Donald Abrams

Donald I. Abrams is a medical cannabis researcher and chief of the Hematology-Oncology Division at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. According to the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, "He conducted numerous clinical trials investigating conventional as well as complementary therapies in patients with HIV including therapeutic touch, Traditional Chinese Medicine interventions, medicinal mushrooms, medical marijuana and distant healing."

Abrams notes, "As the first-born son in a Jewish family, a doctor was the natural next choice" after he ended up not becoming a rabbi.

Abrams's cannabis research, which began in 1992, has often been stymied by the need to obtain approvals from the Food and Drug Administration, Drug Enforcement Administration, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Research Advisory Panel of California before he could obtain and use cannabis in his experiments. He attempted to study HIV wasting syndrome, but NIDA initially failed to approve his request for funding, claiming that his studies were scientifically flawed. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies founder Rick Doblin attributed this to a misunderstanding of the kind of study Abrams sought to conduct. According to The Scientist, "the federal agencies, specifically NIDA, were focused on investigating the potential harm of cannabis, not its possible medical benefits." After several years of delays, he was finally able to gain approval for some research circa 1997. He also was able to work out an arrangement via the University of California's Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research to receive NIDA cannabis for his studies as long as NIDA was not financially supporting the research.