The Negative Effects of Medical Marijuana on the Brain

On this edition of Parallax Views, Peter Grinspoon, MD joins the show to discuss his new book Seeing Through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth About Marijuana. Peter is the son of Lester Grinspoon, who was one of the top researchers into cannabis and psychedelics at Harvard. Peter's approach to marijuana is a bit different and unique as he takes aims at the myths perpetuated by reefer pessimists (those who think marijuana is the devil's plant) and cannatopians (those who consider marijuana a no-downsides miracle plant). We'll discuss the effects of marijuana on youths, the question of marijuana and disorders like schizophrenia, the medical benefits of marijuana, a story about Peter hanging out with science popularizer Carl Sagan (Sagan was a friend of the Grinspoon family and a marijuana advocate), thoughts on psychedelic research (and the question of whether Timothy Leary's effect on said research was positive or negative), and much, much more.