Guest Info
Paul Armentano is the Deputy of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). His writing and research regarding marijuana and marijuana policy have appeared in approximately 1,000 publications, including CNN.com, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor, as well as in some two dozen textbooks and anthologies. Mr. Armentano is a 2008 recipient of the ‘Project Censored Real News Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.’ He also serves of the faculty of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, where he lectures on the science surrounding the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis.
He is the author of the book Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabis (NORML Foundation, 2007, updated 2011) and the co-author of Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (2009, Chelsea Green), which has been licensed and translated internationally.
Dr. Gregory T. Carter, MD, MS, is medical director of the Neuromuscular Disease (NMD) and Hospice/Palliative Care Programs for Providence Health System, Southwest Washington. He earned a Doctor of Medicine from Loyola University Chicago. He completed a physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) residency and Neuromuscular Disease (NMD) research fellowship at the University of California, Davis (UCD), where he also earned a Masters degree in Physiology. His research has focused on the relationships between chronic pain, quality of life, and physical function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other NMDs. He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed papers, publishing the first article on cannabis as a treatment for ALS.
Dr. Carter is past recipient of the Best Research Paper Award from the American Academy of PM&R and the Excellence in Research Writing Award from the Association of Academic Physiatrists, as well as the Excellence in Clinic Care Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He maintains clinical faculty appointments at the University of Washington and UCD Schools of Medicine. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Neuromuscular Medicine subspecialty of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (founding member), and the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine.
Jack Kelly was born and raised in a blue collar neighborhood in Boston called Charlestown. You may have heard of this place because of the recent blockbuster hit movie "The Town" starring Ben Affleck. His interest in health related concepts is somewhat personal as he had to overcome his own personal battles with illicit drugs and he's seen the destructiveness some of them can have on a society as a whole. He is quite interested in alternative medicine to help foster more advancement on such issues as depression, mental health issues and/or other related psychological problems that he believes alternative medicine can have an immediate impact.
Jack has a political background and spent 5 years working for Boston Mayor Tom Menino as a neighborhood liaison and was elected as a delegate to the 2008 Democratic national convention in Denver for President Obama. In addition, he created and writes for the website Coffee With Caesar and freelances for the online local website Patch, which is affiliated with the Huffington Post.
