The US has undergone a substantial shift in public policy and societal attitudes toward cannabis in the past 25 years. Although illegal at the federal level, cannabis or its constituents have been legalized in Washington DC and 11 states for recreational use and 33 states for medical use. This Viewpoint provides the perspective of a researcher conducting controlled investigations of cannabis as a drug of abuse and a potential therapeutic amid these societal shifts. The goal is to describe some of the barriers to research and provide recommendations to bridge the gap between societal use of cannabis and its empirical study.