Study lead researcher Dr. Hance Clarke (submitted)
Two thousand patients who have been prescribed medical cannabis for chronic pain or sleeping issues, anxiety or depression are being sought across Canada to participate in a new study.
Lead researcher Dr. Hance Clarke, director of pain services at Toronto General Hospital, says the goal is to understand the effectiveness of medical cannabis in patients over a six month period.
Dr. Clarke says lots of anecdotal evidence and stories about medical cannabis exist but this research will provide the first national database.
“Patients using medical cannabis can experience a variety of effects depending on the strain and that variability is not accepted in the pharmaceutical industry,” he notes.
Dr. Clarke believes the so-called Medical Cannabis Real World Evidence (MC-RWE) clinical trial could convince more physicians and patients to accept medical cannabis as a viable treatment option.
Through an online portal created by Medical Cannabis for Shoppers, Dr. Clarke says patients recruited for the study will receive validated strains of cannabis which have been tested by a third party.
