Waiting time for cannabis research licences stalling progress on understanding plant’s possibilities

It seems there is wide agreement that more cannabis research is needed to better understand the long-term effects and/or benefits of the now-legalized plant.

Although some patients may benefit from cannabis in the short term, long-term consequences remain an open question, in part because of delays in moving research studies more quickly down the line.

A recent CTV news discovery shed light on the issue, revealing that 350-plus existing cannabis research licence applications were in various stages of processing at Health Canada, with only 65 licences approved since Oct 2018.

The bottleneck appears to be simply a matter of volume; cannabis legalization brought with it a wave of licensing applications to approve and Health Canada, the agency responsible for green lighting cannabis studies, continues to work through the resulting backlog.

Health Canada recently shared with Science Mag that its goal for approving licensing is “42-day turnaround, with a 180-day response time” for multiple research protocols. “We expect the weekly number to grow in the coming weeks,” a Health Canada spokesperson said.

The online publication reported that since the original CTV story ran in July, there have been 45 new licence approvals, for a total of 113.

The Canadian government is scrambling to respond to a glut of license applications for #cannabis research.



There were 251 applicants in the queue as of late July.https://t.co/Hpl7roTZPE #research #cannabiscommunity — Grow Tech (@GrowTechLabs) August 19, 2019

In a follow-up with CTV News after the first story, a spokesperson for Health Canada shared “there have been challenges in processing times for new research licence applications.” The spokesperson added, however, that the federal department is hopeful that the number will grow in the coming weeks.

Health Canada has added 140 employees to help speed up the research licensing process and has started a risk-based triaging for research applications, allowing for smaller projects with fewer approvals required to possibly have an expedited review.

The federal department grants research licences that permit possession, transportation and chemical alterations to the cannabis plant for purposes of research, which would be otherwise illegal under the Cannabis Act. New research applicants must document the quantities of cannabis they plan to receive or grow, submit floor plans illustrating required security features and explain how any leftover cannabis will be destroyed at the end of a project.

Want to keep up to date on what’s happening in the world of cannabis? Subscribe to the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network.