Dr. Lester Grinspoon encouraged America to ‘reconsider’ marijuana

Dr. Lester Grinspoon passed away peacefully this morning, just a day after celebrating his 92nd birthday.

As a physician, researcher, author, educator and activist, Grinspoon was a towering figure in both the medical marijuana movement and the grassroots campaign to legalize cannabis for all adults.

His book Marijuana Reconsidered (1971) is considered a foundational work on both the safety and efficacy of the drug, and for fifty years following its publication he continued to write on the subject, while speaking out at conferences and in the media, offering expert testimony in both criminal trials and at government hearings, and serving on the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Grinspoon’s son Peter, who is also a doctor and a leader in the modern-day movement to legalize cannabis, announced his father’s death this morning.