Maui Grown Therapies to Host Annual Medical Cannabis Symposium

Chief science officer for Maui Grown Therapies Dr. Andrew Weil will be the featured speaker for the third annual Maui Medical Cannabis Symposium. The symposium, sponsored by Certicann, will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 in the McCoy Studio Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Admission will be free but attendees are required to have confirmed reservations for entry.

Michael Backes, researcher and author of Cannabis Pharmacy, and Maui Grown Therapies’ chief medical officer Greg Yim will speak alongside Weil. Backes will update attendees on the latest research findings about medical cannabis, THC, and CBD, while Dr. Yim will serve as the evening’s host and curate audience questions.

“Botanical remedies can play an important role in an integrative healthcare program that emphasizes good nutrition, a healthful lifestyle, spirituality and mind-body interventions,” Weil said. “When used properly, cannabis is a safe and effective plant remedy that is underutilized and unfortunately, still misunderstood by many conventional practitioners.”

As in past years, the final half hour of the symposium will be reserved for written audience questions.  

About the speakers:

Dr. Andrew Weil is the director of the Center for Integrative Medicine of the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona. He is also a clinical professor of Medicine and a professor of Public Health. A nationally respected authority on integrative therapies, he conducted the first published human trials on cannabis during the 1960s.

Michael Backes is the author of Cannabis Pharmacy, the first evidence-based guide to cannabis therapeutics for varied medical conditions. Backes is a highly regarded researcher and member of the International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines. He is also a frequent contributor to Project CBD, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and publicizing research into the medical uses of cannabidiol (CBD).

Dr. Greg Yim specializes in pediatric neurology in Kāneʻohe and Honolulu and is an assistant clinical professor at the UH School of Medicine. He is a respected authority on using cannabinoids to treat pediatric neurological conditions. He is regularly featured in Honolulu Magazine’s Top Doctors of Hawaiʻi.

Reservations for the symposium can be made online. Anyone interested in attending is advised to make a reservation as early as possible, as event seating is limited.