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A GROWING ISSUE FAMU initiative emphasizes education and research on medical marijuana by TEAGHAN SKULSZKI AND DEVANTE CARROLL
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t’s a new kind of green revolution. This one isn’t about the environment, though it certainly depends on it. It’s the legalization of marijuana that has been sweeping through the U.S. over the past several years. Florida residents voted in 2016 to legalize medical marijuana, joining a growing list of states that have legalized the drug for either medical or recreational use. That inspired Florida A&M to establish the University’s Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative, or MMERI, which says it aims to “educate and
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inform Florida’s diverse minority communities about the benefits of medical marijuana and the potential consequences to health and wellbeing from recreational use.” The university says on its website that MMERI also seeks to establish FAMU as “a touchtone center for marijuana information” that informs policy on the effects of the booming medical marijuana industry. Patients use medical marijuana to, among other things, relieve pain, stimulate appetite and reduce anxiety and inflammation. Side effects include, as you might expect, impaired judgment and
↑ Patricia Green-Powell, interim executive director of the Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative, says the project marks “an exciting time for FAMU.”
coordination. Doctors and officials say more research on marijuana in health care is needed. The FAMU initiative stems from 2017 state legislation that called for $10 from every medical marijuana card to go to MMERI’s medical marijuana education and research. The card fee is $75. The initiative trumpets FAMU’s status as a historically black university as it reaches out
PHOTO BY SEASTOCK / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS (MARIJUANA) AND COURTESY OF FAMU MEDICAL MARIJUANA EDUCATION AND RESEARCH INITIATIVE
EDUCATION