On May 29th, 2019, UF HealthStreet hosted a town hall meeting on the health effects of medical marijuana.
The interactive forum was livestreamed, allowing both in-person and online audience members to have their questions answered by the panel of experts.
The panel included:
- Shanna Babalonis, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, and Clinical Research KL2 Scholar, Department of Behavioral Science, Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, University of Kentucky
- Ruben Baler, Ph.D., NIH/NIDA Health Scientist Administrator, Office of Science Policy and Communications (OSPC);
- Robert Cook, MD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology with a joint appointment in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Florida; and
- Jay Kuchera, MD, FASAM Algiatry, Addiction Medicine, and Anesthesiology at Resolute Pain Solutions, Envision Physician Services.
The moderator was Patrick James Tighe, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Florida.
There were several audience questions that we collected for the panel to answer after the forum. Here are a few of those:
- Dr. Oz and Dr. Gupta have said really good things about marijuana use. Should we listen to them?
- How do we encourage good research on marijuana? Through NIDA? The CTSI’s?
- Why is [marijuana] categorized as a Schedule I drug?
- Has anyone ever died from an overdose?
Watch the livestream to hear how the panelists answered.