Marilyn A. Huestis, PhD, recently retired as chief of chemistry and drug metabolism at the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse but remains highly active in the field. She is a senior fellow at the Lambert Center for the Study of Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pa.; consultant to the US Department of Transportation; and serves on the Science Advisory Boards of National Families in Action and Smart Approaches to Marijuana. She is known for her research on how marijuana use affects driving and how exposure to parents’ marijuana use affects the developing fetus, breast-feeding newborns, and young children, as well as the new psychoactive substances.

Key Points

• Occasional user needs lower amount of THC to get high 
• Chronic frequent user needs quite a bit more to get the same high
• Some evidence showing cannabis can change the proteins that surround your DNA and determine what genes are going to reproduce.

Next Up? Dr. ElSohly on Is Marijuana the Same as Epidiolex?