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Mental Health Commission of Canada invests $2M in cannabis research

The Mental Health Commission of Canada has announced that it will be investing $2 million towards targeted research on the mental health effects of cannabis use among Canadians.

The investment is in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Consortium for Early Intervention is Psychosis, the Schizophrenia Society of Canada Foundation and Veterans Affairs of Canada. Together, the joint investment will fund 18 research projects.

These research projects aim to cover a wide range of subpopulations that MHCC says are “under-represented in current research.” These groups include racialized and Indigenous communities, individuals experiencing mental illness (such as schizophrenia and psychosis, PTSD, and depression), 2SLGBTQ+ communities, and veterans.

“This important research will identify knowledge gaps, strengthen the evidence base, and inform future projects and policy,” said Dr. Samuel Weiss, scientific director at the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction.

“These research teams will accomplish this in partnership with people who use cannabis — ensuring that people with lived and living experience of cannabis use are meaningfully involved in all phases and stages, including research design, execution, knowledge translation and dissemination, and evaluation.”