Bertha K. Madras, PhD (the honorable)

Bertha Madras is a Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School (36 years), based at McLean Hospital, cross-appointed at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The focus of her career is research (preclinical and human) and public policy. For over four decades, she has investigated addiction biology, neuropsychiatric disorders, with results published in over 200 manuscripts, articles, and co-edited books, “The Cell Biology of Addiction”, and “Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Nervous System” and “Imaging of the Human Brain in Health and Disease”.  With collaborators, she holds 19 U.S. and 27 international patents.

Dr. Finn graduated Medical School from the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston (’90). He completed residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation from the University of Utah (’94), and is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (’95) as well as Pain Medicine (’98), and Pain Management (’00). Practicing medicine in Colorado Springs since 1994, Finn serves on the American Board of Pain Medicine Exam Council (’01), Appeals Committee (’14), and Executive Board (’14).  He is the President-Elect of the American Board of Pain Medicine (’20).  Finn served on the Colorado Governors Task Force on Amendment 64, Consumer Safety and Social Issues Work Group (’12) and served 4 years on the Colorado Medical Marijuana Scientific Advisory Council (’14-’18). He was an Executive Board member of El Paso County Medical Society (’14-’18) and helped Colorado Medical Society and Colorado Pain Society develop their position statement on cannabis (’18) as well as the El Paso County Board of Health (’14) and Medical Society (’14) on their statements. Finn is a voluntary clinical instructor for the University of Colorado Medical School-Colorado Springs Branch (‘17-’20) and sees pain patients at the Colorado Springs Rehabilitation in Colorado.

Arianna Campbell, PA

Arianna Campbell is an Emergency Department PA with more than 20 years of clinical expertise informing her work. As an APP Lead for US Acute Care Solutions at Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, California, Arianna initiated an innovative program to treat patients with opioid use disorder. Recognized by leaders in addiction medicine and beyond, Arianna became a founding clinician of CA Bridge, a program of the Public Health Institute. She currently serves as Director and Co-Principal Investigator for CA Bridge, dedicated to making 24/7 access to addiction treatment the standard of care in every hospital. Arianna presently serves on Marshall’s Provider Advisory Council and the California Academy of PAs’ Professional Practice Committee. She is a dedicated advocate for harm reduction practices and treating the patient as a whole person.

California Bridge is a program of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California. Their goal is to transform addiction treatment by ensuring that every hospital in California provides 24/7 access to evidence-based care, treating substance use disorder like any other life-threatening condition.

Joe Dokes has been involved with marijuana education and enforcement for more than 42 years both as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sergeant and as a marijuana prevention educator. He has presented to cannabis advisory boards, Boards of Supervisors,  city councils, water managers, and various state agencies across the U.S. He is co-chair of an anti-drug advocacy and education group focused on Northern California . Joe is recognized as an expert on marijuana in municipal, state, and federal courts. Joe clearly understands the danger high potency marijuana inflicts upon our communities. He believes that the health statement- “primum non nocere” -first do no harm,  should should be embodied by all facets of government in regards to all drugs.

Joe holds professional teaching credentials and technical skills in law enforcement and per-hospital emergency care. He has had the opportunity to travel the world on disaster rescue missions realizing how fortunate we are as Americans.

Check out Chemical People   and We The People Radio.

John Redman is an internationally recognized speaker and discussion facilitator on drug policy issues -- particularly as they pertain to children. He previously held the position of Director of Drug Demand Reduction for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA’s) of California, He is currently the CEO of Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth.  In this capacity he works to help people across industries, nonprofit organizations, faith-based institutions, and educational campuses connect, communicate and collaborate to develop effective drug policy strategies. He is one of the foremost authorities on marijuana policy. He was recently voted the Chair of Drug Policy Futures, an international organization addressing drug policy at the United Nations.

Mr. Redman is passionate about assisting specific communities because, as an expert on national and international drug problems, he understands how action at the local level can be extremely effective.

Other past honors include:

Mr. Redman holds a B.A. from Texas A&M University, an M.F.A. from San Diego State University, and a Doctor of Divinity from Sacramento Theological Seminary and Bible College.

David G. Evans, Attorney at Law has decades of experience consulting with treatment programs on regulatory, policy and human resource matters. Addiction treatment providers are not immune to lawsuits or regulatory complaints. Providers must review their treatment protocols and workplace policies to ensure compliance and confidentiality. Treatment facilities must sort through the maze of regulations and confidentiality requirements imposed by state and federal law. Mr. Evans can help to keep you within the law and to help you to resolve complaints.

Mr. Evans provides policy guidance on the many issues affecting treatment providers

Cannabis Industry Victims Educating Litigators (CIVEL)

Shounak Dharap is a partner at Arns Davis Law and leads the firm’s complex litigation practice area. He litigates a wide range of class action matters in the areas of labor and employment, consumer protection, civil rights, and sexual abuse; as well as personal injury and wrongful death actions. When not litigating, Shounak is a second-term elected trustee on the Palo Alto Unified School Board and a volunteer community  mediator for the City of Palo Alto’s mediation program.

LA Times article on Kratom Lawsuit

Kratom Addiction/Withdrawal - NIDA information

Jacquelyn L. Bainbridge, BSPharm , PharmD, , FCCP, MSCS, FAES

Jacquelyn L. Bainbridge, BSPharm, PharmD, FCCP, MSCS, FAES, is a Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she holds joint appointments in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, and the Department of Neurology in the School of Medicine. Dr Bainbridge received her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Colorado in Denver, where she subsequently completed a specialty residency in neurology.

Deepak Cyril D’Souza, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine and a staff psychiatrist at VA Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS). He received his medical degree from John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India in 1986 and completed his psychiatric residency at State University of New York Downstate in 1992 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychopharmacology and Neurosciences at Yale University School of Medicine. He then joined the faculty in the Dept. of Psychiatry at Yale and VA Connecticut Healthcare System. He is an active clinician, teacher and researcher, 30 years of experience.

Clinical Administration: He directs the Neuropsychiatry Program at VA Connecticut Healthcare System, the clinical service that cares for veterans with serious mental illnesses including psychotic disorders, mood disorders and personality disorders. He also chairs the Research and Development Committee at VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

Research Administration: He directs the Neurobiological Studies Unit where experimental psychopharmacological studies are conducted. He serves as the Chair of the Research and Development Committee of VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

Education: He is actively involved in teaching residents. In recognition of his contributions as a teacher, he received the Yale Psychiatry resident’s teaching award in 2008. He also directs the VA Schizophrenia Research Fellowship program the training ground for a number of current researchers. He is a mentor for a number of junior faculty who have career awards.

Pathophysiological Research: He directs the Schizophrenia Neuropharmacology Research Group at Yale (SNRGY). Over the last 3 decades, he has employed three approaches to his research. He has conducted experimental psychopharmacological studies with ketamine, amphetamine, THC, nicotine, salvinorin A in healthy human volunteers and patients to evaluate the contributions of various neurotransmitter systems to the pathophysiology of psychosis, cognitive deficits, and reward dysfunction. He also uses in vivoneuroreceptor imaging to study schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder with ligands that bind to synaptic vesicles, muscarinic receptors, CB1 receptors, etc. He is also involved in a consortium to collect fluid biomarkers in schizophrenia.

Treatment Research: In parallel to these studies of pathophysiology, he has conducted phase 1 - 4 clinical trials to develop new treatments schizophrenia, mood disorders and cannabis use disorder. More recently he has been investigating the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds (psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine) in the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions including depression and migraine. His research is funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), VA R&D and several foundations.

His work has been published in the highest impact Psychiatry journals including Molecular Psychiatry, Lancet Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuropsychopharmacology (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qDmD8DsAAAAJ&hl=en). He is a principal editor of the journal Psychopharmacology.

He is involved in public outreach – he serves on the Physicians Advisory Board for Connecticut’s Medical Marijuana Program. He is recognized as a leading expert on the relationship between cannabinoids and psychosis, and has been involved educating the general public about the relationship between cannabis and psychosis.