Featured Post from University of Florida

Does medical marijuana work? Florida consortium seeks answers

May 9, 2023

3 min

By Emma Richards

A consortium of nine universities in Florida, led by faculty at the University of Florida, is in the early stages of investigating the effectiveness of marijuana as a medical treatment.

Almut Winterstein, a professor at the University of Florida who also serves as the director of the Consortium for Medical Marijuana Outcomes Research, says there is promising data on pain therapy and epilepsy but much still to learn about cannabis as a medical treatment.

The Consortium for Medical Marijuana Outcomes Research is assessing the drug’s risks and benefits for different medical conditions and its safety and side effects when used alone or in conjunction with other prescription medications.

“What I can tell you is that right now there is promising and fairly solid data that supports the use of medical marijuana as an adjuvant for pain therapy,” said Almut Winterstein, a professor in the College of Pharmacy at UF who also serves as the director of the consortium. “And there’s also evidence that supports the use for certain types of epilepsy.”

As for other conditions, the impacts of medical marijuana are still unknown.

The Florida State Legislature created the consortium in 2019, four years after enacting legislation that permits use of marijuana for certain clinical conditions.

Currently, 37 states have a medical marijuana program, though the programs vary as far as how and to whom cannabis can be prescribed. But, Winterstein said, little is known about marijuana’s clinical safety and effectiveness.

“I think that the Legislature was really forward looking in creating something that supplements the research that is currently not sufficient,” she said in an episode of the From Florida Podcast.

The consortium will also gauge who is using and able to access medical marijuana and determine the benefits and drawbacks of different dosages. To do so, the group is working on three primary branches of research.

The first area is a competitive grants program that funds researchers across all participating universities.

The second branch is M3, or Medical Marijuana and Me, a new study that will track patients from their first use of medical marijuana for a year to assess their experiences.

“That will give us ideas about what type of dosage, form and product do patients eventually end up on,” Winterstein said. “That is a very empirical approach because we have no head-to-head comparison of what works better or worse, but we can capture patients’ experiences, what they think works, what doesn't, what kind of side effects they might experience and so on.”

Finally, what Winterstein calls the consortium’s “biggest baby and most important baby” is the Medical Marijuana Outcomes Research Repository, known as MEMORY. The repository will allow researchers to use de-identified dispensing data from the Department of Health to monitor health outcomes of the large population of 700,000 registered medical marijuana patients.

These data will give researchers insight on cannabis safety and effects, whether positive or negative, linking to healthcare utilization, such as hospitalization or emergency department visits.

The consortium is hosting the second annual Cannabis Clinical Outcomes Research Conference May, 19-20 in Orlando, where researchers will discuss the latest research on medical marijuana.

“We are really trying to get people interested in this topic,” Winterstein said. “And in particular making sure that they have access to objective information that really allows them to make the right decision with respect to the use of medical marijuana.”

To hear more about the consortium’s medical marijuana research, listen to the episode on From Florida at this link. Listen to other episodes in the From Florida podcast here.

Read a recent article quoting Professor Winterstein here:

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Almut Winterstein

Distinguished Professor

Almut Winterstein is an expert in drug safety and ways to improve medication use.

Medical MarijuanaHealthcare QualityDrug Use in Maternal and Child HealthMedical Marijuana SafetyPharmacoepidemiology

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Dec 11, 2025

1 min

Opinion: Hey Florida! Want to go to Mars? Here’s what it will do to your body

The president is eager “to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.” Would you sign up for that mission? What would happen to your body in the three years you would be gone? As the United States continues to prioritize space travel, you might wonder why anyone would want to travel to Mars and whether it’s even ethical to expose humans to such extreme physiological conditions. The world is watching as the astronauts on the Boeing Starliner remain stuck in space until at least March due to a capsule malfunction. So many questions have arisen about the impacts of people spending extended periods of time in space, and we don’t have all the answers yet. However, because I study how spaceflight affects human physiology and performance, I have some ideas. The first 10 minutes of your journey will be exciting, but it’s the next months and years we really need to worry about. We have solved some of the problems but not all. After you lift off, the high g-forces will paste your body against the crew couch as you accelerate, but there’s really not too much to fear. A typical launch results in only about half the acceleration experienced by a fighter pilot in a tight turn. You might feel lightheaded, but astronauts have dealt with this for generations. Read the full article in the Tampa Bay Times here:

Dec 10, 2025

3 min

As holiday shopping season nears, UF experts warn retail theft is growing more sophisticated

With the busiest shopping season of the year approaching, new findings from the National Retail Federation’s Impact of Retail Theft and Violence 2025 report — developed by the University of Florida’s SaferPlaces Lab and the Loss Prevention Research Council — show retailers are facing increasingly complex and technology-driven threats. UF researchers say early preparation, better data and stronger collaboration will be essential as stores brace for heavier foot traffic and heightened safety risks. Despite public reports that retail theft is decreasing, Read Hayes, Ph.D., a UF research scientist and director of the LPRC at UF Innovate, said retailer surveys tell a different story: Incidents of shoplifting, organized retail crime, online fraud and other external theft continue to rise, even as some law enforcement statistics appear flat or declining. The gap, he said, reflects how much crime goes unreported or unrecorded. “Retailers have always had a difficult time reporting much of their crime, and if you look only at police data, like calls for service or arrests, it can look like retail crime is flat or even slightly down,” he said. “But when we survey retailers, who are the actual crime victims, they consistently report year-over-year increases in theft and violence.” Criminal groups are also becoming more sophisticated. Hayes said offenders are increasingly using technology to defeat protective systems, disrupt cameras and identify vulnerable stores. They also rely heavily on social media platforms such as TikTok and Reddit to coordinate attacks and share tactics. “It’s a little disconcerting how much criminals rely on social media now to scout stores, map out easy targets, learn from each other or just plain brag about how they did it,” he said. LPRC scientists monitor social media signals to help retailers and law enforcement understand emerging threats — not in real time, Hayes said, but to help build best practices organizations can use to defend themselves. Criminals continue to focus on high-demand items such as branded apparel and footwear, prompting retailers to rethink how those products are displayed and secured. Hayes said many companies are testing new approaches to better protect vulnerable merchandise without driving customers away. One example is automated self-service systems for locked items, where customers can retrieve a product by having a code sent to their phone without waiting for a store employee. Safety remains retailers’ top concern, Hayes said. LPRC’s latest report, developed in collaboration with the security technology company Verkada, found that frontline retail workers report feeling less safe than ever, a trend that typically intensifies during the holiday rush. Rising incidents of in-store violence, limited law enforcement support in some areas and increased guest-related confrontations are pushing retailers to reassess how they protect both employees and customers. “Nothing is more important than protecting the frontline retail associates who keep this industry running,” Hayes said. “This report helps reinforce what retailers need to do to ensure those workers feel safe.” LPRC teams are also studying ways to improve safety beyond store walls, testing parking lot technologies, including license plate readers and flashing deterrent systems designed to discourage potential offenders and reassure law-abiding shoppers. At the federal level, Hayes said he and partners across the country are urging Congress to pass a bill to address organized retail crime and establish a centralized platform for reporting retail theft threats. As the holiday season approaches, Hayes said the need for evidence-based solutions has never been clearer. “Retailers are under pressure to keep their stores safe, welcoming and competitive,” Hayes said. “The more we can understand offender behavior, customer expectations and emerging technologies, the better we can help retailers, communities and law enforcement reduce harm.” The LPRC, headquartered at UF Innovate, brings together more than 200 major retailers, technology companies and public safety agencies to conduct research that strengthens store safety, reduces loss and enhances the customer experience.

Dec 8, 2025

1 min

AI Can’t Replace Therapists – But It Can Help Them

For a young adult who is lonely or just needs someone to talk to, an artificial intelligence chatbot can feel like a nonjudgmental best friend, offering encouragement before an interview or consolation after a breakup. AI’s advice seems sincere, thoughtful and even empathic – in short, very human. But when a vulnerable person alludes to thoughts of suicide, AI is not the answer. Not by itself, at least. Recent stories have documented the heartbreak of people dying by suicide after seeking help from chatbots rather than fellow humans. In this way, the ethos of the digital world – sometimes characterized as “move fast and break things” – clashes with the health practitioners’ oath to “first, do no harm.” When humans are being harmed, things must change. As a researcher and licensed therapist with a background in computer science, I am interested in the intersection between technology and mental health, and I understand the technological foundations of AI. When I directed a counseling clinic, I sat with people in their most vulnerable moments. These experiences prompt me to consider the rise of therapy chatbots through both a technical and clinical lens. AI, no matter how advanced, lacks the morality, responsibility and duty of care that humans carry. When someone has suicidal thoughts, they need human professionals to help. With years of training before we are licensed, we have specific ethical protocols to follow when a person reveals thoughts of suicide. Read the full article from US News & World Report here