Dr. Tim Stockwell’s research encompasses harm prevention and reduction, alcohol and drug policy, public health and safety impacts of substance use, and regulatory policies. (Submitted photo/Dr. Tim Stockwell)

By Jennifer Olson

current study

Increased cannabis research imperative for public health and policy

Dec 4, 2023 | 7:00 AM

Cannabis research continue to grow in Canada following legalization in 2018.

The ramifications of alcohol and opiates on both health and society have been studied extensively, and scientists are now expanding the scope of their work to include more cannabis-related research.

Dr. Tim Stockwell, PhD served as director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) from its founding in 2004 until 2020. He is a professor of psychology at the University of Victoria, he holds a background in clinical and research work in the U.K., and has spent 16 years with Australia’s National Drug Research Institute as deputy director and then director.

Stockwell is a past president of The Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol. He has authored more than 400 publications including books on substance dependence, prevention and treatment. He’s commitment to advancing public policy on substances led him to establish the CISUR to study the social, cultural and psychological determinants of harmful substance use.

Stockwell’s research encompasses harm prevention and reduction, alcohol and drug policy, public health and safety impacts of substance use, and regulatory policies. He compared the known health impacts of cannabis versus alcohol.

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“What we know is that there’s roughly 200-plus diagnoses of conditions, injuries and illnesses that can kill you or make you seriously ill with alcohol, and there are about five for cannabis,” shared Stockwell.

“Over time, we will know more about the health risks of cannabis. We’ve been around long enough that we’ve got a fairly good idea that cannabis doesn’t seem nearly as harmful as alcohol.”

A current study is revealing some benefits of having heavy alcohol users choose cannabis over alcohol.

“I’m supporting a study at the moment with severely alcohol-dependent people who don’t have stable housing. We manage alcohol programs that offer them one drink every hour and stop them from freezing to death outside in winter,” he explained.

“The participants get a choice every hour whether to have a cannabis joint or a drink of alcohol and many are choosing cannabis. This is a small sample of about 40 people, and they all rate these programs positively. There seems to be some early signs that they feel much better. They get the ‘munchies’ but these programs are providing healthy foods. It’s hard to get people who drink a lot to eat well, and this seems to be helping from that point of view. So, cannabis won’t be for everybody, but I think it is certainly positive for these specific groups of people who drink an awful lot.”

Stockwell shared his opinion regarding using cannabis as a substitute for prescribed opiates for pain management.

“In regards to using cannabis as a substitution for other substances, there are people who will use cannabis instead of opiates,” he said.

“For people with alcohol, methadone, or opioid dependence, I think a cannabis prescription would help. I support having special options for allowing cannabis to be prescribed for those sorts of reasons. Right now, these options don’t exist. It’s paradoxical that prescribed opioids have got more trials and data behind them to justify using them, in some respects, as proven pain relief. Whereas with cannabis, partly because it’s newly legal and they haven’t done all these massive trials and animal studies, it hasn’t got approval. So, it’s a very tough area. I think we should go in with more ability for prescribing cannabis for very targeted, specific reasons.”

Stockwell’s work calls attention to the importance of increasing cannabis research efforts in order to make informed public health and substance policy decisions.

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