WACA - Fall Policy Conference - 2021 - WSU CCPRO
(November 3, 2021)

Here are some observations from the Wednesday November 3rd Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) Fall Policy Conference.

My top 3 takeaways:

• WACA Deputy Director Brooke Davies introduced David Gang, Director of the Washington State University (WSU) Laboratory for Cellular Metabolism and Engineering, to talk about cannabis research underway at the university.
  • Davies welcomed Gang, saying he worked with the WSU Center for Cannabis Policy Research and Outreach (WSU CCPRO) studying “how plants like Cannabis sativa produce important medically active compounds.” She remarked that Gang was the lead on “WSU’s contribution to national field trials for industrial hemp” and was “developing partnerships with other research institutions and tribal communities for hemp research and economic development.”
  • Gang said he intended to provide a primer on WSU CCPRO “and some of the efforts that are ongoing” in the collaborative, which was established as a “conglomeration of individuals who are interested in cannabis research.” An informal group at first, researchers had begun traveling “to the Pullman campus for a meeting” annually before becoming “an official center” supported by the university. WSU CCPRO included “about 70 faculty and researchers,” and Gang committed to highlighting “some of the efforts that are going on today.”
  • He added that the “four main themes” for WSU CCPRO work were:
    • Public Policy and Safety 
    • Economics and Industry/Community Development 
    • Improving Health and Well Being
      • Gang noted this was “one of the largest ones in terms of number of researchers that are involved.”
    • Agricultural Research
      • The “newest” topic was being pursued “due to the 2018 Farm Bill which allowed that kind of research.”
  • Gang participated in Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) deliberative dialogues on cannabis plant chemistry on June 3rd and July 30th. WSU CCPRO researchers briefed lawmakers in September 2020.

• Gang set about describing research in the areas of safety; industry and community development; health; and agricultural development, indicating “there’s a lot of overlap” as many WSU CCPRO members work on multiple projects (presentation).
  • Public Policy and Safety. Gang told attendees there were three focus areas:
    •  “Federal and state cannabis policy”
      • In addition to Gang, researchers in this area included:
        • Cornell Clayton, Director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service at WSU
        • Sociologist Clayton Mosher
    • “Roadside detection of impairment”
      • Gang noted the following researchers were leading “parallel efforts” to find “new ways to measure impairment”:
        • Brian Clowers, WSU Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry
        • David Makin, Associate Professor, Director of the Complex Social Interaction Laboratory, and Undergraduate Director for the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
        • Dale Willits, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director 
      • He indicated that some states with per se impairment laws around cannabis “have withdrawn” their limits for detection “on the road.” The approach was proving ineffective as amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) “in your body, in your blood, in your tissues do not necessarily parallel your level of impairment. In fact, it’s very, very difficult to draw that connection.” Gang openly questioned if creating a “breathalyzer for cannabis” was “even possible...and the answer is: maybe not.”
        • A per se impairment standard for driving under the influence was included in Initiative-502, and at time of publication continued to be Washington law.
    • Impacts of decriminalization “on crime and the justice system”
      • Bringing up delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-THC), Gang said the topic “hit a lot of people by surprise” and mentioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website on “5 things to know about delta-8-THC.” He said the agency couldn’t offer much guidance on the compound “because they can’t say this should be legal” since “anything related to cannabis” remained illegal under federal law.
      • Gang credited the work of WSLCB staff in convening experts to discuss cannabinoids like delta-8-THC during the deliberative dialogues. He said his motive for participating was ensuring the compounds were discussed “in a scientifically sound way,” regardless of the policy result.
  • Economics and Industry/Community Development. Gang stated that researchers were “working on this from different directions” for both hemp and “high-THC cannabis.”
    • Focus areas Gang mentioned included “taxation, banking, economic impact, cannabis workplace issues, healthcare work...as well as the rural bioeconomy development, and tribal involvement.”
    • Gang remarked that Louise Kaplan, WSU Vancouver Associate Professor of the College of Nursing, and Associate Professor Tracy Klein had undertaken research on “the role and interaction of practitioners and how they deal with their patients, and what they know about cannabis.” He said it “became very clear from a lot of their research that there’s not a lot known, even though it’s talked about,” and frequently medical staff were “really poorly informed.” Through sociological surveys, Gang commented that many medical practitioners “said they would really love to have this information, they just don’t have it.” An impact of the research was information sharing with the Washington State Health Care Authority (WA HCA) to assist in the evaluation of ”state law and what the policy might be...moving towards” in addition to new “continuing education modules.” 
      • Seattle Central College offered several continuing education classes through the college’s Cannabis Institute.
  • Improving Health and Well Being. Diving deeply into work in this field, Gang said this topic covered most medical research around cannabis including “pain research, mental health and stress, the impact on development, and mother/child health.”
    • According to Gang, Jessica Fales, WSU Vancouver Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology, and Michael Morgan, WSU Professor of Psychology, had done “interesting work related to pain and how THC and [cannabidiol] CBD, what role they may play in pain mitigation.”
    • Michael McDonell, WSU CCPRO Director and Associate Professor at the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Assistant Professor Carrie Cuttler, and Angela Henricks, Principal Investigator at the WSU Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, had “all looked at the impact of cannabis use on mental health, how it can be used by individuals to alleviate stress,” Gang said. He pointed to a continuing debate by health professionals of whether “cannabis use may lead to certain conditions; other people have said ‘well, it’s actually the other way around, the people with those conditions self-medicate to deal with those conditions.’”
      • See McDonnell’s remarks on THC concentrations and mental health from December 2020.
    • Gang was one of several WSU CCPRO members looking at “adolescent use and also at...mothers’ use,” noting the leadership of Celestina Barbosa-Leiker, Vice Chancellor for Research at WSU Health Sciences Spokane, and Courtney Meehan, Professor of Anthropology at the College of Arts and Sciences and Health Equity Research Center (HERC) Faculty Fellow. He said they’d been learning “what happens when a mother takes cannabis, is it transmitted through their milk to an infant,” and expressed surprise when he found how little research had been conducted on the topic. Gang reported that researchers had secured funding “from Gerber Foundation” and other organizations to “start to look at this.”
      • Barbosa-Leiker briefed lawmakers on “Cannabis use by pregnant and parenting women” in September 2020.
      • Academic articles around cannabis and breastfeeding include:
        • Sensitive Quantification of Cannabinoids in Milk by Alkaline Saponification–Solid Phase Extraction Combined with Isotope Dilution UPLC–MS/MS (Dec 20, 2016)
        • Marijuana Use During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding: Implications for Neonatal and Childhood Outcomes (Sep 1, 2018)
        • Cannabis and breastfeeding (Jun 25, 2020)
        • Cannabis Use in Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women: Behavioral and Neurobiological Consequences (Nov 2, 2020)
        • Detection of Cannabinoids by LC-MS-MS and ELISA in Breast Milk (Aug 14, 2021)
      • On October 8th, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) noted a study on “Maternal Marijuana Use During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding: Assessing In-Hospital Outcomes of Early Preterm Infants.”
      • The National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Institutes of Health (NID) maintains a cannabis page in their Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed) which was last revised on November 15th.
    • Several researchers were evaluating addiction issues for alcohol,  cannabis, and other drugs, remarked Gang, raising “questions about whether cannabis is involved, can be addictive, or if it is taken with other compounds, what role that may play” in substance addiction. He then said others studied “basic science” around “how the enzymes in our body metabolize and work with these compounds,” as well as “genomics work,” and “brain function and physiology.”
      • However, there were “significant barriers to being able to perform this kind of research,” Gang cautioned. A primary challenge was securing research licensing from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), he indicated, calling it a “tedious, arduous process” that had taken him “almost two years.” Once licensed, he could only conduct research with cannabis provided through the  University of Mississippi Marijuana Project---a DEA partner since 1975---which Gang found wasn’t the same quality “as what people take” in adult-use and medical cannabis markets, contrasting it as “the tea versus the sludge.” He’d heard “horror stories” from scientists using the samples that included “sticks and rocks,” but noted DEA leaders “announced, just last year, that there are three other research producers that are being allowed.” WSU was preparing an “agreement” with one of the new producers, Biopharmaceutical Research Company out of California, to secure “research grade cannabis...of much higher quality material and much higher THC levels,” Gang added.
      • Gang mentioned how he and Jessica Tonani, VerdaBio CEO, considered a survey “of what’s available out in the state of Washington” cannabis market, due to concerns over the discrepancy between the cannabis being researched and what was actually being used by consumers. Their initial outreach to DEA officials was positive, he stated, but “the head of the DEA...said ‘no, you can't actually do that, because as soon as WSU takes in that little, small sample of cannabis” the university would be violating federal law. He was hopeful “that might be changing.”
    • Gang described work by Ryan McLaughlin, Associate Professor with the WSU Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, with rats self-administering cannabis vapor, something McLaughlin briefed legislators on in September 2020. Gang said McLaughlin was looking at their “behavior, cognitive/neurobiological alterations, and ask questions regarding sex differences.” He asserted that “males and females definitely respond differently” to cannabis, whether they were rats or humans. The animal studies showed “they will actually administer a certain amount to reach a certain intoxication level, and then they stop.” 
      • He added that Cuttler was engaged in WSU Institutional Review Board approved research with people who “buy their own cannabis, smoke it at their own locations, and then do cognitive tests” via video conferencing software. Her findings included that “regardless of what the source is of the cannabis, an individual will take the amount that they desire,” again expressing surprise that self-titration hadn’t been studied more already.
    • Gang then brought up Rebecca Craft, Professor of Psychology, who was “looking at sex differences in analgesia,” as women tended to “suffer more pain then men.” He conveyed that animal studies were showing a “similar response to the humans” and females “receive much greater pain relief using THC than males do.” However, Gang said after “chronic” use of cannabis female subjects “develop tolerance” and didn’t “get the same effect over time,” hypothesizing hormones and “the compounds that are active are different” for the sexes during cannabis metabolization. He pointed to Philip Lazurus, WSU Boeing Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who had researched how cannabinoid compounds “affect drug metabolism of other drugs in the body,” and found it could be “significantly impacted.” One potential implication of this would be that “if you have different lines of cannabis that have different ratios” of cannabinoids, “those ratio changes can affect the ability of your body to respond,” Gang stated.
  • Agricultural Research. Gang explained that WSU CCPRO members could not perform “high-THC cannabis research in an agricultural setting yet” due to federal restrictions as WSU was “a federally funded university” subject to rules including drug-free workplaces and education environments. For agricultural research in particular, “we’re not supposed to be actively engaged in anything directly related to the cultivation or production of high-THC cannabis,” he commented, and instead focused on hemp research allowed under the 2018 Farm Bill and state law.
    • WSU CCPRO members were looking into issues such as hemp “crop optimization for production as well as pest management,” Gang noted, having seen that hemp “requires a lot of care just like any other plant.” He mentioned other studies on “cropping systems, to pathology, to insect interactions...hemp taint [from wildfire smoke] is something that’s of concern,” and cited the work of Tom Jobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
    • Gang observed that an increase in hemp production in Washington had dropped the price of the crop because farmers “all decide[d] to grow it.” However, an FDA memo on regulation of dietary supplements and food containing cannabinoids “put the nail in the coffin for it for a while.” Many hemp producers moved to producing hemp biomass “because you can take CBD, and you can do chemical conversion on it, and you can generate delta-8-THC.” However, doing so produced “a lot of side products,” he indicated, in part because processors never used more than a “partially purified compound” input to begin with. The result was consumers were sometimes “putting their...lives into the hands of somebody doing garage chemistry in some cases,” Gang said. 
    • Hemp research efforts were showing “how to grow hemp”---and how not to---as it was developed into an “industrial crop.” Gang said government regulations continued to be a hindrance in addition to “profitability at the farm level.” Questions around the best types of hemp to cultivate in Washington’s “diverse environments for crop production” were common, he said, along with questions about growth conditions. Hemp seeds were typically imported from “very different” environments not always similar to Washington, according to Gang. He remarked that WSU CCPRO had partnered with the Industrial Hemp Association of Washington (IHEMPAWA), “several growers,” and other specialists at Oregon State University and the University of California - Davis (UC Davis) to increase research. Gang said a $10 million grant had been secured to “work on developing the hemp bioeconomy in the western states.”
    • Gang indicated that environmental factors such as smoke taint, wind storms, or heat waves impacted growth of some hemp varieties but not others, leading researchers to conduct trials based on differing varieties. As WSU possessed “state-of-the-art instrumentation to allow us to analyze” hemp samples to create detailed cannabinoid profiles, he noted one result was realizing there was “a lot of variability within the species.” Gang said the hope was to learn more about “how do we support the rural economy and how do we integrate it into the industry within the state” while considering potential impacts on “the other cannabis industry.”
  • Gang reported that WSU had received “close to four million dollars in the last ten years in grant funding,” with most of the money going to “small projects.”

• Attendees posed questions on subjects including the legal definition of hemp, hemp seeds, and research on high-potency cannabis.
  • Rachael Weygandt, Evergreen Herbal Compliance Manager and Project Coordinator, queried Gang about the federal definition of hemp as cannabis containing less than 0.3% THC, asking, “how do you feel about that...do you see that changing?” Gang responded as “a professor at the university...and as a scientist” that cannabis and hemp plants were “the same species, there’s a lot of variation across that species.” In his estimation, the 0.3% limit was “arbitrary” and “didn’t make much sense.” When he researched the history of that number, he found it was “hard to really get an answer on that.” He understood some “people think that you can start to get intoxicated if you smoke a joint if it’s about 6%” THC, so 1/20th of that percentage had been encoded in federal law. Gang felt this distinction made no “sense from a breeding perspective.” He complimented officials with the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) for their commitment to “supporting and promoting economic development,” and felt the state would benefit from a dedicated hemp research license.
  • Brad Douglass, The Werc Shop Vice President of Intellectual Property & Regulatory Affairs, wondered about possible collaborations between WSU CCPRO and cannabis licensees. Gang was receptive, saying WSU CCPRO leaders were still putting in place their policies for outreach. He emphasized how researchers were careful “about what comes through the university doors, in terms of material” and sought to avoid “giving specific advice” that might run afoul of federal law. Gang encouraged interested individuals to reach out to him.
  • Davies inquired about common questions retailers faced from consumers asking for comparisons between smoked and ingested cannabis products. Being mindful of individual differences, she asked Gang for the best response. He believed “we don’t know yet,” as sufficient studies hadn’t been conducted. However, as cannabinoids were fat soluble, Gang commented that there “seems to be a connection” with a person’s body mass index (BMI); another factor was how much experience that consumer had using cannabis. The data he’d seen on differences in consumption methods suggested that animal studies and human survey results were “comparable,” but not conclusive. 
  • An attendee identified as Paige wanted to know about hemp seeds, specifically “how many turned out to be marijuana.” Gang said he’d collected samples from the WSU 2021 hemp crop but cannabinoid analysis hadn’t been completed. Drawing “from data from last year...on average the fields would be compliant,” but about a tenth continued to be “hot plants” over 0.3% THC. He confirmed otherwise identical plants could have very different THC levels.
  • David Brown, Coastal Cannabis Consulting Managing Director, asked if Gang or other WSU CCPRO researchers were “cataloging the different strains” encountered so they could “know what you’re using.” Gang replied that such a process was underway for his lab, and agreed it was “critical to know” what researchers were using. He commented that a recently secured grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Supplemental and Alternative Crops (SAC) program centered on hemp “germplasm development” in collaboration with a USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) repository in Geneva, New York. Gang claimed there had been a hemp repository “until the war on drugs was proclaimed in 1970 and they burned everything, literally burned everything.”
    • Zachary Stansell, the Hemp Curator for the Geneva ARS repository, and Western New York Small Fruits Extension Specialist Anya Osatuke released the USDA Hemp Descriptor and Phenotyping Handbook on September 30, 2021.
  • WACA Executive Director and Lobbyist Vicki Christophersen wanted to learn more about new cannabis producers licensed by the DEA. Gang said Biopharmaceutical Research Company was the only organization he’d heard had received approval. “The rumor is” another facility would be in New York, “and then the other one is gonna be somewhere in the midwest.” He added that the Marijuana Project at the University of Mississippi was undergoing changes to improve cannabis sample quality and variation, “but it hasn’t happened yet.”
  • Davies posed the final question “about the connection between...adolescent mental illness and high THC use.” Noting legislative efforts to ban and/or limit cannabis concentrates, she said WACA members disagreed with this approach but wanted to know if there was more research on the topic. While “not directly my area,” Gang considered it to be "still a very open question." Research had been undertaken around the world “that has drawn a connection between early use” under age 14, “high level use under the age of 21,” and “incidents of psychotic events and schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.” However, he found that “there’s been issues raised against” some studies, like limited sample size, or the group “wasn’t representative,” or the study was dated. One problem had been that for many years the only way to do cannabis research was with approval from the FDA, which he claimed heavily favored studies that “pretty much got the result that they wanted”: highlighting the dangers of cannabis. Gang felt older research with federal backing was “biased,” but some newer studies “kind of support that as well.” He continued to suspect some people with mental health issues used cannabis as self-medication, or as a substitute for another drug, "but there's definitely a connection between really high doses of THC and some” psychological impacts which “definitely needs” further evaluation.
    • The 2021-23 biennium operating budget signed on May 18th included a $500,000 proviso to WSU and the University of Washington Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute (UW ADAI) from the general fund “to contract on a one-time basis...to develop policy solutions in response to the public health challenges of high tetrahydrocannabinol potency cannabis. The institute must use this funding to: Conduct individual interviews with stakeholders and experts representing different perspectives, facilitate joint meetings with stakeholders to identify areas of common ground and consensus, and develop recommendations for state policies related to cannabis potency and mitigating detrimental health impacts.” The groups were tasked to author two reports for the Washington State Office of Financial Management “and the appropriate committees of the legislature:
      • (a) An initial report must be submitted by December 31, 2021, and shall summarize progress made to date, preliminary policy recommendations, and next steps; and
      • (b) A final report must be submitted by December 31, 2022, and shall summarize the analysis conducted by the institute, the process and stakeholders involved, an inventory of relevant cannabis policies in other states, and recommendations for policy changes to reduce the negative impacts of high potency cannabis in Washington state.”
    • HB 1463, legislation aiming to limit THC concentrations in cannabis products and raise the legal purchase age for some of them, remained active through the 2022 legislative session.
    • In December 2020, a cannabis potency work group briefed prevention advocates on a consensus statement developed to describe health risks related to cannabis, concluding that “THC content of cannabis products contributes to adverse health effects in a dose-response manner. This increased risk imposed from using higher potency cannabis products is particularly concerning for young users and those with certain pre-existing mental health conditions.”
    • Other research on cannabis and psychosis included:
      • The Intergenerational Transmission of Cannabis Use: Associations between Parental History of Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Disorder, Low Positive Parenting, and Offspring Cannabis Use
      • Cannabis and psychosis: Neurobiology