§16A-13-3. Medical cannabis research program administration.

(a)  The bureau may establish a research study for each serious medical condition. The bureau may engage universities within this state to participate in the collection, collation, analysis and conclusive findings of the research studies. The bureau shall, by rule, establish the procedure to be used by health care medical cannabis organizations with respect to:

(1)  Real time inventory tracking.

(2)  Real time tracking of the medical cannabis dispensed.

(3)  Recall of defective medical cannabis.

(b)  Request for distributions. — The bureau shall establish a form and procedure for universities selected to participate in a research study to request distributions from the fund to conduct research on medical cannabis, including administrative costs. These distributions shall also be used to pay for the cost of the medical cannabis so that it is not borne by the patient participating in the research study. The forms shall include, at a minimum, the following:

(1)  The form or forms of medical cannabis to be studied.

(2)  The serious medical condition to be studied.

(c)  Research reports. —

(1)  A vertically integrated health system shall report on the effectiveness of the use of medical cannabis for the treatment of the serious medical condition studied and all counterindications and noted side effects.

(2)  The bureau shall notify the vertically integrated health system and the university participating in the research study of the data which is required to meet the United States Food and Drug Administration’s and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s approval for the research study.

(3)  The first report, including the data required under subdivision (2), shall be submitted to the bureau and made publicly available within one hundred eighty days of the initiation of a research study for a specific serious medical condition.

(4)  An annual report of the data required under subdivision (2) shall be submitted to the bureau beginning one year after the initiation of a research study for a specific serious medical condition and each year thereafter.