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2021 Request for Proposals

The 2021 RFP Process Has Concluded

Required LOIs and invited full proposals may be submitted in response to this RFP until 5:00 PM (EST) Feb 1st, 2021 and until 5:00 PM (EST), April 1st, 2021 respectively.

Applicants will be notified of the invitation to submit full proposals by Feb 15th, 2021, and awarded applicants will have one year from the notice of award (until June 30, 2022) to complete their proposed research.

A letter of intent using the online form is required to ensure consistency of the proposed research with the research mission of the Consortium for Medical Marijuana (MMJ) Clinical Outcomes Research as defined by Florida statute, as well as to allow recruitment of external reviewers with subject matter expertise in the proposed area of inquiry.

Download the full RFP for submission guidelines [PDF]

Purpose

The Consortium for Medical Marijuana Clinical Outcomes Research is comprised of public and private university member institutions within Florida. The Consortium provides awards to support clinical and translational research related to MMJ to investigators within member institutions.

The Consortium is charged by Florida statute to conduct and support “research that contributes to the body of scientific knowledge on the effects of the medical use of marijuana and informs both policy and medical practice related to the treatment of debilitating medical conditions with marijuana”.

The statute requires “the board to award funds to members of the consortium; requiring the board to collaborate with and authorizing the board to award funds to teaching nursing homes for certain research”.

This award mechanism will consider fully developed research studies that generate novel evidence, as well as studies intended to facilitate the collection and/or analysis of preliminary data that will support future extramural funding applications.

Research Priorities

The following are Consortium research priorities that were derived in consultation with scientific and subject matter experts, evidence review, input from stakeholder engagement and NIH areas of programmatic interest.

Proposals addressing these priorities are encouraged:

Clinical Outcomes of Medical Marijuana use: with particular emphasis on
a. chronic pain
b. anxiety/PTSD
c. symptomatic treatment of cancer
d. insomnia and sleep disorders
e. reduction of other medication (e.g., opioids) or substance use
f. effects on the developing brain
g. effects during pregnancy and breastfeeding
h. research on serious side effects including, psychosis, hyperemesis, falls,accidents, and cardiovascular events
Route of Administration: effect of dosing and routes of medical marijuana use onefficacy and safety; of particular interest are studies that evaluate effects of smoking and vaping
Interactions of Medical Marijuana with other drugs/medications:
a. with particular focus on medications that are commonly used by patients who seek medical marijuana treatment
b. impact of polysubstance, including interactions with alcohol, tobacco,benzodiazepines, and prescription and
nonprescription opioids
Epidemiology research to study trends for cannabis use and cannabis use disorder(CUD), including new products, patterns of use, and reasons for use in differentpopulations, including the impact of COVID-19
Research on the human endocannabinoid system
Measuring components of medical marijuana/cannabis (including hemp and hempproduct) and contrast their clinical outcomes:
a. comparing different components of medical marijuana (e.g. different terpenes)
b. research on different potency levels of THC products (e.g. >10% vs <10% THC)
c. standards for measuring cannabis (including hemp and hemp product) dose,intoxication, and impairment

Timeline

Step	Date
RFP Announcement	December 15th, 2020
Letter of Intent Due	5:00 PM (EST), February 1st, 2021
Proposal Submission Deadline	5:00 PM (EST), April 1st, 2021
Notice of Awards	July 1st, 2021
Award Funding Period	July 1st, 2021 through June 30th, 2022

NOTE: Late submissions for LOIs or Proposals will not be accepted.

Eligibility

All applicant principal investigators (PIs) must be faculty members of Consortium member institutions, which currently include:

Florida A&M University
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Gulf Coast University
Florida Memorial University
Florida International University
Florida State University
University of Central Florida
University of Florida
University of Miami

All applicants who propose human subject/animal research must comply with their institutional IRB, IACUC, or other regulatory approvals as appropriate.

Applicants may submit only one proposal for this RFP as the PI and there are no restrictions regarding the number of proposals where the investigator is listed as a co-investigator.

All proposal submissions will be treated as new submissions regardless of previous participation in the consortium grants program.

Download the full RFP for submission guidelines [PDF]