Tulalip Tribes hope cannabis can combat heroin addiction

A $2 million grant funds studies into opioid abuse and Alzheimer’s disease at Stanford University.

Stanford University bioengineering professor Annelise Barron, a Washington native, is co-leading the $2 million medical research studies funded by the Tulalip Tribes using cannabis extracts to treat addiction and Alzheimer’s disease. (Contributed photo)

Stanford University bioengineering professor Annelise Barron, a Washington native, is co-leading the $2 million medical research studies funded by the Tulalip Tribes using cannabis extracts to treat addiction and Alzheimer’s disease. (Contributed photo)

TULALIP — The Tulalip Tribes opened a cannabis store last year with a high-tech approach to pot.

Their interest goes beyond herbal remedies of the recreational kind.

And in this case, the consumers are rodents, not people.

The tribes are funding medical research in plant cannabis extracts and purified THC/CBD to treat heroin addiction and Alzheimer’s disease.

The two 30-month, $2 million projects at the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Behavioral and Functional Neuroscience Laboratory are co-led by bioengineering professor Annelise Barron, director of the California campus site and a Washington native, and Mehrdad Shamloo, a neurosurgery professor. The study began in May 2018.

“It’s a good place to do this kind of work. This research requires behavioral testing of rats, a specialized field,” Barron said. “This will just be the beginning.”

Tribal board of directors members Bonnie Juneau, Teri Gobin and Les Parks toured the Stanford facility a few years before the August 2018 opening of Remedy Tulalip, the first cannabis shop on tribal land in Snohomish County.

“Tulalip Tribes is committed to developing cannabis-derived medicines with the potential to treat opioid addiction. We are proud to sponsor this cutting-edge research,” Gobin said in a news release. She was elected tribal board chairwoman earlier this month.

Carmen Miller (left) helps Ezekiel Engle make a selection at Remedy Tulalip on Aug. 22. (Kevin Clark / Herald file)

Carmen Miller (left) helps Ezekiel Engle make a selection at Remedy Tulalip on Aug. 22. (Kevin Clark / Herald file)

“Like so many communities across the nation, we are deploying an ever-increasing amount of resources to fight this epidemic,” she said. “We decided a new approach was necessary. As sovereigns, we have a unique responsibility to our people, and providing a natural remedy to the opioid epidemic is our priority.”

Barron said other studies have shown cannabis products as promising for heroin addiction.

“It is very challenging to receive funding to study positive effects or benefits of cannabis because it is a Schedule 1 drug federally,” Barron said. “And the definition of a Schedule 1 drug is that it has a risk of harm and, moreover, that it has no medicinal benefits.”

She noted there have been strides in the government acceptance of some forms.

“The FDA has recently approved a cannabis-derived drug for the treatment of epilepsy,” Barron said.

The Alzheimer’s research uses mice. The addiction study uses rats that self-administer heroin.

“The rat can press a lever and dose itself with heroin. We essentially allow the rat to self-addict to heroin,” she said.

“Then we look at the effects of treating them with cannabis oil extracts during a period of abstinence to see how that affects heroin-seeking behavior after abstinence. So when the drug is available again, will they be more or less likely to seek heroin?”

The researchers seek to “isolate a novel cannabinoid within cannabis oil which is nonpsychoactive and nonaddictive, because that would be the ideal treatment for heroin addiction,” she said.

“That’s our moonshot goal.”

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

More in Local News

Dominic Wilson looks at his mother while she addresses the court during his sentencing at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Grief remains after sentencing of Marysville teen’s killers

Dominic Wilson must serve 17½ years in prison, while his accomplice Morzae Roberts was given a sentence of four years.

The Washington State University Everett campus on Wednesday, July 25, 2018 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
WSU ends search to buy land for future branch campus in Everett

The university had $10M to spend. It tried for four years but couldn’t close deals with Everett’s housing authority or the city.

Former Opus Bank/Cascade Bank building in downtown Everett on Thursday, March 16, 2023 in Everett, Washington. It is proposed as the new home of Economic Alliance Snohomish County. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Economic Alliance asks Everett for $300K to move downtown

The countywide chamber of commerce and economic development organization also would reform the Everett chamber.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Mountlake Terrace in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Mountlake Terrace leaders weighing federal ARPA fund options

Bathrooms, body cameras, generators, radios, roadwork, roof replacement, sidewalks, trails and more loom for the $4.5 million.

Vehicles on Soper Hill Road wait in line to make unprotected left turns onto Highway 9 northbound and southbound during the evening commute Wednesday, March 15, 2023, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Lake Stevens development prompts Highway 9 signal change soon

Turning left from Soper Hill Road can be a long wait now. Flashing yellow turn signals could help with more traffic.

NO CAPTION NECESSARY: Logo for the Cornfield Report by Jerry Cornfield. 20200112
Building ballparks, rewriting ferry rules, recognizing Chinese-Americans

It’s Day 71. Here’s what’s happening in the 2023 session of the Washington Legislature

Logo for news use featuring Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington. 220118
Head-on crash on south Whidbey Island hospitalizes 3 people

Alcohol or drugs were involved, per the Washington State Patrol. Two victims are Lake Forest Park teens.

Marysville
Marysville man dies after motorcycle crash on Ingraham Boulevard

The man, 58, was heading east when he lost control in the single-vehicle crash, according to police.

Builders work on the Four Corners Apartments on Beverly Lane near Evergreen and 79th Place SE on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. DevCo, the real estate company building the affordable housing, is receiving a $1 million grant from the city of Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
As Washington rents go up, up, up, the air gets thin for tenants

Hal Zack’s rent has tripled, and he’s scared he’ll be homeless soon. How did we get here? And what is the state doing now?

Most Read