Cannabis and brain health🧠🍃
Medical cannabis has been legal in the UK since 2018. Only 20% of the UK population (unfortunately including police and medical professionals) know this. Medical and recreational cannabis have been legal in Canada since 2018.
Last week, during my annual leave, I attended my first cannabis conference, Cannabis Europa in London. This event focused on experts, policymakers, advocates, and industry professionals in cannabis.
I spoke about brain health, dementia, and cannabis, and how it is in the interest of public health to create a stronger evidence base for this work. I will post a summary of my presentation shortly.
Highlights
⭐ Katrina Ffrench on policing and racialized communities, which are overrepresented in the judicial system and under-represented in the policy and business sector
⭐ Steve Rolles on the potential risks the industry can be in, or put public health in if we don’t keep equity at the forefront of our decisions and hold everyone accountable
⭐ Jacqueline Poitras and her suggestion all countries that legalize cannabis create a ‘cannabis bureau’, an office that needs to exist in all countries so their knowledge grows and doesn’t have to be re-done every time there’s a new government
⭐Hannah Deacon and her work amplifying the voices of patients and de-stigmatizing the use of cannabis
⭐ Matt Hughes and his work advocating for equitable access to healthcare on behalf of his son Charlie who needs it for treating his refractory epilepsy
⭐Moritz Förster about the journey of cannabis legalization in Germany and the massive process around this
⭐ Simone van Breda, spoke on the perspective of Coffee Shop owners in the Netherlands and how Coffee shops provide a unique and important aspect of the culture of cannabis
⭐ Anne Katrin Schlag and learning about the Learning about the T21 Study Drug Science, the latest data from 4,000+ patients and the findings that translate to the patient in the medical market
As many people at this event said: "We all have a cannabinoid system, why are we not talking more about this?"
Thank you Matt Freemantle and the Cannabis Europa team for having me, and everyone for the warm welcome into the cannabis community 💚