UNLV students innovate to look into underreported impacts of cannabis
Summary
UNLV students showcased research at a Sept. 5 event hosted by the UNLV Cannabis Policy Institute exploring underreported and emerging impacts of cannabis despite federal limits on research. Projects included a synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) analogue derived from caraway seeds that showed anticonvulsant promise in mice; an analysis of Nevada’s growing illicit cannabis market and its effects on youth usage and tax revenue; and a nationally representative survey modelling demographic risk for Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD), highlighting disparities affecting minority and vulnerable groups.
Key Points
- Federal Schedule I classification continues to restrict cannabis research, limiting funding and access.
- Adriana Carrillo created a synthetic CBD scaffold from caraway seed compounds that reduced seizures in mice, suggesting a potential non-cannabis-derived anticonvulsant route.
- Mia Tschan found Nevada’s illicit cannabis market may be worth up to $370 million in untaxed revenue and could be linked to rising youth use and falling legal sales and tax receipts.
- Frankie Nieblas’ survey of 2,806 adults modelled demographic likelihoods of cannabis use and CUD risk, finding higher risk among some minority groups and complex links with income and religiosity.
- Students recommend more targeted public-health campaigns, harm-reduction strategies and research to protect vulnerable communities and restore tax revenue for services like K-12 education.
Context and relevance
This work matters because it plugs gaps left by federal research barriers and points to policy and public-health levers in Nevada: from addressing a lucrative illicit market that undermines tax revenue and product safety, to exploring alternative medical compounds for epilepsy. The student research ties into broader trends — expanding cannabis legalisation, concerns over synthetic cannabinoids, and calls for evidence-based harm reduction and equity-focused interventions.
Why should I read this?
Quick and useful: students did the digging so you don’t have to. If you care about where cannabis policy, public health and state finances intersect — and whether new science could produce safer treatments or reduce youth harms — this piece gives clear examples and local data to follow up on.