APPENDIX I
RESEARCH PRIORITIES
In preparing this volume, we found that the evidence available was often far less than we would have liked, even for developed countries with substantial research traditions. We lay out some of these research needs here.
We need to know more about the health effects of cannabis, about patterns of use and problems, and about the costs and effectiveness of different polices for attempting to discourage its use. Among the priorities for research on its health effects are the following:
•    better epidemiological evaluations of the role played by cannabis use in motor vehicle crashes;
•    longitudinal studies of the possible long-term health effects of continuing to use cannabis into middle age, especially its effects on the risks of cardiovascular, respiratory disease and cancer risk;
•    research into the individual differences, particularly genetic, that underlie people’s different reactions to cannabis in order to identify those with a susceptibility to experiencing extreme anxiety or psychosis;
•    the effects of chronic cannabis use on the immune system and reproductive function in adolescence and young adulthood;
•    the effects of cannabis use on risks of developing or exacerbating mental disorders in adolescence and young adulthood;
•    the effects of regular cannabis use on cognitive and brain functioning in young adults;
•    research into the perceived benefits of cannabis and into why the drug is so widely used;
•    research on patterns and prevalence of cannabis consumption, and on wider social attitudes and behaviour, such as the attitudes of cannabis users towards the police and authority;
•    research into the efficacy of various proposed medical applications for
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cannabis, particularly its potential as a painkiller, and further research into the psychological and physiological effects of the 60+ naturally occuring cannabinoids found within cannabis;
Among the priorities for research on policies towards cannabis are the following:
•    evaluations of the effectiveness of media campaigns and roadside drug-testing in reducing the contribution of cannabis use to the risks of motor vehicle crashes;
•    evaluations of existing methods for discouraging early and regular cannabis use in adolescents and the development of more effective ways of discouraging such use;
•    research into providing better assistance to cannabis users who develop problems related to their cannabis use and who wish to stop;
•    research into the effects of different methods of discouraging illegal production and markets in cannabis;
•    research into the effects of different systems of penalising cannabis use and possession; research into the effects of de facto legal cannabis markets on patterns of cannabis use among adolescents and young adults;
•    research into the effects of controls (price, availability, age restrictions, prescription regimes, etc.) in legal or quasi-legal markets on cannabis use and problems.