Cannabis Research
The Cannabis Research Center (CRC) builds on current and past cannabis research conducted at the UMN School of Public Health. With legalization of adult-use cannabis in the state, there will be many new questions to answer about its public health impact. We collaborate with state and local agencies, policymakers, and community members to ensure information is responsive to needs and accessible to all Minnesotans.
Our Work: Cannabis Research Center Projects
Assessment of perceptions about and use of cannabis products in Minnesota.
Principal Investigator: Traci Toomey, PhD
Co-Investigator: Eileen Delehanty, MPH, Darin Erickson, PhD, Julie Sanem, PhD, Kath Lenk MPH
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Barriers to access and costs of cannabis among those recently diagnosed with cancer: Implications for recent cannabis legislation in Minnesota
Principal Investigator: Helen Parsons, PhD, MPH (Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health)*
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Cannabis legislation and social equity: A scoping review
Principal Investigator: Rhonda Jones-Webb, DrPH
Co-Investigator: Kyle Hill, PhD, MPH, Diana Augustin
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
The Ecological Landscape of Hemp-Derived THC Products in Minneapolis and its Impact on Pseudo-Underage Purchase Attempts
Principal Investigator: Eileen Delehanty, MPH
Co-Investigators: Traci Toomey, PhD; Darin Erickson, PhD
Funding Source: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota.
Evaluating Time Trends of Cannabis-Related Emergency Department Visits in Minnesota from 2016-2023
Principal Investigator: Eileen Delehanty, MPH
Co-Investigators: Traci Toomey, PhD; Darin Erickson, PhD
Collaborating Organization: Minnesota Department of Health
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Evaluating Use and Attitudes/Perceptions of Hemp-Derived Cannabis Products among Minnesotans in Workplaces and Non-Work Settings
Principal Investigators: Eileen Delehanty, MPH; Traci Toomey, PhD
Co-Investigator: Darin Erickson, PhD
Funding Source: The Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Education and Research Center
Issue Briefs on Minnesota Cannabis Metrics using NSDUH Estimates from SAMHSA’s Restricted-Use Data Analysis Web Tool
Principal Investigator: Colin Planalp, MPA
Co-Investigator: Traci Toomey, PhD
Collaborating Organization: State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC)
Funding Sources: SHADAC, Cannabis Research Center
Secondary Data Analysis of College Student Health Survey Data
Principal Investigator: Darin Erickson, PhD
Co-Investigator: Julie Sanem, PhD
Collaborating Organization: Boynton Health
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Understanding Cannabis Use by College Students and the Impact of Cannabis Legalization
Principal Investigator: Julie Sanem, PhD
Co-Investigators: Traci Toomey, PhD, Darin Erickson, PhD, Kath Lenk, MPH
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Use and Perceptions of Cannabis by Minnesota High School Students
Principal Investigator: Colin Planalp, MPA
Co-Investigator: Traci Toomey, PhD
Collaborating Organization: State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC)
Funding Sources: SHADAC, Cannabis Research Center
Note: bold = CRC team member, * = CRC affiliate
- Summary of School-Based Education Programs
Project Team: Zidane Galant-LaPorte, Julie Sanem, Traci Toomey
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Project Summary (PDF) - Review Of Literature Assessing Effects Of The Location and Density Of Retail Cannabis Outlets
Project Team: Kathleen Lenk, MPH, Kenzie Granger, Julie Sanem, PhD, Traci Toomey, PhD
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Project Summary (PDF) - An assessment of needs of local public health agencies related to legalization of cannabis in Minnesota.
Principal Investigator: Traci Toomey, PhD
Co-Investigator: Mary Lyon, Darin Erickson, PhD, Julie Sanem, PhD, Kath Lenk MPH, Natalie Scholz, MPH
Collaborating Organization: Local Public Health Association
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Project Summary (PDF) - Cannabis Use and Perceptions Among Minnesota High School Students
Project Team: Colin Planalp, MPA, Robert Hest, MPP, Andrea Steward, MA
Funding Sources: Cannabis Research Center, State Health Access Data Assistance Center
Issue Brief (PDF) - Perceptions and Opinions Relating to Cannabis in Minnesota
Project Team: Colin Planalp, MPA, Robert Hest, MPP, Andrea Steward, MA
Funding Sources: Cannabis Research Center, State Health Access Data Assistance Center
Issue Brief (PDF) - Public Health Implications of Cannabis Use Policy in Minnesota
Project Team: Robert Hest, MPP, Colin Planalp, MPA, Andrea Steward, MA
Funding Sources: Cannabis Research Center, State Health Access Data Assistance Center
Issue Brief (PDF) - Examination of Current Minimum Legal Marijuana Use Age 21 Laws in a State Where Recreational Marijuana is Legal: California
Principal Investigator: James Fell, MS
Subcontract Principal Investigator: Traci Toomey, PhD
Co-Investigator: Darin Erickson, PhD
Funding Agency: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety - A Preliminary Assessment of the Emerging Marijuana Retail Environment
Principal Investigator: Darin Erickson, PhD
Funding Agency: University of Minnesota
CRC-Funded Small Grant Projects
Cannabis use and attitudes among Minnesota youth: Exploring differences across time and intersecting social identities
Principal Investigator: Marla Eisenberg, ScD, MPH (School of Medicine & School of Public Health)*
Co-Investigator: Amy Gower, PhD (School of Medicine)*
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
Dosage, efficacy, and adverse events of medical cannabis in Minnesota residents
Principal Investigator: Angela K. Birnbaum, PhD, MLS (ASCP), (College of Pharmacy)*
Co-Investigator: Jeannine M. Conway, PharmD, (College of Pharmacy)*
Funding Source: Cannabis Research Center
A Qualitative Study of Cannabis Use Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People Across the Cancer Care Continuum
Student Investigator: Ben C. D. Weideman, MS (they/them and he/him), PhD student (Health Services Research, Policy and Administration)
Faculty Advisor: G. Nic Rider, PhD (they/them) (UMN Medical School)
Co-investigators: Courtney Sarkin, PhD, MBE (she/her) (Division of Epidemiology and Community Health), Madeleine J. Pesch, BA (she/her) (3rd year UMN medical student)
Systematic Literature Review on the Genotoxic, Mutagenic, and Carcinogenic Mechanisms and Effects of Cannabis
Student Investigator: Morgan Pak, MPH Student (School of Public Health Division of Environmental Health Sciences)
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Silvia Balbo (School of Public Health Division of Environmental Health Sciences)
Co-investigator Dr. Angela Birnbaum (College of Pharmacy Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology)
Note: bold = CRC team member, * = CRC affiliate
- Cannabis Research Center Fall 2024 Student Small Grants RFA
Each application is capped at $10K over a period of 12 months to fund student-led research projects on novel topics related to cannabis that may include original data collection, secondary data analysis, or pilot studies. Proposals are due November 1, 2024. Award notifications will be made by December 6, 2024.
View more information (PDF)
Additional Cannabis Publications
Fell JC, Toomey T, Eichelberger AH, Kubelka J, Schriemer D, Erickson D. What is the likelihood that underage youth can obtain marijuana from licensed recreational marijuana outlets in California, a state where recreational marijuana is legal? Journal of Safety Research, 82:102-111, 2022.
Lenk KM, Wiens T, Fabian LEA, Erickson DJ. Practices and policies of marijuana retail stores in the first two US states to legalize recreational marijuana sales, Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 28:4, 340-348, 2021.
Calvert CM, Erickson D. Recreational cannabis legalization and alcohol purchasing: ,a difference-in-differences analysis. Journal of Cannabis Research. Jul 7;3(1):27. 2021.
Calvert C, Erickson D. An examination of relationships between cannabis legalization and fatal motor vehicle and pedestrian-involved crashes. Traffic Injury Prevention. 21(8):521-526, 2020.
Wiens T, Lenk KM, Fabian LEA, Erickson DJ. Law enforcement practices in the first two states in U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana. International Journal of Drug Policy, 61:38-43, 2018
Nannini DR, Zheng Y, Joyce BT, Gao T, Liu L, Jacobs DR, Schreiner PJ, et al. Marijuana use and DNA methylation-based biological age in young adults. Clinical Epigenetics. 2022;14(1):134.
Bancks MP, Auer R, Carr JJ, Goff DC Jr, Kiefe C, Rana JS, Reis J, Sidney S, Terry JG, Schreiner PJ. Self-reported marijuana use over 25 years and abdominal adiposity: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. Addiction. 2018 Apr;113(4):689-698.
Auer R, Vittinghoff E, Yaffe K, Künzi A, Kertesz SG, Levine DA, Albanese E, Whitmer RA, Jacobs DR Jr, Sidney S, Glymour MM, Pletcher MJ. Association between lifetime marijuana use and cognitive function in middle age: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. JAMA Intern Med. 2016 Mar;176(3):352-61.
Bancks MP, Pletcher MJ, Kertesz SG, Sidney S, Rana JS, Schreiner PJ. Marijuana use and risk of prediabetes and diabetes by middle adulthood: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Diabetologia. 2015 Dec;58(12):2736-44
Braun BL, Hannan P, Wolfson M, Jones-Webb R, Sidney S. Occupational attainment, smoking, alcohol intake, and marijuana use: ethnic-gender differences in the CARDIA study. Addictive Behaviors. 2000 May-Jun;25(3):399-414.
Borrell LN, Jacobs DR Jr, Williams DR, Pletcher MJ, Houston TK, Kiefe CI. Self-reported racial discrimination and substance use: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2007 Nov 1;166(9):1068-79.
