Moving through an illuminating tour of the social history and the medical science behind cannabis, Grinspoon unpacks the layers of disinformation left by a sordid history of government propaganda, racial suppression, and indifference from the medical community to answer questions like:Is cannabis addictive? People with psychiatric disease may ‘self-medicate’ with legal and illicit drugs, for example, but Professor Nutt says that studies have now shown a direct link. There is also a suggestion that extracts of the whole plant alleviate pain and anxiety,” Professor Nutt comments. And yet people are taking more drugs than at any other time in history and traffickers and drug pushers want this war to continue because they are making trillions of dollars. A really interesting time to revisit this topic as we’ve now had a few years of several countries trialling significant reductions in prohibitionist approaches to cannabis.

By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.is a primary care physician and cannabis specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. However, since being illegal, this has meant cannabis has become skunk (much stronger form of cannabis) and also led to spice. I think the book also gives an indirect perspective on alcohol as it is legal but yet plenty of risks for society as well as for the user. Other previous national contributions include serving as the medical expert on the Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act (2000 Runciman report), and membership of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the Committee on NHS drugs and the Ministry of Defence Science Advisory Board. So much money has been made that if you put every dollar on top of each other it would reach 1/4 of the way to the moon.

However, cannabis can still have negative implications on your health, especially with intensive usage. Isn’t it strange that the fear mongering about cannabis and mental illness led to stronger forms of cannabis - but not a surprise.And thus, along with Harry Jacob Anslinger who was a United States government official who served as the first commissioner of the U. Grinspoon’s Harvard Health articles have reached tens of millions of readers, have been widely referenced in the national media, and have been cited in congressional testimony. Nevertheless, legal cannabidiol-containing oils, food and drinks are increasingly common on pharmacy and retail shelves ( see the approved list).