As of this year, medical cannabis is legal in 37 states and in the District of Columbia,  while 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the drug for adult recreational use. 

It is a huge national experiment, and few are better positioned to speak to the pros and cons than R. Lorraine Collins, an expert in addictive behaviors who has been researching cannabis for decades, and who served on a governor-appointed committee in 2018 to draft the legislation that would become New York State’s recreational cannabis program.

A SUNY Distinguished Professor, associate dean for research in the School of Public Health and Health Professions and director of UB’s Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, Collins is the latest guest on Driven to Discover, the podcast from University Communications that explores UB research through candid conversations with the researchers about their inspirations, their goals and the journey that led them to where they are now.

In a wide-ranging interview with David Hill covering all things cannabis, Collins recalls how a malt liquor study got her interested in researching the drug; why she’s an advocate for its legalization; what New York State got right and what it didn’t, in regard to both its medical and its recreational cannabis programs (and, relatedly, why she and other researchers call Nevada the Wild West); and why alcohol, not cannabis, should be classified by the federal government as a Schedule 1 drug, alongside heroin.

Collins is a font of information on the subject of cannabis, and more than happy to share her knowledge and insights with the public. “There’s so much myth, there’s so much misinformation, that you touch the cannabis button and I’m off and running,” she says.