Month: May 2023

Seeing Through The Smoke: Separating Cannabis Facts from Fiction with Peter Grinspoon, MD | BTS 92

In this behind-the-scenes episode we catch up with physician and medical Cannabis educator Peter Grinspoon, MD to talk about the ways in which Cannabis is misunderstood – both by the anti-Cannabis camps and the pro-Cannabis camps. We talk about the clinical data around medical Cannabis, what issues Cannabis has demonstrated efficacy in treating, the limitations of medical Cannabis and more.

We also spend some time diving into Peter’s background, talking about his late father Lester Grinspoon, MD who authored a landmark book entitled Marihuana Reconsidered which was published in 1971 and paved the way for the medical Cannabis movements that would follow. We also discussed Peter’s brother Danny’s struggle with cancer, which claimed his life at the age of 15, and the role Cannabis played in enhancing Danny’s quality of life before he died. Later in life Peter would struggle with a grueling opiate addiction which he would later go on to write about in his 2016 book Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction. Toward the end of the show we talk about what it was like growing up around famed scientist and science communicator Carl Sagan, who was a good friend of the Grinspoon family and also a Cannabis user.

Peter just released a new book entitled Seeing Through The Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles The Truth About Marijuana available now.

This was a special episode for me, personally, because Peter’s work, the work of his father, and the work of Carl Sagan all had big impacts on how I came to think about Cannabis and science education. I hope you enjoy!

#CannabisEducation #MedicalCannabis #MedicalMarijuana #CannabisIndustry #CannabisCommunity #Cannabinoids #Addiction #CarlSagan #LesterGrinspoon #PeterGrinspoon #Cancer

Remembering Raphael Mechoulam’s Legacy on Cannabis Science with Mark Scialdone, PhD | BTS 91

In this special episode we get together with chemist and Cannabis science educator Mark Scialdone, PhD to talk about the passing of “the godfather of Cannabis science”, Raphael Mechoulam, PhD. After his passing, many media and news outlets failed to accurately portray Mechoulam’s contributions or his place in the grand story of Cannabis science – so Dr. Scialdone and I decided to try to do our part to set the record straight. Along the way we spin off into talking about a variety of other topics like delta-8-THC synthesis from CBD, common misunderstandings around Cannabis chemistry, why the boiling point of THC is almost always incorrectly reported, and more.

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