Dr. Paloma Lehfeldt is a lifelong cannabis advocate who serves as the director of Medical Education for Vireo Health, a physician-founded and leading US medical cannabis company. She brings together more than 10 years of experience in psychiatric research, community outreach and teaching.
Dr. Lehfeldt has expertise in neuroscience with a keen interest in mental health and the endocannabinoid system. Her interest in cannabis as medicine is a direct result of working with patients and research participants unable to control chronic pain and their subsequent opioid dependence.
“In order to bring back cannabis-based medicine into every healthcare practioner’s toolbox,
we need to decriminalize, destigmatize, deschedule,
educate and advocate for the plant.“
Filling in the void of cannabis science education in medical school for the last several decades, Dr. Lehfeldt passionately leads physician education incorporating advocacy for the cannabis plant, its place in Western medicine history and the need for physicians’ participation in legislation and policy creation are required.
As she says, both patients and healthcare providers have to understand that it’s the War on Drugs, which disproportionately affected Black and Brown communities, is the reason why medical cannabis is not readily available.
