California was one of the first states to legalize adult-use cannabis, and as such, it’s become somewhat of an experimental oddity for the rest of North America.

In anticipation of the drug’s social impact, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) developed the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative (CRI), a special initiative of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour in conjunction with the UCLA Brain Research Institute. Led by Dr. Jeff Chen, director, since its inception in 2017, the initiative claims to be one of the first academic programs worldwide to focus entirely on the study of cannabis. The CRI draws from over a dozen departments across the university to research the social impacts of cannabis use and legalization.

Earlier this year, Dr. Ziva Cooper was appointed the initiative’s first research director, and her focus now lies primarily in exploring the effects of cannabis on human health.

“Los Angeles has swiftly become the epicenter for a cultural revolution in the United States related to the use of cannabis and cannabis-based products, both for medicinal and personal use,” Cooper said recently in an interview released this week by the UCLA newsroom.

“Because UCLA is a top-ranked university with world leaders across disciplines, it is poised to be the hub of rigorous, impactful study of cannabis and cannabinoids.”

Cooper stresses L.A.’s significance in the field of cannabis research, as well as its broader implications over the rest of the country as legalization creeps slowly from state to state.

In anticipation of the drug’s social impact, UCLA developed the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative (CRI), a special initiative of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour in conjunction with the UCLA Brain Research Institute. MARCEL CRETAIN/Winnipeg Sun - QMI Agency

“Los Angeles has become an experiment for the United States to see what happens when we permit the use of cannabis across the board,” she says. “In Los Angeles, there is an immediate opportunity, and a public health necessity, to study the impact of cannabis on health and society.”

Cooper touts the collaboration between medical, legal, and public policy experts in the program as a key factor in its ability to conduct comprehensive research on the societal impact of the drug—she also hopes CRI’s work can help inform drug policy in a wider geographical area.

“I am hoping that I can be a resource to both guide research questions and strategy, and to help colleagues navigate the requirements to successfully launch projects in this area,” says Cooper.  “These projects will yield data that will be instrumental in educating our communities, students, and medical professionals.”