Cannabis Moves Mainstream

Please enjoy the video below. The introduction was accidentally cut out so the text of the intro is as follows:

Happy Virtual Reunions! Thank you for joining us this evening. Looks promising that we’ll be in person next year but it is a treat to be able to be with you all virtually tonight. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Princeton reunions panel to center on cannabis, Cannabis really is moving Mainstream.

Tonight we will learn about the benefits of cannabis dating back millennia and about more contemporary research that has determined the mechanisms through which cannabis acts. Hopefully, this will give you a general background into why people have consumed this plant for thousands of years.

However, while the molecular biology underlying cannabis action in our bodies is fascinating, knowing just the biology isn’t enough to truly understand what legalization of cannabis means to our society, particularly those amongst us who were targeted by the war on drugs, namely Blacks, Indigenous, and People of Color. We are now at a critical juncture where those most harmed by this racist war can benefit from the changing legal status of cannabis, but only if we act deliberately and decisively.

This evening, I, Abby Kalmbach PhD ’00, will walk you through the medicinal and recreational history and current uses of cannabis. Dasheeda Dawson ‘00, will discuss the importance of incorporating social equity provisions into legalization legislation and her work in Portland, Oregon, and across the country that is bringing more equity to the legal cannabis markets. Lyon Henry will then tell us some practical ways in which a more diverse workforce can be achieved. He will also provide insight into how cannabis is grown commercially and tips for growing at home, which can be particularly important for medical cannabis users to be able to control their medicine.

We have set aside time at the end for Q&A so please ask us anything using the question box. Additionally, you can ask questions in the chat and one of us, or perhaps one of the other experts in cannabis on this webinar tonight, will answer them. Also, if any of these experts have comments or differing viewpoints, please let us know in the chat or Q&A.

Thank you again for joining.

So now, without further ado, let’s dive in.