vailsymposium

Despite several states blazing a trail for marijuana legalization, commercial consumption and tax revenue generation, Marijuana is still federally recognized as an illegal drug. And it is that national status that poses huge difficulty in exploring the drug’s medical application of which experts imagine can be vast. As Colorado has ignited unprecedented marijuana policy for personal use, the state is also leading historic medical research initiatives that include cannabis. Three experts will convene to discuss progress the state has made in advancing medical applications of marijuana, the national standing of the marijuana legalization movement and how the two arenas interact.

Back by popular demand is Sanho Tree, a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and the director of its Drug Policy Project, which works to end the domestic and international War on Drugs and replace it with policies that promote public health. Tree will discuss the limitations on states like Colorado caused by the Federal Government.

Nolan Kane is the head of the Cannabis Genomic Research Initiative at the University of Colorado. He will share with the audience the current research underway to improve medical cannabis use including 10 cannabis compounds thought to possess significant medical application.

Dr. Larry Wolk will discuss how the state of Colorado looks at medical marijuana and what they have done to encourage research for medical marijuana, and what their limitations have been. He will discuss the status of various studies on medical marijuana, as well as how legalization has impacted medical marijuana policy and overall utilization. He will also give brief perspective on the myriad of issues related to medical and legalized marijuana use including public education, health surveillance monitoring and laboratory testing for quality control.

The program will be moderated by Rohn Robbins.

6:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. program