, Vice Chancellor for Research at WSU Spokane Health Sciences and Associate Professor in the College of Nursing, shared her research on cannabis use by pregnant and parenting women. One of the articles she has authored and presented studied the women’s perceptions of risks and benefits of cannabis use during pregnancy and postpartum, where she found that the overarching theme of pregnant and parenting women was taking care of the mother and the baby.

You can view the full presentation below (starts at 1:28:30):