On March 31, 2015, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) provided MAPS with information about the cost and availability of marijuana for our planned study of smoked marijuana for symptoms of PTSD in 76 U.S. veterans. It took over a year for NIDA to provide this information after MAPS received our first approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to purchase marijuana from NIDA in March 2014. Currently, NIDA has three of the four varieties of marijuana we requested; we have asked whether they will also be able to provide an additional variety with a balanced THC/CBD ratio and higher concentrations of THC and CBD than NIDA currently lists as available. On March 11, the Institutional Review Board at the University of Pennsylvania, where Coordinating Principal Investigator (PI) Marcel Bonn-Miller, Ph.D., is located, approved the study protocol. On March 17, an Independent Review Board approved the study for the Arizona site lead by Co-Investigator/Site PI Sue Sisley, M.D. Dr. Sisley will apply for her Schedule I license from the Drug Enforcement Administration once we find a suitable Arizona location. On March 26, the Institutional Review Board at Johns Hopkins University, for the site lead by Co-Investigator/Site PI, Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., deferred approval for the study, pending revisions to a study measure. The revisions were submitted for review on April 9. Once all approvals are received and the study initiation visits are conducted, the study will be cleared to proceed. Learn more…
