News & Views
Denver teens face greater pressure to use
There's always one slide in the presentations I give about marijuana's effects on the teen brain that makes my young audiences scoff -- and a talk I gave earlier this week at Denver's East High School was no exception. The slide illustrates what science has confirmed...
Heart rate variability biofeedback in adolescent substance treatment
The results of this research were published in Global Advances in Health and Medicine in January 2013. Study title: Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback in Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Authors: Chris Thurstone, MDcorresponding author and Travis Lajoie, DO...
BraveTracks helping Colorado kids
A burgeoning nonprofit organization is helping Colorado high school students find a world of professional and personal opportunities. I like the group's aim so much that I recently agreed to join its board of advisors. The organization is called BraveTracks -- and its...
Meet Project SAM
Having sat through two meetings of the Colorado task force I have been appointed to by Gov. John Hickenlooper to recommend a regulatory framework for recreational marijuana use in this state, it is clearer to me than ever that our nation needs to have far more...
Talking with your child about tragedy
Today's massacre at an elementary school in Connecticut is devastating. At this time, 27 people, including 20 children, are reported dead. A common question at times like these is, "How should I discuss this with my children?" There is no script -- but there are...
Don’t call us? We’ll call you out.
What a coincidence. Today, journalists representing eight news agencies contacted me, seeking interviews with my husband, Dr. Christian Thurstone, whom Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper recently named to a task force that will make various recommendations to state...
CO governor names Thurstone to marijuana task force
Gov. Hickenlooper signs Amendment 64 proclamation, creates task force to recommend needed legislative actions DENVER — Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 — Gov. John Hickenlooper today signed an Executive Order that makes an “official declaration of the vote” related to Amendment...
Marijuana’s congressional champions
Drug policy is a vital matter of public health and safety that should be rooted in evidence-based science, so pay close attention when elected officials with no formal training in drug-abuse prevention and treatment, medical research and law enforcement push...
What latest top cannabis research tells us
Meet Bertha K. Madras, Ph.D. She is a professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School's Department of Psychiatry. Her research in drug addiction is world-recognized, prolific and pioneering. Like me, she has grown tired of watching people pass...
Videos worth your time
Today, I received links to two videos that reference my research -- but that's not why I'm sharing them. I'm sharing these videos because I consider them illuminating in ways that news coverage about the marijuana debate too often is not. I also really appreciate that...
Read the book
Clearing the Haze is a guide designed to help parents determine whether their child may have a substance problem and, if so, how to begin to address it. This book includes the voices and insight of experts in substance abuse counseling, young people in recovery, and parents who have lived the nightmare of adolescent addiction.