The Canadian federal government just announced that it is funding research projects on the effects of recreational cannabis legalization. MP Bill Blair announced that there are 14 research projects on cannabis across the country that will receive funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

According to Blair, these projects will each be receiving a C$100,000 grant.

These projects are based out of universities and hospitals. Some of them will look into the effects of cannabis consumption in pregnant women, indigenous communities, and teenagers. Some will examine how the use of cannabis changes when it has been legalized and some will evaluate the regulatory models used by provincial governments for cannabis policies.

This move is a great way for the government to address criticisms that it is not carrying out these studies before making the decision to legalize recreational cannabis.

Blair explained that while there have been cannabis-related studies and research before, it would have been hard to conduct research on such a scale with recreational cannabis still prohibited. He even recalled that in 2016, the government published a report that acknowledged the lack of high-quality and comprehensive research on the public health effects of weed.

Blair is the MP who served as the federal government’s point person when it comes to cannabis legislation.

Blair said that the government acknowledges the need to broaden knowledge when it comes to the various health effects of using cannabis, as well as the social, behavioral, and economic implications of cannabis legalization and regulation.

Sergio Rueda, a researcher at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and one of the recipients of the grant, said that his team will examine how the legalization of cannabis affects diverse communities in four of the country’s provinces. These will include racialized and indigenous communities. He is hoping that his team’s research will help in the development of new and informed government policies, as well as refine the existing ones.

Don Davies, Vancouver-Kingsway MP and federal NDP critic for health, said that while the infusion of funding by the liberal government is a positive move, tens of millions of dollars are still needed to begin addressing the many questions that are posed by cannabis legalization. Davies’ party has supported the decriminalization of cannabis since the 1970s.

Davies said that of the many casualties of cannabis criminalization, the effect on suppressing cannabis research is among the worst. He pointed out that everybody from each side of the cannabis legalization spectrum would agree that there is a huge need for more information on cannabis, especially its impact on health, in order to inform various policy approaches.

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Cannabis has been entirely legalized in cannabis. In November 2017, the federal House of Commons passed legislation legalizing recreational cannabis and this will take effect in July 2018. After legalization, estimates place annual cannabis sales at $4 billion.

Currently, Canadian cannabis companies are in the lead when it comes to medical cannabis production worldwide.