2025 conference - speaker profiles

Professor Dr. Dr. (h.c.) Marilyn A. Huestis is a tenured senior investigator and Chief, Chemistry and Drug Metabolism Section, IRP, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland. She thoroughly enjoys mentoring doctoral students in Toxicology, has to date directly overseen the research of 14 distinguished new toxicologists, and currently has 4 students pursuing their dissertation research. Her research program seeks to discover mechanisms of action of cannabinoid agonists and antagonists, effects of in utero drug exposure, and the neurobiology and pharmacokinetics of designer drugs, the emerging face of drug abuse.

Professor Huestis is focused on new medication targets for cannabis dependence, including oral tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Sativex, a 1:1 ratio of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol. She is interested in the disposition of drugs and metabolites in a wide variety of biological fluids and tissues following controlled drug administration; data that provide a scientific database for interpreting drug concentrations in alternative matrices. An area of special interest for Professor Huestis is investigating the effects of in utero drug exposure on child development and whether concentrations of drugs and/or metabolites in meconium predict adverse outcomes of in utero drug exposure. She has published 359 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters and more than 500 abstracts were presented at national and international meetings.

Professor Huestis received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Mount Holyoke College (cum laude), a master's degree in clinical chemistry from the University of New Mexico (with honors), and a doctoral degree in toxicology from the University of Maryland (with honors). Professor Huestis received a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki in Finland in 2010.

Author, consultant, advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations, and assistant professor, Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for almost 20 years. He has worked in the Clinton (2000), Bush (2002-2003) Administrations, and in 2011 he stepped down after serving more than two years as the senior advisor to President Obama’s drug control director, having been the only drug policy staffer to have ever served as a political appointee in a Democrat and Republican administration. He has appeared since at the Aspen Ideas and New Yorker festivals, on the Organization of American States blue ribbon commission advising hemispheric drug policy, and in hundreds of forums and discussions promoting the ideas outlined in his first book, Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana, published by Beaufort. He has been featured on the front page of the New York Times and in virtually every major media publication and news channel on the subject of drug policy.

Dr. Sabet is the Director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida and an Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. With Patrick J. Kennedy, he is the co-founder of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana). He is also a policy consultant to numerous domestic and international organizations through his company, the Policy Solutions Lab. His current clients include the United Nations, where he holds a senior advisor position at the Italy-based United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), and other governmental and non-governmental organizations. He also recently served as the only non medical doctor on the writing committee establishing the official position on marijuana legalization for the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).

He received his Doctorate of Philosophy and Masters of Science from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar in 2007 and 2002, respectively, and his B.A. with high honors in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 200

Professor Crippa is an Associate Professor and Researcher at the Department of Neurosciences and Behaviour, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil (FMRP-USP) & Honorary Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. He is the President of the Research Committee of the FMRP-USP. He is also Full member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS). Prof Crippa previously studied at the Institute of Psychiatry in London the central effects of cannabinoids using functional neuroimaging (fMRI). He is the author or co-author of more than 280 published journal articles and 40 chapters, including a book titled Cannabis and Mental Health. Most of his basic and clinical research is focused on the therapeutical effects cannabidiol (CBD), one of the main cannabinoids, in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Nadia Solowij, PhD, is an Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow in the School of Psychology, University of Wollongong. She has been actively researching the effects of long term cannabis use for more than 25 years and is now the most published researcher in the world on the topic of cannabis and the brain. Nadia spent 15 years at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, establishing her primary area of expertise on the long-term cognitive effects of cannabis.

She has used neuropsychological, psychophysiological and brain imaging techniques in her investigations, has over 90 scientific publications including her book Cannabis and Cognitive Functioning (Cambridge University Press), and has held over $4 million in grant funding. Her recent research has focused on memory, cognition and brain structure and function in adult and adolescent cannabis users and people with schizophrenia and comorbid cannabis use. Her current research examines the effects of different cannabinoids on brain function and vulnerability markers for psychosis.

Professor Drummer is employed at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine as Deputy Director (Academic Programs) and also holds the position of Professor and Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University. He has had an executive position at the Institute since 1989.

A forensic pharmacologist and a toxicologist, he has been involved in the analysis of drugs and poisons and in the interpretation of their biological effects for almost 40 years. He lectures lecture widely on this subject and has given evidence in court in well over 250 cases around Australia and in NZ, and has provided expert medico-legal reports in other parts of the world. He is gazetted as an approved expert under the Victorian Road Safety Act (1986).

He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers in journals and has published many other reports, book chapters, encyclopedia articles, and is the main author of the book “The Forensic Pharmacology of Drugs of Abuse” (Arnold, June 2001) and co-editor of the e-book “forensic analysis of drugs”.  He is the editor for drugs and toxicology submissions for the scientific journal, Forensic Science International and holds editorial board positions in a number of other scientific journals.

Professor Drummer's formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Applied Science (Chemistry) from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) (1974) and Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine (Ph.D.) in Pharmacology from Melbourne University (1980).  He is a member of a number of professional societies including the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT), the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society (ANZFSS), the German Society for Toxicology and Forensic Chemistry (GTFCh), the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI, as charted chemist) and an honorary member of the Italian Forensic Toxicology Society (GiFT).

He was President of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) from 2008-2011 and is the inaugural President of the Forensic and Clinical Toxicology Association (FACTA) of Australia and NZ (since 2010).

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) and a founding Fellow of Faculty of Science of The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA).

BSc(Med), MBBS, FRANZCP

Dr Large is a psychiatrist and psychiatric researcher at The Prince of Wales Hospitals and The University of New South Wales. He has published extensively on the co-morbidity between psychosis and substance use including the use of tobacco, cannabis and stimulants. He is most well known for his research on the age at onset of psychosis and cannabis use. 

Murat Yucel is a Professor and Clinical Neuropsychologist and Director of MCIN.

Murat’s research has made major contributions to understanding the long-term effects of heavy substance use on the brain and behaviour (for example, why individuals addicted to heroin find it difficult to control their impulses and repeatedly relapse), as well as the impact of drug use on mental health (for example, links between early and heavy cannabis use and risk for psychosis). His findings have also challenged some widespread perceptions about drug use (for example, that cannabis has minimal effects on brain and behaviour). It has also made contributions to understanding the neurobiology of several psychiatric disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. His discoveries have led to increased public and professional awareness on these topics and established his group at the forefront of addiction and psychiatric neuroscience research in Australia.

AC 1988, MA, DM, BCh, (Oxon), HonDSc (Ballarat), HonLLD, FRCP, FRACP, FRCPA

Head, Melbourne Medical School, and Dean, Faculty of Medicine, from 1978 to 1985

Physician, Haematologist, Educator and Dean

David Geoffrey Penington began his medical training as an undergraduate of the University of Melbourne and went to Oxford on a scholarship in 1950, graduating there in 1955. After working as a medical specialist, teacher and researcher in London, he was appointed Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne in 1970 as Head of the Department of Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for eight years from 1978 to 1985 and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 1988 to 1995.  In recognition of his service to medicine and to the community, particularly in the field of medical education and health care, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1988.

David Penington also exerted significant national influence during his leadership of the Medical School. He chaired the National Blood Transfusion Committee of the Australian Red Cross Society (1977-83), led Australian aid programs to establish modern blood transfusion in Nepal (1978-81), and modernised blood transfusion equipment in China (1978-82). He was a member of the National Health and Medical Research Council (1980-85), chaired the federal body which came to be known as the National AIDS Task Force (1983-87) and undertook critical work at the early stage of this epidemic. The report from the Commonwealth Inquiry into Rights of Private Practice in Public Hospitals (1984), produced under his chairmanship, was widely acclaimed as a landmark in the development of health policy in Australia.

Full bio to come.

Professor Jan Copeland (PhD, BSc Psych (Hons)) is the founding Director of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) at UNSW Australia since 2007.  She has worked in the addictions field for more than 25 years and is best known for her research developing and testing brief interventions for the management of cannabis use disorder among adults and adolescents. She has more than 300 publications, half of which are in international peer-reviewed journals. She has recently written a book on cannabis, released early 2024, with her colleagues Sally Rooke and Etty Matalon, for Allen & Unwin. Her research and translational work has attracted more than $40M in funding.  

Professor Copeland has a long-standing commitment to service with community agencies and is currently Chair of the Drug and Alcohol Multicultural Education Centre and a director on the Board of Management of The McGrath Foundation’s Odyssey House.  Among other editorial roles she is an Associate Editor of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. She is also a member of the US College on Problems of Drug Dependence and Chairs their international research committee. Additional memberships include the Australian Psychological Society, International Cannabinoid Research Society, Australian Professional Society on Alcohol and  Drugs and the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions. She has recently received awards from Rotary Health and the Dalgarno Institute acknowledging her contribution to public health and community education.

Professor Yvonne Cadet-James is Chair of Indigenous Australian Studies at James Cook University and Supervisor of Post Graduate Course Work and Research.

Full bio to come.

My name is Bob, I'm a cannabis addict, though not a practicing one (albeit with the occasional lapse) for the last 15 years. Along the way, I initiated the Nimbin drug law reform movement that remains the most prominent cannabis user advocacy organisation nationally, founding the Nimbin Hemp Embassy, stood as a drug law reform candidate on a number of occasions in the NSW State Elections, and kicked off the annual Nimbin Mardi Grass Fiesta. I experienced a slow-burn epiphany that resulted in a re-evaluation of both my own cannabis habit, and a coming to odds with the HEMP (Help End Marijuana Prohibition) group over much of the information and attitudes they promulgated, especially with respect to their promotion of the use of cannabis and their support of free market distribution .

Dr Peter Gates has been in drug and alcohol research with NDARC since August 2002.

He has worked on projects investigating alcohol use in young Australians, specifically researching the impact of pre-mixed alcohol, and following this, he assisted with the introduction of the Australian Alcohol Treatment Outcome Measure for dissemination across non-government health organisations. Further, Peter has conducted research on the potency and contamination content of Australian cannabis.

More recently, Peter began working as part of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) investigating the barriers users face in receiving treatment specifically for their cannabis use. Peter completed his PhD in August 2012 evaluating the efficacy of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre’s Cannabis Information and Helpline.

Etty Matalon is a Psychologist and the National Clinical Training Manager for the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC).

Etty is also a consultant who runs her own private practice that provides relevant workplace training and seminars. She was also the State President of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy for five years.

She has 20 years clinical experience in the Alcohol and Other Drug Field having worked at two major teaching hospitals in Sydney as the Clinical Co-ordinator for a women’s detoxification and rehabilitation service where she introduced a Cognitive Behavioural Treatment Program, and as the Program Manager at a Private Psychiatric Hospital. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and has provided her clinical services in relation to several trials and clinical expertise with respect to several publications.

Etty taught Drug and Alcohol studies at the Institute of TAFE and has facilitated over 200 workshops and training seminars within Education, Health Services and the Defence Forces relating to Brief Intervention for Cannabis Use Disorders, Alcohol Treatment Guidelines. She has also run Relapse Prevention groups for inmates within Corrective Services.