Research in Progress: The Most Inclusive and Comprehensive Cannabis Use Study to Date

Riley Kirk, PhD & Miyabe Shields, PhD – The Network of Applied Pharmacognosy

Abstract:

There has never been a fully inclusive, detailed, longitudinal baseline assessment of the cannabis community. It is imperative that we create one to serve as a reference for future comparison of changing trends of average consumers and specific demographics. These groups of cannabis consumers present unique lived experience knowledge sets that could inform the direction and priorities of academic and industrial research. Creating a quantitative baseline of the different, but specific cannabis use cases will start to raise the value of research in that direction.

Starting November 3, 2023, any person who is over the age of 18, lives in the United States, and can access a phone or computer with the internet will be eligible to participate in our research study. The study begins with a 5 minute enrollment survey, followed by 14 days of reporting data (less than 2 minutes per day), and ending with another 5 minute exit survey. All responses are completely anonymous through our technology partner MoreBetter. The authors are participating in the first cohort.

This dataset has multiple applications for science advocacy – showing evidence that the community is willing to participate in research, highlighting specific subgroups of cannabis consumers that need more prioritization, and serving as the launch pad for a domino series of research projects into more specific therapeutic uses for cannabis. Moreover, the authors will make all parts of the research process transparent and fully public, including data updates as presented today. Our study is still currently recruiting at www.appliedpharmacognosy.org