Cannabis Multidisciplinary Education and Research (CAMERA)

PIs: Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, MBA, Jane M. Liebschutz, MD, MPH, FACP

Project Summary: CAMERA seeks to advance understanding of cannabis through rigorous scientific research, education/training, and community engagement, and to address relevant and timely cannabis policy/advocacy issues. CAMERA will integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice into all of its actions, and will be responsive to the changing cannabis landscape in the US.

The main priority areas for CAMERA will be pain and substance use. These priority areas will guide decisions about CAMERA activities, including funding decisions. Within pain and substance use, the CCs have identified several initial thematic areas for consideration as follows. The CCs will regularly update them, keeping in mind CAMERA’s mission.
  • Equity, including differences based on race and rural vs. urban differences
  • Stigma, including stigma related to both adult-use and medical cannabis use, among the general public and health care workers
  • Special populations of interest: older adults (specifically regarding aging-related cognitive decline), dental patients (specifically regarding dental anxiety), cancer (including managing the side effects of cancer treatment), sickle cell disease, HIV
  • Conditions of particular interest: insomnia, anxiety
Publications:
Merlin JS, Althouse A, Feldman R, Arnsten JH, Bulls HW, Liebschutz JM, Nugent SM, Orris SR, Rohac R, Starrels JL, Morasco BJ, Kansagara D. Analysis of State Cannabis Laws and Dispensary Staff Recommendations to Adults Purchasing Medical CannabisJAMA Netw Open. 2021 Sep 1;4(9):e2124511. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.24511.PMID: 34524435 

Starrels JL, Young SR, Azari SS, Becker WC, Jennifer Edelman E, Liebschutz JM, Pomeranz J, Roy P, Saini S, Merlin JS. Disagreement and Uncertainty Among Experts About how to Respond to Marijuana Use in Patients on Long-term Opioids for Chronic Pain: Results of a Delphi Study. Pain Med. 2020 Feb 1;21(2):247-254. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnz153. PubMed PMID: 31393585; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8204879.

Merlin JS, Samet JH, Cheng DM, Lira MC, Tsui JI, Forman LS, Colasanti J, Walley AY, Del Rio C, Liebschutz JM. Marijuana Use and Its Associations With Pain, Opioid Dose, and HIV Viral Suppression Among Persons Living With HIV on Chronic Opioid Therapy. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2019 Oct 1;82(2):195-201. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002119. PubMed PMID: 31513554; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6746234.

Merlin JS, Long D, Becker WC, Cachay ER, Christopolous KA, Claborn KR, Crane HM, Edelman EJ, Lovejoy TI, Mathews WC, Morasco BJ, Napravnik S, OʼCleirigh C, Saag MS, Starrels JL, Gross R, Liebschutz JM. Marijuana Use Is Not Associated With Changes in Opioid Prescriptions or Pain Severity Among People Living With HIV and Chronic Pain. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2019 Jun 1;81(2):231-237. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000001998. PubMed PMID: 30865181; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6522289.