Emily Lindley's stash of marijuana is going to be very, very secure.
Lindley, a neurobiologist, is about to begin the first study ever to directly compare cannabis with an opioid painkiller (in this case, oxycodone) for treating people with chronic pain. She got a grant for this research two years ago, but it has taken that much time to meet all the requirements for working with a drug the federal government still considers highly dangerous.
Before it's given to patients, the marijuana will be kept inside steel narcotics lockers bolted to the wall in a room with surveillance cameras and a combination keypad on the door. Each locker has tamper-proof hinges and requires two keys—each held by a different person. If someone puts the wrong key in one of the locks, it will become inoperable and have to be drilled out.
All this is necessary to comply with rules imposed by the Drug Enforcement Agency to make sure drugs meant for research don't end up on the street, says Heike Newman, a senior regulatory manager at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus, where Lindley's study will take place. Newman's job is to help researchers with the paperwork they need to file with various government agencies to get approval for their studies. She says the lockers and renovations to the storage room cost the university about $15,000.
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http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/11/a-new-test-of-pots-potential-to-replace-painkillers/507200/?
