The most unorthodox cannabis research lab in Colorado is always on the move. You may have driven behind it on Foothills Parkway on its way to a testing site. 当它在附近的小巷里空转时，你可能从它身边走过, 收集志愿者的血液样本. 毫无特色的道奇短跑运动员尽其所能保持低调, 但你可能已经知道它的一个绰号:坎纳文, 说, 或神秘机器.
一辆到处研究嗑药人群的面包车! 博尔德! 这些尖刻的笑话实际上是自己写出来的. 但仔细观察就会发现，这个不寻常的项目, 由科罗拉多大学的CHANGE Lab领导, 过去大麻研究工作停滞不前的地方是否取得了成功.
人们的态度正在改变，而且这种变化已经持续了很长时间.”
“人们总是想谈论那辆面包车, 它实际上只是一个移动药理学实验室,助理教授桂皮·比德韦尔说. “它有很多有趣的名字, but it’s actually one of the most important 太ls we have to study cannabis use.”
大麻研究既需要创造力，也需要谨慎. 尽管科罗拉多州在2012年将成人娱乐用途合法化, 该工厂仍然是非法的. 像科罗拉多大学这样的联邦资助大学的研究人员可能无法处理, 商店, 消费, purchase or provide cannabis to research subjects without putting their institutions in potentially serious legal jeopardy.
面包车提供了一个变通办法. 到达校外私人住宅后, a non-CU-affiliated volunteer enters and completes a series of cognitive tests as well as a blood draw. 然后他回到了他的家, 消费s a high-potency cannabis product and comes back to the van to retake the same tests under the influence. The result: A before-and-after snapshot that keeps the CHANGE Lab on the right side of the law.
“We’re able to add the elements of laboratory control that we would like to have in place without dosing the volunteers or providing the products,比德韦尔说.
之后, the van rumbles off to its next appointment with fresh data that will help answer key questions. But a larger one remains: Why is studying an important public health matter so complicated?
自然科学
目前，大麻已经在全国范围内站稳脚跟. 在过去的五年里, eight states have legalized recreational use and 29 states allow medical marijuana prescriptions. 2016年，北美的大麻销售总额为6美元.7 billion; they are expected to continue growing by 25 percent annually through 2021.
“人们的态度正在改变，而且这种变化已经持续了很长时间,” said professor Kent Hutchison of the CHANGE Lab and the Institute of Cognitive 科学.
“研究已经明显落后. 这就是问题的关键:消费者没有信息.”
Widespread legalization created a boom in readily available cannabis products. 就THC而言, 这种植物的主要精神活性成分, several common marijuana strains average close to 15 percent potency — a four-fold increase since the 1990s. But cannabis edibles are even higher, and some concentrates can even approach 95 percent potency. With such wide-ranging options and little or no trustworthy science to refer to, 公众在盲目导航.
“研究已经明显落后了，”Hutchison说. “这就是问题的关键:消费者没有信息.”
比德韦尔补充说:“在一项研究的背景下, nobody has assessed how intoxicating these products are or studied the effects on behaviors such as driving.”
进入变革实验室. 由神经科学家Bidwell共同指导, Hutchison和Angela Bryan教授, it began in 2012 as an outgrowth of the group’s interest in addiction and cognitive function. 同年在科罗拉多州就大麻问题进行了投票, they began exploring potential avenues for studying a drug with major question marks not only about its ability to impair, but also its potential to alleviate inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, 糖尿病, 焦虑和失眠.
In the background, CU’s long, fraught association with marijuana loomed large. 这所学校努力消除陈旧的观念, 以每年4月20日雾蒙蒙的诺林广场的照片为标志. (The campus is designated as smokefree and prohibits marijuana use, possession and distribution.)
过于谨慎的错误是可以理解的. 仍然, 变革实验室推进了雄心勃勃的提案, poking and prodding at the guidelines to find ways of doing meaningful research with one hand tied behind its back.
“博彩平台推荐与大学领导层进行了反复磋商, 他们在帮助博彩平台推荐解决问题方面非常有帮助,和记黄埔说.
该组织还找到了助理教授诺兰·凯恩(Nolan 凯恩)作为天然盟友, 他是科罗拉多大学的生物学家，一直在寻找大麻DNA测序的方法. 凯恩, who co-founded the Cannabis Genomic 研究 Initiative with postdoctoral student Daniela Vergara, wanted to create a compendium of strains and decode the plant’s genetic mechanisms.
“大麻很吸引人，因为它有很多基因差异, 所以你可以用它做很多事情,维加拉说. “它用于大麻纤维, 纸, 石油, and the seeds are edible… There are literally hundreds of compounds that can be extracted from it. But without further study, we still don’t really know why it interacts with our body the way it does.”
现实的检验
凯恩和维加拉也遇到了同样令人沮丧的限制, but hit on the idea of acquiring DNA data from independent testing laboratories and then partnering with a seed company to compile genetic information from sample plants. 第三方组不受与CU相同的限制, 电子表格不会违反任何规则.
In 2016, the duo (working with Bidwell and Hutchison) published genomic research showing that the common cannabis strains used in official federal government statistics average between 5 and 6 percent THC content, but those sold recreationally in Denver and Seattle average closer to 20 percent — a staggering reality check that made national news.
在一项研究的背景下, nobody has assessed how intoxicating these products are or studied the effects on behaviors such as driving.”
“如果你在研究葡萄酒或烟草, 例如, 你研究人们实际使用的东西,维加拉说, adding that the research only underscored the need for up-to-date information on cannabis.
合法大麻继续面临不确定性. 联邦执法可能随时发生变化. 科罗拉多州的立法者可能会制定影响娱乐用途的新法律. 药房和监管机构保持着谨慎的休战状态. But the CHANGE Lab’s work has buoyed optimism that the underlying science finally could start catching up.
“I hope our efforts and our experiment designs embolden other universities to pursue these kinds of studies, 太,和记黄埔说.
He's planning more studies designed to test hypotheses about positive uses of the drug. 大麻或许能帮助吸毒者戒除阿片类药物, 例如, 或帮助老年人减轻疼痛和炎症. He also wants to examine cannabis use by military veterans to see whether it alleviates or exacerbates post-traumatic stress disorder, 这是退伍军人之间存在分歧的话题.
In 2016, 比德韦尔获得了近900美元,000 from Colorado’s Department of Public 健康 and Environment to study high-potency cannabis use with her mobile laboratory. 这个奖项, coupled with funding for Hutchison from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 代表了实验室的分水岭. 货车项目正式开了绿灯.
比德韦尔很快就会驾驶这辆货车大约一年. Her team has started a crowdfunding campaign to acquire a second one, in hopes of expanding its work. 与此同时, she hopes data collected by the current Dodge Sprinter helps fill the cannabis information gap.
“I think individuals are savvy and they want to base their personal decisions or personal medical decisions on empirical data,”她说。. “现在，他们并没有真正做到这一点，所以他们正在抓住稻草.”
帕特里克·坎贝尔摄
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