Contested Cannabis: Perspectives on (Medical) Marijuana from the Past & Present

Lucas Richert Brown Bag
Contested Cannabis: Perspectives on (Medical) Marijuana from the Past & Present

Cannabis has become hotly contested in the United States and beyond. With this lunch time talk, Richert aims to assess some core concepts and historical precedents related to cannabis. He will explore the idea that scientific/medical understanding alone determines society’s perceptions of drugs/medicines in the modern era. Further, he will briefly examine the current rules/regulations of cannabis in Wisconsin as well position how cannabis fits in with other novel (contested) psychoactive substances in 2020.

There is often a danger of interrogating substances like cannabis in silos. And there is also often a danger of analyzing a given intoxicant or medical product through one lens. This talk proposes and seeks to carry out a more wide-ranging vision of cannabis in society – via a focus on the global and local. Richert argues that marking a break from purely Western-centred scholarship and science, which places the US and the “western world” at the heart of the cannabis narrative/approach or which reflexively views cannabis policy as directly related to decisions made in Washington, D.C., is an important step.

Suggested readings:

Pharmacists and the future of cannabis medicine, Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (Natalie Schmitz*, Lucas Richert)

Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, ACS Chemical Neuroscience (Samuel D. Banister*, Jonathon C. Arnold, Mark Connor, Michelle GlassIain, S. McGregor)

Richert  Brown Bag Poster 01/30/2020