Q&A with Dr. Peter Grinspoon: Medical Cannabis and the Opioid Epidemic

In 2016, health care providers across the US wrote more than 214 million prescriptions for opioid pain medication—a rate of 66.5 prescriptions per 100 people - and more than 40% of all US overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid. But it doesn't have to be this way. Tune into this interview with Dr. Peter Grinspoon as he discussed where have we come and what are the clinical needs now for advancing medical cannabis in opiate addiction and recovery. Speaker Bio: Dr. Peter Grinspoon, M.D. is the author of "Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction." He is a primary care physician at MGH in Boston, a former Associate Director for the Massachusetts Physician Health Service, and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Grinspoon currently practices as a primary care physician at an inner-city clinic in Boston and is on staff at Massachusetts General Hospital. He teaches medicine at Harvard Medical School. He spent two years as an Associate Director for the Physician Health Service, part of the Massachusetts Medical Society, working with physicians who suffer from substance use disorders. Dr. Grinspoon graduated with honors in philosophy from Swarthmore College. Before medical school, he spent five years as a Campaign Director at Greenpeace, working on the nuclear-free seas campaign. He attended medical school at Boston University School of Medicine. His internship and residency were in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Today he is proudly ten years clean. First presented at Cannabis Advancement Conference Boston, MA 03.03.2019 Are you a US Military veteran? Take the anonymous Veterans Health and Medical Cannabis survey today to advance access and education! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/C3RNVAH Find out more about the events series: https://vahinc.org/ https://cannacenterofexcellence.org https://www.jointvco.com/