Cannabis | Health | Science
Bias in Cannabis Research Focuses on Harmful Effects
These 4 tips can help to identify spurious claims and questionable study designs.
I’ve written a number of articles about cannabis research. Every time I write one about new research finding some undesirable effect associated with marijuana use, someone in the comments accuses me of bias.
Sometimes I respond to defend myself. “I reported research results,” I’ll say. “I did not advocate for or against cannabis. Of course, additional research is needed to confirm or refute these studies.” Sometimes I even throw in, “For the record, I am pro-cannabis and cannabis products and used to be an executive with a company in the cannabis space.”
I think I might have been trying a little too hard with that last one, but it all got me thinking. When looking for new cannabis research to write about, there do seem to be more studies about harmful effects than beneficial ones. Does that mean that cannabis use, on the whole, does more harm than good? Or is there bias in the research?
