Dive Brief:
- A medical marijuana researcher who was fired without explanation by the University of Arizona says political pressure forced her termination.
- Suzanne Sisley, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, says the termination, effective Sept. 26, will delay her research on the effects of marijuana use on post traumatic stress disorder by a year or two.
- Sisley claims that the university fired her because of state Republican opposition to her marijuana research and advocacy. The university won’t say why it fired her, but says it wasn’t from political pressure, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Dive Insight:
Sisley had received approval for her research project from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which had previously been hostile to medical marijuana research, in March. She had lobbied state lawmakers for funding for her research, and a Republican state senator maneuvered to block the money, which led to her allies launching an unsuccessful recall campaign for the senator’s seat. She was not involved in the recall effort, but a University of Arizona logo was included on a flyer for the movement and the incident apparently infuriated university officials. She was required by a university vice president to draft a statement outlining all of her political activism.