Medical Marijuana, The Fellowship, ABC Court

Should Medicinal Marijuana Be a Part of Mainstream Medicine? Guest: Misty D. Smith, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Utah US Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah introduced a bill last week to expand access to marijuana for research. He said, “While I certainly do not support the use of marijuana for recreational purposes, the evidence shows that cannabis possesses medicinal properties that can truly change people’s lives for the better.” Senator Hatch’s bill aims to make it easier for researchers to study the medical properties of compounds derived from marijuana. Misty D. Smith knows what it takes to get government approval to do medical research on compounds derived from marijuana. She studies a non-psychoactive component of marijuana called CBD and her research is funded by the Epilepsy Foundation. When All Else Failed, Medicinal Marijuana Worked a Miracle Guest: Emilie Campbell, advocate for medical marijuana and mother of a child with severe epilepsy One of Dr. Smith's primary hopes in her research on marijuana-derived compounds is to be able to provide better information about how well they work and how safe they are in combination with other drugs to eliminate the guessing game people using marijuana-derived compounds for medicinal purposes currently face.  Emilie Campbell knows that guessing game intimately. Researchers are finding that compounds in marijuana, such as cannabidiol, or CBD, can help treat children with severe epilepsy. None of the traditional epilepsy drugs have worked for Emilie Campbell’s son Connor, who suffers multiple serious seizures on a daily basis. Out of desperation, she turned to cannabis oil. For a time, it worked well. But she says the lack of research on the right dosage and combination of marijuana compounds makes it a complicated guessing game to ease Connor’s symptoms over the long haul. The Hobbit Turns 80 Guest: Carol Zaleski, PhD, Co-author, “The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings--J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Ow