Programme
The Nordic Summit is a two-day event and will cover many different important areas that are related to the current movement towards legalisation of Cannabis. The Summit has two overarching topics, which will cover different researches on the effect of Cannabis, work from Civil Society, and examples from states that have gone through the process of legalisation already, showcasing their observations. The Summit will also include a gender-based perspective as well as a focus on children, youth, and adolescence.
Programme
*Please note that all times are in the Central European Summer Time (CEST)
Speakers
Bertha Madras (Keynote)
Bertha K Madras, PhD, Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School (35 years), is based at McLean Hospital and cross-appointed at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She directs the Laboratory of Addiction Neurobiology at McLean Hospital. Her experiences in neuroscience research, drug addiction, education, government and public service offer a unique perspective at the intersection of science and public policy.
Theiss Bendixen
Theiss Bendixen is a psychologist, author, and PhD fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark. He has written two popular science books on the importance of science and scientific thinking, the latest of which also includes critical discussions of alternative therapies including cannabis-based remedies. Recently, he contributed the foreword to Christopher Schmitz’ 2020 book, Den vigtigste bog du nogensinde har læst om Cannabis.
Madeline Meier
Madeline Meier is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. Her research uses prospective longitudinal and case-control designs to understand the causes, course, and consequences of problematic substance use, primarily cannabis use. Her main interests involve understanding how cannabis use affects mental health, physical health, and psychosocial functioning across the lifespan.
Prof. Mary Cannon
Mary Cannon is Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She also works as a consultant psychiatrist in Beaumont Hospital Dublin. Her longstanding research interest is in the area of childhood and adolescent risk and protective factors for adult mental illness, particularly psychosis.
Peter Allebeck
Mr Allebeck is a professor of Social Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. His main research field is epidemiology of mental disorders, and in particular alcohol and drug use. He has done several follow-up studies on population-based cohorts to assess the association between Cannabis use and mental health outcomes.
Robert L. DuPont
For 50 years, Robert L. Dupont has been a leader in drug abuse prevention and treatment. He is the founding President of the Institute for Behaviour and Health, Inc., a non-profit research and policy organisation that identifies and promotes powerful new ideas to reduce drug use and addiction. He has also written various research articles and books.
Carlton Hall
Carlton Hall is the President and CEO of Carlton Hall Consulting LLC (CHC) , a multi-faceted, full-service consulting firm designed to provide customized solutions and enable measurable change for communities, organizations, families and individuals. Carlton Hall has been providing intensive substance abuse prevention focused and community problem solving services to the United States of America for the last 25 years.
Bobby Smyth
Dr. Smyth is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, who has acted as clinical lead across three adolescent addiction services in Dublin since 2003. He is a Clinical Senior Lecturer with the Department of Public Health & Primary Care in Trinity College Dublin. He has published over 80 scientific papers in the field of addiction. He has been a member of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs & Alcohol in Ireland and the expert physician council of the International Academy on the Science & Impact of Cannabis (IASIC).
Hanne Cecilie Widnes
Hanne Cecilie Widnes is the Secretary General in IOGT Norway and has vast experience from drug- and alcohol prevention work, social work, and political advocacy work and leadership in non-profit organisations. She has a master’s degree in Sociology from The University of Oslo
Amy Ronshausen
Mrs Ronshausen is the Executive Director of both Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. and Save Our Society From Drugs (S.O.S.), national nonprofit organisations that work to prevent substance abuse, increase access to evidence based treatment, and promote sustained recovery. Mrs Ronshause regularly testifies on issues related to drug demand reduction on the local and global stage.
Susan Weiss
Dr Weiss is the Director, Division of Extramural Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which oversees NIDA's extramural programmes, operations planning, and trans-NIH initiatives. Dr Weiss also serves as a senior science advisor to the NIDA Director and scientific liaison to the NIH, HHS, and other Federal Agencies.
Kevin A. Sabet
Mr Sabet is an affiliate of the Institution fo Social and Policy Studies and the Medical School at Yale University, and dubbed by NBC News as the "prodigy of drug politics", author, consultant, and advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations, and assistant professor. Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D. has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for more than 25 years. .
Christian Thurstone
Mr Thurstone is a child and addiction psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado. He has dedicated his career to preventing and treating adolescent substance misuse and published some of the first papers on the possible impact of marijuana legalisation on youth.
Knut Reinås
Mr Reinås is an educated magister of sociology at the University of Oslo. Over the course of his career, he has been the head of various departments, focusing on health care and drug addiction, at the Municipality of Oslo and has been a special advisor at the Oslo University Hospital. Currently, he is the head of the board at the League Against Intoxicants.
Organisers
Forbundet Mot Rusgift
The Association Against Drugs – FMR – is a drug policy organisation that directs its activities towards students and professionals at universities and colleges. FMR says yes to the intoxication experiences that are caused by positive sensory stimuli. FMR says no to a chemicalisation of people’s emotional and conscious lives through the use of alcohol, drugs and pills. They have networks at several universities and colleges.
WFAD
WFAD is a multilateral community of non-governmental organisations and individuals. We share a common concern that illicit drug use is undercutting traditional values and threatening the existence of stable families, communities, and government institutions throughout the world. Our aim is to work for a drug-free world.
Danske Cannabis Behandlere
Danish Cannabis Therapists was founded in 2014 as a network for therapists and other professionals working in cannabis addiction treatment. Our goal is to strengthen the treatment efforts in Denmark, which we do through education, among other things. The basis for our education is the HAP method, which is the leading method in the Nordic region when it comes to settling cannabis abuse.
Bobby Smyth
Dr. Smyth is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, who has acted as clinical lead across three adolescent addiction services in Dublin since 2003. He is a Clinical Senior Lecturer with the Department of Public Health & Primary Care in Trinity College Dublin. He has published over 80 scientific papers in the field of addiction. He has been a member of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs & Alcohol in Ireland and the expert physician council of the International Academy on the Science & Impact of Cannabis (IASIC).
Bobby Smyth
Dr. Smyth is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, who has acted as clinical lead across three adolescent addiction services in Dublin since 2003. He is a Clinical Senior Lecturer with the Department of Public Health & Primary Care in Trinity College Dublin. He has published over 80 scientific papers in the field of addiction. He has been a member of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs & Alcohol in Ireland and the expert physician council of the International Academy on the Science & Impact of Cannabis (IASIC).