In April, Dr. Leana Wen published an essay in the Washington Post which bore the headline, “We Should Not Be Celebrating Marijuana Use.” The column engendered more than 5,000 responses, most of which disagreed with her about the dangers of marijuana.
Today on the Healthwatch, let’s talk about marijuana. Even the term “marijuana” is considered in some quarters to be pejorative, with some folks preferring to use the term “cannabis." Polls about the prevalence of cannabis use vary widely.
Recreational cannabis will be legal in Maryland in less than a month. Where do you stand?
Dr. Wen is one of America’s most trusted and knowledgeable public health experts, and we are proud and grateful that she has been a regular guest on our show for many years. In 2019, she was included in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people. An emergency physician, she teaches at the George Washington University School of Public Health. She writes a column for the Washington Post. She’s a medical analyst for CNN, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health.
Dr. Wen joined us on Zoom.
