Dr. Lester Grinspoon

Dr. Lester Grinspoon is Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and was senior psychiatrist at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston for 40 years. Dr. Grinspoon is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Psychiatric Association. He was founding editor of the The American Psychiatric Association Annual Review and the Harvard Mental Health Letter. Grinspoon was editor of the Harvard Mental Health Letter for fifteen years.

As a doctor, Grinspoon was the first American physician to prescribe lithium carbonate for bipolar disorder.

Dr. Grinspoon became interested in marijuana in the 1960s when its use in the United States increased dramatically. He "had no doubt that it was a very harmful drug that was unfortunately being used by more and more foolish young people who would not listen to or could not believe or understand the warnings about its dangers." When Grinspoon began studying marijuana in 1967, his intention was to "define scientifically the nature and degree of those dangers" but as he reviewed the existing literature on the subject Grinspoon reached the conclusion he and the general public had been misinformed and misled. "There was little empirical evidence to support my beliefs about the dangers of marijuana," and he was convinced cannabis was much less harmful than he had believed. The title of Marihuana Reconsidered "reflected that change in view." He has testified before Congress, and as an expert witness in various legal proceedings, including the deportation hearings of John Lennon. Grinspoon worked with Ramsey Clark on a number of international marijuana related incidents and has authored several book on the topic.

Dr. Grinspoon sat down with us to discuss the merits of the Cannabis plant.