Federal law restricts cannabis researchers to studying low-potency samples from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, while Michigan consumers can legally buy high-potency vapes, edibles, and concentrates that bear little resemblance to what researchers can test. This gap means scientists cannot study real-world health effects on populations like pregnant women or people with heart disease who are actually using these products. Michigan State University researcher and the author notes a Trump administration executive order in late 2025 supported reclassifying cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, which would allow larger studies, but the change appears stalled in regulatory process. The research constraint is particularly urgent in Michigan, where cannabis legalization in 2018 created widespread use among older adults and pregnant women in communities already burdened by high rates of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.