This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Talk explores human beings’ dynamic relationship with the cannabis plant and what recent developments might mean for our health and well-being.
Zach Walsh is a clinical psychologist and substance use researcher who teaches at UBC.
Zach Walsh, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Psychology and Co-Director for the Centre for the Advancement of Psychological Science and Law. He attended the University of Winnipeg as an undergraduate, received a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2008 from the Chicago Medical School/Rosalind Franklin University, and completed a clinical internship and a research fellowship at the Brown University Centre for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Dr. Walsh is a registered clinical psychologist whose research has been supported by the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Health Canada, BC Interior Health Authority, the Peter Wall Endowment, and the American Psychological Association.
About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Terrific talk! I highly recommend the excellent documentary, ‘The Union:
The Business Behind Getting High (2007)’.
Absolutely amazing video. I love the information presented and especially
so because I am a Psychology major. I live in an area where cannabis is
strictly illegal and harshly judged, especially by the older generation. I
was disabled in a car accident when I was 20 and suffer with several panic
disorders, including PTSD, and cannabis is the only medicine that truly
alleviates my anxiety. I never tried it until well after the accident, when
the depression and anxiety was really setting in, and it brought me back
from a point in time when I wanted to escape the anxiety so badly that I
even had thoughts of taking my own life. Cannabis use significantly reduced
my depression and anxiety enough for me to think towards the future and
realize that even though my life is different now, the important thing is
that I’m alive, and I want to celebrate life without being doped up with
toxic pharmaceuticals. This is a long winded comment, but cannabis saved my
life, and I know there are MANY other people out there who receive such
benefits from a simple plant. I pray that one day our nation and ultimately
the world will embrace cannabis as an essential medicine as it once did.
The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization
of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and
fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous
world. ~ Carl Sagan
Great Video
Put it on your Must Watch list :)