The Hub recently sat down with Ryan Vandrey, an experimental psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who works with an interdisciplinary team in the Cannabis Science Laboratory. There, he investigates the effects and pharmacokinetics (how the drug moves through the body) of cannabis on humans. He also tests products and tracks trends in the burgeoning retail cannabis market, seeking to understand how alterations in dose, chemical components, and methods of use can affect the user experience.

Vandrey has spent more than two decades studying cannabis and can rattle off with ease long lists of new cannabinoid isomers on the market, from delta-10-THC to delta-6a(7)-THC. Below, he breaks down the science of cannabis and the unsettling need for more education, research, and testing to ensure the safety of the products now available at the roughly 102 licensed dispensaries in Maryland—and thousands more nationwide...

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