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As cannabis becomes more widely available, the need for reliable scientific research has never been greater. Cannabis safety depends on asking difficult questions and following the evidence wherever it leads. Research can identify overlooked risks, uncover therapeutic benefits, determine whether existing safety standards address the right concerns, improve patient care, and challenge assumptions driving public policy.

Federal cannabis policy changes have brought renewed attention to the science. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), following a scientific review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), determined that cannabis has a currently accepted medical use. Yet the federal rescheduling debate has generated confusion and misinformation about what these changes mean for patients, healthcare, and public safety. This makes independent research and accurate interpretation of scientific evidence especially important.

While there is an abundance of studies, reviews, and reports now contributing to conversations about cannabis safety, therapeutic benefits, and potential harms,  many of these publications summarize or reinterpret earlier findings rather than generate new evidence. For decades, federal cannabis research funding concentrated heavily on substance use, addiction, and potential harms. An analysis of U.S. research funding between 2000 and 2018 found that approximately $1.06 billion was awarded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), far exceeding investments to  other federal research institutes. This historical imbalance has left important questions about therapeutic applications comparatively underexplored.

Thanks to the work of advocates, NIDA and other National Institutes of Health programs now identify a broader range of cannabis research interests, including cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system, pain, and potential therapeutic applications. States are also investing in independent research. These investments create important opportunities to generate new evidence, improve patient care, strengthen safety standards, and inform public policy.

Expanding cannabis research will require new methods suited to its complexity. Traditional pharmaceutical development often focuses on isolated compounds and specific biological targets, while cannabis contains numerous potentially active constituents that interact with multiple physiological systems. Understanding these interactions, appropriate dosing, drug interactions, therapeutic outcomes, and differences in patient responses requires innovative research approaches alongside conventional clinical trials.

Equally important are discoveries that improve product testing, identify contaminants, strengthen safety standards, assess impairment, and evaluate public health outcomes. Research into cannabis safety and therapeutic benefits should not be competing priorities. Both are essential to improving patient care, protecting consumers, and developing evidence-informed policies.

Recognizing the Researchers Moving Cannabis Science Forward

The 2026 Discovery Award nominees' research expands what we know, questions what we think we know, and identifies where better evidence is needed. Whether investigating product safety, developing new research approaches, examining patient experiences, or challenging existing assumptions, their contributions help build the scientific foundation necessary for responsible cannabis integration.

The Discovery Award reflects a core principle of Cannabis Safety Month: legitimate cannabis safety questions should be investigated, not exaggerated, dismissed, or predetermined. Good research may confirm a concern, uncover an unexpected risk, challenge an existing testing standard, explain differences in patient responses, identify a potential therapeutic benefit, or demonstrate that an anticipated harm is not supported by the available evidence.

The goal of cannabis research should not be to prove that cannabis is safe or dangerous, but to develop the knowledge necessary to maximize potential benefits, identify and minimize risks, and make informed decisions about its use.

The 2026 Discovery Award recognizes researchers whose work expands the evidence needed to improve patient care, consumer protection, professional practice, public education, and public policy. The 2026 nominees, Kyle Boyar; Marion McNabb, DrPH, MPH; Stefan Broselid, PhD; Mitchell Colbert; Julie K. Johnson, PhD; Jessica Tonani; and Melani Kane, PharmD,  contributions demonstrate why independent research, innovative methods, and new discoveries are essential to advancing cannabis safety.

Learn more about the Discovery Award!

MEET THE DISCOVERY AWARD NOMINEES

Kyle Boyar

Kyle Boyar examines whether cannabis testing requirements are actually measuring the hazards regulators intend them to control. His research has examined heavy metals in vaporizer hardware and microbial safety, including Aspergillus and mycotoxin testing across multiple state markets. 

His work raises an important safety question: passing more tests does not necessarily make a product safer if regulators test for the wrong contaminants or use methods that do not reliably identify the risks that matter. Boyar’s research uses laboratory and multistate testing data to help determine where cannabis testing standards may need to evolve.

Marion McNabb, DrPH, MPH

Marion McNabb, DrPH, MPH, focuses on turning patient experience and public health data into information policymakers can use. Her work has connected patient research in Oklahoma with policy discussions involving cannabis testing, oversight, and patient safety, and she now serves as Director of the Institute of Cannabis Research at Colorado State University Pueblo. 

Her research reflects the value of studying what patients are actually experiencing rather than designing cannabis policy around assumptions alone. Bringing together patient, regulatory, business, and public health data can help identify problems and give policymakers a stronger foundation for responding.

Stefan Broselid, PhD

Stefan Broselid, PhD, brings the endocannabinoid system into the cannabis safety conversation. His work examines CB1 receptor adaptation, tolerance, individual response, and the broader physiological systems that can influence how a person responds to cannabinoids. 

This research goes beyond product potency or dose alone. Understanding how repeated exposure, physiology, medications, sleep, stress, metabolism, and other factors may influence response could help explain why the same amount of cannabis does not affect every patient the same way or even affect the same patient the same way over time.

Mitchell Colbert

Mitchell Colbert has expanded cannabis safety research into what happens after products are used. His work examines cannabis packaging waste, disposable vape hardware, lithium batteries, and the environmental and community safety consequences of the cannabis waste stream. 

The research broadens product safety beyond cultivation, manufacturing, and consumption. How products and devices are designed and discarded can affect sanitation workers, communities, waste facilities, and the environment, making end-of-life product design another part of responsible cannabis policy.

Julie K. Johnson, PhD

Julie K. Johnson, PhD, has studied cannabis policy and public health, including youth prevention, impaired driving, dispensary policy, product testing, potency, and regulatory data. Her work also demonstrates an essential part of good research: being willing to revise an expectation when the evidence points in a different direction. 

Johnson’s research did not find the increases in adolescent cannabis use she had initially expected to see in connection with medical cannabis laws and dispensary provisions. Findings like these matter to cannabis safety because evidence should guide where prevention resources are needed, rather than simply reinforcing pre-existing assumptions.

Jessica Tonani

Jessica Tonani and Verda Bio are expanding the research tools available for studying cannabis genetics, the cannabis microbiome, and less-studied naturally occurring cannabinoids. Their work includes efforts to make genomic and microbiome information publicly available while developing more consistent plant materials that can support reproducible research. 

Researchers cannot reliably compare safety or therapeutic effects if materials vary substantially or if they cannot consistently produce particular cannabinoids. Improving genetics, analytical characterization, research materials, and access to shared data creates a stronger foundation for studying compounds that remain poorly understood.

Melani Kane, PharmD

Melani Kane, PharmD, developed the Cannabinoid Experience Rating Scale, or CbERS, to bring greater structure to evaluating why a patient may not be getting the expected benefit from cannabinoid therapy or may be experiencing unwanted effects. Her framework considers factors such as dose, cannabinoid ratio, timing, formulation, administration, and treatment response rather than automatically treating every problem as a reason to increase or discontinue a dose. 

CbERS is moving through expert consensus, reliability testing, and prospective validation rather than being presented as an already validated clinical instrument. That process is an important part of discovery, turning an individualized and often subjective area of cannabis care into a framework that can be evaluated systematically.

Better Questions Lead to Better Cannabis Safety

Research does more than generate new knowledge. It can challenge outdated assumptions, identify overlooked risks, reveal potential therapeutic benefits, improve laboratory testing and product standards, and change how healthcare professionals, regulators, and policymakers approach cannabis safety.

As opportunities for cannabis research expand, the 2026 Discovery Award nominees' work shows why investing in new evidence matters. Although their research explores different aspects of cannabis safety, they share a commitment to asking important questions, investigating what remains unknown, and advancing scientific understanding rather than simply reinforcing existing conclusions.

Their discoveries help move cannabis policy and practice from assumptions toward evidence, giving patients, healthcare professionals, regulators, and policymakers the knowledge they need to make better decisions

Learn more about the Nominees & cast your vote for the 2026 Discovery Award through October 25.