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Psychedelics: New Frontiers in Alternative Medicine | vol. 5 no. 5 cannabissciencetech.com 26 feature / research W e recently connected with Dr. Denise C. Vidot, an epidemiologist at the Universi- ty of Miami and Founder of the Interna- tional Cannabis & Psychedelic Research Collaborative. Here, Dr. Vidot shares her research back- ground, a little overview of her talk from this year's Can- nabis Science Conferences West titled, "Co-Use of Can- nabis and Psilocybin to Manage Mental Health Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Results from the Inter- national COVID-19 Cannabis Health Study," and more. Dr. Vidot's research focuses on the biological, psychosocial, and societal implications of cannabis and psychedelic use on human health across the lifespan. Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became interested in the cannabis industry? A: Dr. Denise Vidot: Yes. Well, first of all, I am a cannabis epidemiologist at the University of Miami. I am a very passionate researcher that focuses on the brain, heart, and gut axis. I'm sure I'll be talking about that later, but it's important for me to start with that, because literally every piece of research that I conduct, whether it's regarding cannabis or psychedelics, is really to characterize how important that brain, heart, and gut axis is. Q: Can you tell us about your research related to cannabis, and have any of your findings surprised you? A: Dr. Vidot: Where do I even start? In my research, as an epidemiologist, I have the luxury of being able to study multiple diseases and illnesses at the same time. One of my most exciting findings that I've been collecting over multiple studies—so it's not just one study that is showing this—but I'm sure everyone has heard the hypothesis or the stigma that cannabis gives you the munchies and you're just sitting on the couch, you know, that stigma that we are used to seeing in popular media. Well, I have to bust the popular media's bubble because the data suggests otherwise. In fact, some of my studies are showing that cannabis consumers have a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome, and that is the risk factors that lead to cardiovascular disease and so on. So, I would say I have lots of findings, but that's one that immediately jumped to my head because it directly goes against what the stigma of cannabis is. Q: How did your work in the cannabis industry lead you to your research and work with psilocybin? A: Dr. Vidot: That's a really interesting story. I've been studying cannabis for over 11 years now. So, if we just picture what the industry looked like 11 years ago, I mean, I don't even know if we would be having this conversation 11 years ago. Right? Just to paint the picture, I was at the University of Miami. I felt like I was in a silo, really, as the only cannabis researcher. Of course, nobody really called it cannabis 10 years ago, it was all marijuana or weed. So, I was known as the "weed doc." Right? But throughout that, working with this highly stigmatized plant, I've noticed, even throughout the years, that some of the participants were mentioning that they were using other substances, such as fungi or natural remedies, and one of those was mushrooms. But at the time, I didn't really know much about that, and I was so focused on making sure that I had the cannabis research and making sure that I could do cannabis research at the university, for example. I was very focused on that. Cannabis and Psychedelics Research: A Conversation with Dr. Denise Vidot B Y M E G A N L' H E U R E U X