This conversation with Dr. David Hass and Carrie Armour preceded the first annual Medical Cannabis Research and Advocacy Alliance conference, to be held in March 2021 (virtually). Dave and Carrie are deeply involved in the world of medical cannabis but come to it from very different perspectives. Dave is a medical doctor who understands the science and has seen first-hand what medical cannabis can do for some patients. Carrie is an attorney who has devoted her professional life to working on medical cannabis policy and regulations. Our conversation helps put context around why it’s been so hard for many people -- doctors and patients alike -- to get a straight story on medical cannabis, and how a very mixed bag of regulations makes it hard to conduct good scientific research. We even address the commercial explosion of adult-use recreational cannabis and CBD, which seems to only add more confusion to this complicated landscape. 
 
Dr. Hass attended medical school at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, followed by residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellowship training at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. He currently serves on the clinical faculty at the Yale University School of Medicine and has a unique hybrid of private practice and academics. He is the Medical Director of PACT Gastroenterology Centerin the New Haven CT area, as well as  the Director of Endoscopy at Yale New Haven Hospital – Saint Raphael Campus, where he is  actively involved in the fellowship training program at Yale. Dr. Hass is passionate about both patient and physician advocacy and has served as President of the New Haven County Medical Association and is currently Vice President of the Connecticut State Medical Society State Council. He is a certified clinical hypnotherapist, a modality implemented to treat functional abdominal pain. His clinical interests include small bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease and complementary and alternative therapies in the treatment of gastrointestinal and hepatic disease including medical cannabis use.
 
Carrie Armour has over fifteen years of experience representing physicians, patients and the cannabis industry as a government affairs attorney and advocacy consultant. As a consultant, Carrie focuses on improving pain management and influencing policies to create highly regulated, compliance focused cannabis programs as well as expanding opportunities for cannabis education and cannabis research. Prior to opening up her consulting firm, Armour Advocacy, Carrie worked for over a decade at the American Medical Association in its state government affairs division. At the AMA, Carrie developed and managed advocacy campaigns to help shape and inform state laws, regulations and policies in support of patients and physicians focusing on public health improvement and protecting the physician-patient relationship.

Carrie began her legal career as a prosecutor at the Cook County State’s Attorney. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University and a Juris Doctorate from Loyola University School of Law. She is on the Board of the Medical Cannabis Research Advocacy Alliance, a Director on the Board of Illinois Women in Cannabis and a member of the International Cannabis Bar Association and the Illinois Cannabis Bar Association. 
Please connect with Carrie at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-armour-27a2083a/