CSU-Pueblo’s cannabis conference to be an international affair
Speakers from around the world are to descend on Pueblo for the conference.
Just short of one year since the Colorado State University-Pueblo received a $900,000 grant from the State of Colorado to fund cannabis research, the university’s Institute of Cannabis Research finalized the announcement of a jam-packed program for the three-day event.
This year’s theme is “Cannabis Experts Take Center Stage: From the Margins to the Mainstream.”
The committee invited the members from the local and surrounding communities to attend, with the aim at providing information that will demystify cannabis research.
Organizers at CSU-Pueblo stepped up to the plate to organize an event that will feature esteemed speakers and presenters from states including Colorado, to foreign countries such as Italy, Australia and South Africa.
Carl Hart, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Psychology, Raphael Mechoulam, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the Institute of Drug Research at Hebrew University in Israel, and Dirk Ziff, Professor of Psychology in the departments of psychology and psychiatry are to speak at the event.
Hart, a renowned expert on drug abuse and drug addiction, happened to be on campus at an event for CSU-Pueblo’s Center for Teaching Pueblo April 27.
The ICR steering committee jumped at the opportunity to invite him to deliver the plenary address on the conference’s opening day.
Mechoulam, who is widely recognized as “the father of cannabis research,” was on the committee’s “dream list” of speakers.
And the school was able to land him.
Professor of Sociology at CSU-Pueblo, Timothy McGettigan, Ph.D. who heads up the conference’s Working Group, gushed about his meeting with Mechoulam at a cannabis conference in Tel Aviv.
He described Mechoulam as a warm and approachable individual with a wealth of knowledge and insight into cannabis research.
Although cannabis is still federally illegal, McGettigan pointed out the research program was initiated under the Obama Administration that allowed some states states to conduct research, in accordance with statutes put in place by the U.S. Department of Justice.
While some are anxious that enforcement of the federal law will change under the Trump administration, he added, the conference provides an opportunity so the community can learn about and get involved in a local cannabis research program.
McGettigan promised an eclectic presentation of ideas by 120 presenters, some of whom will present in teams.
Registration will take place from 3–6 P.M. on Friday, April 28, in the General Classroom Building Atrium on campus, followed by the plenary address by Dr. Hart at 5 P.M. Dr. Mechoulam will deliver the keynote address Saturday, April 29 at 12:30 P.M.
The final attendance head count is not yet available, but Hoag Hall has the capacity to accommodate 650 people.
The cost of attendance is $350 per person.
