Dr. Barbara Brett-Green, Psychology

The primary objective for this project is to continue an ongoing study into the effects of medicinal cannabis on seizures in adults with medically refractory epilepsy. The Principal Investigator has established a partnership with Realm of Caring, a nonprofit organization, to provide support services for patients, and iC42, a bioanalytics company, to process participants’ biological samples (blood and urine) for antiepileptic medication and cannabinoid levels. Additional funding awarded by the ICR substantially improved the quality of the original study; however, it also lengthened the original study’s time frame.

Challenging aspects of conducting this research include the six-month length of the study and the expected length of the participant enrollment period. The Principal Investigator and research team are actively engaged in recruiting participants for this study. Recruitment is expected to continue for between six to 12 months until 34 participants are enrolled.

Data analysis and the production of articles for peer-review are expected to continue beyond 2019. Since the ICR initially awarded funding for this study, the Principal Investigator has been engaged in numerous research-related activities, including presenting a progress report at the first annual ICR conference, producing a technical report for the Pueblo County Commissioners, submitting multiple abstracts for presentations at upcoming regional and national conferences, accepting invitations to present at national cannabis conferences and other conferences, and preparing a review article for publication in the upcoming ICR journal.

The primary objective is to keep the Principal Investigator’s lab fully operational so that data collection for this study can be completed. Specific aims are to continue to support the costs of participant stipends, personnel, re-assigned time for the Principal Investigator, travel to present research results at scholarly conferences, and publishing. The Principal Investigator also plans to apply for funding external to the ICR.