The Shifting Focus of Cannabis Research: Interview with Carrie Cuttler, PhD

In our Higher Education: Research Initiatives That Deepen Our Understanding of Cannabis supplement, Cannabis Science and Technology interviewed Carrie Cuttler, PhD, Co-Director of the Center for Cannabis Policy Research and Outreach (CCPRO) at Washington State University.

In this video clip, Dr. Cuttler explains the recent trends she has seen in cannabis research, and which cannabinoid she is currently focusing on.

Check out our interactive supplement to read the full expert interviews, including an interview with Reginald Gaudino, PhD, Director of the Cannabis Research Institute, Discovery Partners Institute.

Transcription

Erin McEvoy: So how has research on cannabis changed over the past few years, and where does it seem to be heading in the future?

Carrie Cuttler: Yeah, one of the biggest shifts I guess I've noticed recently is a lot of labs that were traditionally studying cannabis and THC, I'm seeing people shifting their focus onto minor cannabinoids and terpenes in addition to THC. So for many, many years, THC was the main focus of almost all research on cannabis. It was the phytocannabinoid that everyone was after and interested in, and believed to be responsible for the intoxicating effects, the detrimental effects, the therapeutic effects, just was believed to be responsible for everything. And the interesting thing is that THC is one of over 100 cannabinoids in the plant, so there's a lot more to cannabis than just THC. And so now people, it does seem, are starting to wonder, what do these other over 100 phytocannabinoids? What do all these many different terpenes do, either alone or in combination with THC? So I myself have been really getting into investigating CBG, cannabigerol, which is probably going to be the new CBD. It's not intoxicating, it's not impairing, but it does seem to have some therapeutic effects. So we’re trying to move towards harnessing some of the therapeutic effects of cannabis without the intoxication and the impairing effects of THC.

We're also seeing a bit more of an uptick on research on effects of legalization on cannabis use patterns, the different populations using cannabis is obviously very low hanging fruit to understand the impacts of legalization on people's use patterns.