Medical Marijuana Workshop - Part 3/3 (Audio)
Channel: MAPS
Date: 2014-01-10

Listen to the full workshop at https://2013.psychedelicscience.org

Prominent experts will share the lessons they have learned about marijuana research methodology (such as dosing, self-titration, placebo doses, and outcome measures), discuss the differing effects of the two primary cannabinoids THC and CBD, examine the forces impeding government approval of medical marijuana research, explore the history of the medical marijuana movement in California from 1996 to the present, and discuss future possibilities for research. The implications of new data on the use of cannabis as a substitute for alcohol, illicit, and prescription drugs for the clinical application of medical marijuana will also be discussed.

Michael Sautman works at BOTEC Analysis Corp., and is the former CEO of Bedrocan International, Inc. He has an M.A. in International Administration. As CEO of Bedrocan International, Inc. (BI, California, USA), Mr. Sautman is a leading expert in producing standardized cannabis products on an industrial scale in a regulated environment. Mr. Sautman has over 25 years of experience in natural product manufacturing. As CEO of California Cashmere Co., Inc., (1990--2005) he became a recognized expert in production of rare animal fiber products like cashmere, silk and camelhair. He founded manufacturing operations in Mongolia, Tibet, China and the U.S. that provided rare fiber products to manufacturers and finished products to major department stores and designers. After BI was formed in 2009, he has consulted lawmakers and regulators in Canada, Israel and several U.S. states regarding how medical marijuana is produced and distributed in the Netherlands. At BI, he initiated Bedrocan's medical marijuana drug approval program with Health Canada, the Canadian Ministry of Health. Mr. Sautman has a comprehensive understanding of how cannabis is manufactured around the world. He currently works for BOTEC and recently became a consultant to the Washington State Liquor Control Board to develop and implement the state's new marijuana law.

Donald I. Abrams, M.D. is chief of the Hematology-Oncology Division at San Francisco General Hospital and a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He has an Integrative Oncology consultation practice at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. He received an A.B. in Molecular Biology from Brown University in 1972 and graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1977. He was one of the first clinicians to recognize and define many early AIDS-related conditions. He has long been interested in clinical trials of complementary and alternative medicine interventions for HIV/AIDS and cancer, including evaluations of medicinal marijuana, as first inspired by Rick Doblin in 1992. In 1997 he received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to conduct clinical trials of the short-term safety of cannabinoids in HIV infection. Subsequently he was granted funds by the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research to continue studies of the effectiveness of cannabis in a number of clinical conditions. He completed a placebo-controlled study of smoked cannabis in patients with painful HIV-related peripheral neuropathy as well as a study evaluating vaporization as a smokeless delivery system for medicinal. His last NIDA-funded trial investigated the possible pharmacokinetic interaction between vaporized cannabis and opioid analgesics in patients with chronic pain. He co-authored the chapter on "Cannabinoids and Cancer" in the Oxford University Press Integrative Oncology text that he co-edited with Andrew Weil.

Clint Werner is the author of Marijuana: Gateway to Health and has studied the medical marijuana literature and movement closely for the last 20 years.