Weed Science. Cannabis Controversies and Challenges

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Book
July 2020
Elsevier Science and Technology
ID: 4911805

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT MARIJUANA AND HOW DO WE KNOW IT? Marijuana is the most frequently consumed illicit drug worldwide, with over 158.8 million users, according to the UN. Responding to public pressure, the US federal government is likely to legalize recreational marijuana within the next few years. With increasing numbers of people using cannabis both medically and recreationally there are many looming questions that only science can answer. These include:

- What's likely to happen, both good and bad, if the US legalizes marijuana?
- What are some simple, science-based rules to separate fact from fiction and to help guide policy in the highly contentious marijuana debate?
- Exactly what is cannabis doing in the brain that gets us high? A journey through THC neuroscience
- Does cannabis really have medical benefits - what's the evidence?
- To what extent does cannabis impair driving?
- Can smoking marijuana in adolescence affect IQ or risk for developing schizophrenia?
- Is marijuana safe to use during pregnancy?

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1. Introduction how the author became acquainted with cannabis2. Good Science and Bad Science how science helps us think about contentious social issues3. Holi what an ancient Hindu festival can teach us about safe marijuana use4. Archaeology and Ethnobotany the long historical relationship humans have with cannabis5. Neuroscience the endocannabinoid system, how it evolved and what it does6. Psychology + Human Behavior what is it like to be stoned and what goes on in our brains when we are?7. Epidemiology what can population studies tell us about cannabis risks?8. Toxicology cannabis' side effects and how they occur. Synthetic cannabinoids9. Chemical Analysis and Extraction the eternal quest for a higher high10. Medical Marijuana and Clinical Trials what's the evidence for marijuana as a medicine?11. Economic/Business -who stands to gain and to lose, if cannabis is legalized in the US?12. Summary/Conclusion harm reduction; lessons from ending alcohol prohibition and from what's going on in Canada

Authors

Godfrey Pearlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT and Director, Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford, CT, USA. Godfrey Pearlson, award-winning physician and researcher, completed his medical degree at Newcastle University in the UK and a graduate philosophy degree at Columbia University in NYC. He trained in psychiatry and was subsequently a psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is currently professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Yale University and directs a brain research center at the Institute of Living in Connecticut. He has published over 700 peer-reviewed scientific articles and his marijuana research is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. Dr. Pearlson is an expert in the fields of marijuana and of psychosis. He believes that any political platforms regarding cannabis should be based on scientific facts rather than emotion.

Table of Contents

Authors

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