About us

About Us.

The Cannabis Education Research Team (CERT) is comprised of faculty, staff, and students from Humber College in Toronto and Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. We focus on researching and creating evidence-informed, stigma-free, cannabis education materials. Previous projects from faculty involved in this team include Weed Out Misinformation, Cannabasics: A Primer for Health and Social Service Providers, and the DECYDE youth education project.

Our Team

Dr. Daniel Bear, PhD
Principle Investigator

Dr. Daniel Bear has been working in drugs policy since 2003 when he launched a chapter of Students of Sensible Drugs Policy while an undergraduate at The University of California Santa Cruz. After graduating Dr. Bear worked with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Drug Law Reform Project where he worked on public education and outreach initiatives across the United States. Dr. Bear’s doctoral work focused on the implementation of cannabis policy by police in the UK, and he focused on qualitative methodology including ethnography and interviews. His focus on drugs policy has shifted in light of legalization in Canada, and Dr. Bear has recently completed research that examined how young people make decisions about how and where they consume cannabis. This work led to the Weed Out Misinformation campaign, created by Dr. Bear with students from Humber College and cannabis consumers. Dr. Bear has consulted for institutions such as the BBC, UK Ministry of Justice, Mental Health Commission of Canada, and many others as part of his work with Responsum Consulting. Dr. Bear is a member of the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium (GCCRC), where he leads the Canadian team. Dr. Bear is a Professor with the Bachelor of Criminal Justice degree at Humber College in Toronto where he is also the Director of the college's Centre for Social Innovation. You can find out more about Dr. Bear on his website

Dr. Ashley Hosker-Field, PhD
Co-Investigator

Dr. Ashley Hosker-Field is a full time professor in the Criminal Justice, Bachelor of Social Science program at Humber College. She received her Ph.D. in Social Personality Psychology where her graduate education was supported by Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships. Dr. Hosker-Field is primarily a quantitative researcher and has training and experience with participant recruitment, study design, and data collection and statistical analysis. Dr. Hosker-Field’s research interests are varied and have focused on examining psychopathic traits, impulsivity, risk-taking, fear, empathy, and aggression. Since joining the Humber faculty team in 2019, Dr. Hosker-Field’s research interests have broadened and she has been a co-investigator on three NSERC funded, College and Community Social Innovation Fund research projects. These research initiatives include the examination of interagency collaboration and evaluation of youth focused social services, as well as the provision of evidence informed, stigma-free cannabis related education to various populations. Dr. Hosker-Field has also been involved in consulting projects commissioned by the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction. Dr. Hosker-Field’s role in this project primarily involves supporting quantitative data collection and analysis.
Role: Dr. Hosker-Field will advise the team on creation of our survey instrument and recruitment plan, and lead the analysis of quantitative data throughout the project. She will assist in training research assistants.

Prof. Marilyn Cresswell, MBA
Co-Investigator

Professor Marilyn A. Cresswell brings a strong set of communications, project management, and research skills to the team. Over her extensive professional career in marketing and education, Professor Cresswell has worked on projects with industry partners and understands how to incorporate external industry partners into the culture at Humber. Professor Cresswell is a champion of experiential student learning and has facilitated many projects internally and externally. Marilyn is a recognized expert in Strategic Branding, marketing, & advertising in the ever changing digital landscape. Marilyn holds an MBA from McMaster University.
Role: Professor Cresswell will oversee the training and work of the research assistants coming from the FMCA programs at Humber College, and take a leadership role in developing the new public education materials at the heart of this project. She will oversee production schedules and ensure we have access to the right equipment, facilities, and students to complete our production plans.
Prof. Cresswell has worked on previous harm reduction messaging/programs through the Ontario Chiefs of Police initiative on a fentanyl campaign as well as many NFP campaigns through the Humber AdCentre (now called Building F). Marilyn has also served the community as the Chair of AVWS, an Ontario wildlife sanctuary for 5 years and the past chair for a year. For more info or to connect please reach out on LInkedIn.

Dr. Lisa Bishop, PharmD
Co-Investigator

Dr. Lisa Bishop is a pharmacist and Professor of Pharmacy at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She has over 25 years practicing as a pharmacist in hospital, community, and primary healthcare settings. Her current research is with a collaborative team of
researchers, stakeholders, and citizens as part of the Cannabis Health Evaluation and Research Partnership (CHERP). As one of the CHERPs initiatives, Dr. Bishop is co-leading a cannabis harm reduction education program called Directed Education on Cannabis for Youth Decision Empowerment (DECYDE) which is targeted at students in grades 4-12. Dr. Bishop will provide critical inputs on the research design, community engagement, data analysis, and translating findings to pharmacy practice.

Dr. Jennifer Donnan, PhD, MBA
Co-Investigator

Dr. Jennifer Donnan is an Associate Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Pharmacy. Her research program is primarily focused on issues related to cannabis policy. She is the Nominated Principal Investigator for a CIHR and CCSA (Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction) funded team grant focusing on evaluating the impact of cannabis policies and regulations in Newfoundland and Labrador. She has also led a CCSA funded project focusing on consumer preferences and purchase behaviours for cannabis products to inform retail cannabis policies. Dr. Donnan is actively involved on a cannabis harm reduction education initiative called Directed Education on Cannabis for Youth Decision Empowerment (DECYDE). Dr. Donnan’s role in this project will be supporting data collection, interpreting findings from a pharmacy lens, and supporting professionally appropriate cannabis education materials for
pharmacists.

Dr. Sandra Gerges, PharmD
Co-Investigator

Dr. Sandra Gerges is a Professor and researcher from Humber’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellness. She has 10 years of experience as a practicing Pharmacist in Ontario. She has had experience working in both community and hospital pharmacy settings, including two years of experience working in a Methadone Dispensary. She has experience in qualitative research and most recently conducted qualitative interviews with community pharmacists across Canada to gain an understanding of their experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This
work resulted in policy recommendations for community pharmacy-based vaccination services. Dr. Gerges' role will include advising regarding the scope and depth of practice of community pharmacists, as well as providing an avenue to potential partners in the pharmacy field. Dr. Gerges will also assist in qualitative content analysis and assisting application of findings to community pharmacy practice.

About Our Current Project:

Engaging medical and non-medical cannabis consumers with evidence-informed clinical and harm reduction information has proven difficult due to a history of stigmatizing and often unscientific public education efforts. Thankfully, our previous CCSIF project, ‘Engaging and Educating Young-Adult Cannabis Consumers’ (EEYCC) has shown that harm reduction information about cannabis for both medical and non-medical consumers can be effectively delivered if the messaging is free from stigma, the creative and media aspects attune to the consumers’ needs, and the messenger is viewed as both trustworthy and scientifically well-informed. We think pharmacists can meet these requirements due to their medication management expertise and prominent role in harm reduction efforts for people who use opioids, but they have not yet been tapped to take on this work with people consuming cannabis. Working with our partners at the Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction, and Canadian Public Health Association, we will create an important new pathway to engage cannabis consumers and prospective consumers by training pharmacists to answer questions about medical and non-medical cannabis use and promote harm reduction practices. We will utilize a co-creation model with pharmacists and cannabis consumers to achieve the following outcomes:
1) ensure that pharmacists have the knowledge and training to effectively engage with consumers;
2) provide pharmacists with purpose built public education resources, and access to an accredited and free continuing education course.

Our Partners.

This project is supported by partnership with three organizations that are key to providing insights, guidance, data, and dissemination support.

Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA)

Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA)

Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA)

Ethics Approval:
This project has been granted ethics approval from the Humber College Research Ethics Board. It has been designated project REB-0350

Funding:
This project is funded by a Colleges and Community Social Innovation Fund grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.