Next month, voters in four states will consider whether to change laws regulating marijuana use. But how much is known about marijuana's effects on the body? Ira Flatow talks with psychiatrist Julie Holland, editor of a new collection of essays titled The Pot Book, about the plant. Up next, a psychiatrist examines marijuana, though she doesn't like to call it marijuana. We'll find out why because next month, voters in four states will be deciding on whether to loosen laws regulating marijuana, even though federal laws still say it's an illegal drug. For example, in California, where a medical marijuana already is sanctioned, voters will decide whether to allow marijuana for recreational use and regulate it in the same way we regulate alcohol. But how much do we know about marijuana's affects on the body? Even those in favor of legalization admit that we need to study it more. Maybe cannabis is effective for pain or nausea of cancer. But how much should people use, even if it is effective? What is the dosage rate? And what kind of marijuana might help a patient? Do we know enough about the science of the plant to play it safe? Joining me now to talk about these issues and her views on the legalization of marijuana is Julie Holland. She is clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. She is author of "Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych ER," and she's now editor of a new volume, "The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis."
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