Cannabis: (Crock) pot of gold or rehashed hippy nonsense? The straight dope

Host: Professor Mark Connor

Thursday 12 June 2025, 12pm – 1.30pm

G03 Theatre, Ainsworth Building, 1 Wally’s Walk, Macquarie University

Overview

Cannabis is one of a relative handful of plants that can be intensely psychoactive when consumed by humans. Much has been made of the potential of Cannabis and its constituent chemicals as medicine, as well as a source of harm and social disruption. In this talk I will explore the pharmacology of cannabinoids - drugs derived from or inspired by Cannabis, discussing how much we have learned about the potential for cannabinoid therapeutics, as well as the barriers to their implementation.

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Biography

Mark Connor is Professor of Pharmacology in the Macquarie Medical School. His research has broadly focussed on the molecular mechanisms of action of drugs that affect the perception, processing and response to environmental signals that can elicit pain. These drugs also almost inevitably interact with systems underlying reward and motivation.

Mark was an BSc graduate from the University of Sydney, completed a PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle and worked in Bristol, Sydney and Portland (Oregon) before coming to Macquarie in 2009.

Contact Us

For more details about the series, contact us at fmhhs.executive.dean@mq.edu.au.

T: (02) 9812 2990
E: info@mqhealth.org.au

Address:
2 Technology Place
Macquarie University NSW 2109

Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Macquarie University stands - the Wallumattagal Clan of the Dharug Nation - whose cultures and customs have nurtured, and continue to nurture, this land since time immemorial. We pay our respects to the Elders, past and present.