Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Professor Douglas A. Berman is Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law and Executive Director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, housed in the Moritz College of Law. Berman’s principal teaching and research focus is in the area of criminal law and criminal sentencing, though he also has teaching and practice experience in the fields of legislation and intellectual property. He has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Punishment and Sentencing, Criminal Procedure – Investigation, Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform Seminar, Federal and State Clemency Decision-making, The Death Penalty, Legislation, Introduction to Intellectual Property, Second Amendment Seminar, and the Legislation Clinic.
Professor Berman attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. In law school, he was an editor and developments office chair of the Harvard Law Review and also served as a teaching assistant for a Harvard University philosophy course. After graduation from law school in 1993, Professor Berman served as a law clerk for Judge Jon O. Newman and then for Judge Guido Calabresi, both on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After clerking, Professor Berman was a litigation associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison in New York City.
Professor Berman is the co-author of two casebooks. Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines, published by Aspen Publishers, is now in its fifth edition. Marijuana Law and Policy was released by Carolina Academic Press in 2020. In addition to authoring numerous articles on topics ranging from capital punishment to the federal sentencing guidelines, Professor Berman has served as a managing editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter for more than twenty five years, and also serves as an editor of the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law.
Professor Berman is the sole creator and author of the widely-read and widely-cited blog, Sentencing Law and Policy. The blog often receives nearly 50,000 page views per month (and had over 20,000 hits the day of the Supreme Court’s major sentencing decision in United States v. Booker). Professor Berman’s work on the Sentencing Law and Policy blog, which he describes as a form of “scholarship in action,” has been profiled or discussed at length in articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Legal Affairs magazine, Lawyers Weekly USA, Legal Times, Columbus Monthly, and in numerous other print and online publications.
In addition, Sentencing Law and Policy has the distinction of being the first blog cited by the U.S. Supreme Court (for a document appearing exclusively on the site), and substantive analysis in particular blog posts has been cited in numerous appellate and district court rulings, in many briefs submitted to federal and state courts around the country, and in hundreds of law review articles.
Professor Berman is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice and frequently is consulted by national and state policymakers, sentencing commissioners, and public policy groups concerning sentencing law and policy reforms. He has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and before numerous sentencing commissions. He also is frequently contacted by national and local media concerning sentencing and marijuana reform developments.
Professor Berman has appeared on national television, radio and podcast news programs and has been extensively quoted in newspaper articles appearing in nearly every major national paper and many local papers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Legal Times, and in pieces from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Knight-Ridder news services.
Professor Berman sometimes serves as a consultant to lawyers working on important or interesting sentencing cases. In most instances, Professor Berman’s consulting has been on an ad hoc and pro bono basis, and it usually involves a quick review of draft briefs and other court filings and then providing general advice on litigation strategies. On some occasions, however, Professor Berman has been formally retained to play a more sustained role in certain cases, including being retained by law firms to provide consulting service on various cutting-edge federal sentencing issues.
Senior Legal Fellow, the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
Paul J. Larkin is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law at Advancing American Freedom. Paul has held various positions in the federal and state governments throughout his career, such as being an attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, Special Agent-in-Charge and Acting Director of the Criminal Investigation Division at the Environmental Protection Agency, and a member of the Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform Commission and of the Juvenile Justice Reform Commission in the Office of Virginia Governor George Allen.
He has also worked at Verizon Communications and two law firms in Washington, D.C. His current research is principally in the fields of drug policy, criminal justice policy, and administrative law and policy. He has published numerous articles in law and public policy journals, both in print and online.
Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School; Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital
Bertha Madras, PhD is a Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School (Harvard faculty 40 years) She is based at McLean Hospital and cross-appointed at the Massachusetts General Hospital
Scientific Research. Dr. Madras’s translational and multidisciplinary research focuses on the neurobiology of addiction, neuropsychiatric disorders, and drug policy
Authorship. She is author of more than 500 scientific manuscripts, reviews, book chapters, abstracts. She also is co-editor of academic books including “The Cell Biology of Addiction”; “Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Nervous System”; “Imaging of the Human Brain in Health and Disease”
Intellectual Property. Inventor, co-inventor on 19 issued U.S. patents and 27 issued international patents
Government, other Service
• 2018-present, National Academy of Medicine Opioid Collaborative. Member
• 2024. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Panel on Consequences of Drug Use
• 2017. President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Appointed by President Trump as one of six Commission members: Gov. C. Baker (MA); Attorney General P. Bondi (FL); Gov. C. Christie, (Chair, NJ); Gov. R. Cooper (NC), Congressman P. Kennedy (RI), Prof. Madras (MA). She was charged with shepherding, writing major components of Report
• 2016. Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Panelist on Narcotics; co-author of final report
• 2014-2015. U.S. Department of Justice. Sole expert witness DoJ, on marijuana re-scheduling
• 2015. World Health Organization. Sole author of report commissioned by World Health Organization, “Update of Cannabis and its Medical Use”; co-author of “The Health and Social Effects of Nonmedical Cannabis Use
• 2014. National Football League (NFL). Member, Committee on prescription drugs
• 2006-2008. Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President; a presidential appointment confirmed with unanimous consent (99-0) by U.S. Senate
Educational Outreach
• 2023-2025 HARVARD X. Developer of course for parents on drug prevention
• 2001-. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. Developer, international course on Cell Biology of Addiction. Course is offered biannually to present
• 1991-2004. Museum of Science, Boston. Directed production of a museum exhibit, a CD (licensed by Disney) “Changing Your Mind: Drugs in the Brain” and play
• 1995. DEA-NIDA Museum Exhibit. Wrote draft of storyboard for exhibit, 1 Times Square, NYC, NY
• 1991-2005. Addiction biology. Developed, instructor 4th year HMS medical students
Honors, awards
• 2026: Barry Prize, American Academy of Sciences and Letters
• 2025: Asteroid 147703MADRAS named for BK Madras by the International Astronomical Union
• 2024: American Academy of Sciences and Letters, inductee
• Research and public service awards (partial list): NIDA Public Service Award, NIH MERIT Award, CPDD Innovator Award, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Jack H. Mendelson Memorial Research Award, CPDD Fischman Award, Adler Distinguished Service Award, CADCA National Leadership Award, Nils Bejerot Award, others
• 2006: Better World Report designated her brain imaging invention as “one of 25 technology transfer innovations (university to industry) that changed the world”.
Her experiences in neuroscience research, drug addiction, education, government and public service offer a unique perspective at the intersection of science and public policy.
Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Professor Douglas A. Berman is Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law and Executive Director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, housed in the Moritz College of Law. Berman’s principal teaching and research focus is in the area of criminal law and criminal sentencing, though he also has teaching and practice experience in the fields of legislation and intellectual property. He has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Punishment and Sentencing, Criminal Procedure – Investigation, Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform Seminar, Federal and State Clemency Decision-making, The Death Penalty, Legislation, Introduction to Intellectual Property, Second Amendment Seminar, and the Legislation Clinic.
Professor Berman attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. In law school, he was an editor and developments office chair of the Harvard Law Review and also served as a teaching assistant for a Harvard University philosophy course. After graduation from law school in 1993, Professor Berman served as a law clerk for Judge Jon O. Newman and then for Judge Guido Calabresi, both on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After clerking, Professor Berman was a litigation associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison in New York City.
Professor Berman is the co-author of two casebooks. Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines, published by Aspen Publishers, is now in its fifth edition. Marijuana Law and Policy was released by Carolina Academic Press in 2020. In addition to authoring numerous articles on topics ranging from capital punishment to the federal sentencing guidelines, Professor Berman has served as a managing editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter for more than twenty five years, and also serves as an editor of the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law.
Professor Berman is the sole creator and author of the widely-read and widely-cited blog, Sentencing Law and Policy. The blog often receives nearly 50,000 page views per month (and had over 20,000 hits the day of the Supreme Court’s major sentencing decision in United States v. Booker). Professor Berman’s work on the Sentencing Law and Policy blog, which he describes as a form of “scholarship in action,” has been profiled or discussed at length in articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Legal Affairs magazine, Lawyers Weekly USA, Legal Times, Columbus Monthly, and in numerous other print and online publications.
In addition, Sentencing Law and Policy has the distinction of being the first blog cited by the U.S. Supreme Court (for a document appearing exclusively on the site), and substantive analysis in particular blog posts has been cited in numerous appellate and district court rulings, in many briefs submitted to federal and state courts around the country, and in hundreds of law review articles.
Professor Berman is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice and frequently is consulted by national and state policymakers, sentencing commissioners, and public policy groups concerning sentencing law and policy reforms. He has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and before numerous sentencing commissions. He also is frequently contacted by national and local media concerning sentencing and marijuana reform developments.
Professor Berman has appeared on national television, radio and podcast news programs and has been extensively quoted in newspaper articles appearing in nearly every major national paper and many local papers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Legal Times, and in pieces from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Knight-Ridder news services.
Professor Berman sometimes serves as a consultant to lawyers working on important or interesting sentencing cases. In most instances, Professor Berman’s consulting has been on an ad hoc and pro bono basis, and it usually involves a quick review of draft briefs and other court filings and then providing general advice on litigation strategies. On some occasions, however, Professor Berman has been formally retained to play a more sustained role in certain cases, including being retained by law firms to provide consulting service on various cutting-edge federal sentencing issues.
Senior Legal Fellow, the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
Paul J. Larkin is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law at Advancing American Freedom. Paul has held various positions in the federal and state governments throughout his career, such as being an attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, Special Agent-in-Charge and Acting Director of the Criminal Investigation Division at the Environmental Protection Agency, and a member of the Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform Commission and of the Juvenile Justice Reform Commission in the Office of Virginia Governor George Allen.
He has also worked at Verizon Communications and two law firms in Washington, D.C. His current research is principally in the fields of drug policy, criminal justice policy, and administrative law and policy. He has published numerous articles in law and public policy journals, both in print and online.
Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School; Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital
Bertha Madras, PhD is a Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School (Harvard faculty 40 years) She is based at McLean Hospital and cross-appointed at the Massachusetts General Hospital
Scientific Research. Dr. Madras’s translational and multidisciplinary research focuses on the neurobiology of addiction, neuropsychiatric disorders, and drug policy
Authorship. She is author of more than 500 scientific manuscripts, reviews, book chapters, abstracts. She also is co-editor of academic books including “The Cell Biology of Addiction”; “Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Nervous System”; “Imaging of the Human Brain in Health and Disease”
Intellectual Property. Inventor, co-inventor on 19 issued U.S. patents and 27 issued international patents
Government, other Service
• 2018-present, National Academy of Medicine Opioid Collaborative. Member
• 2024. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Panel on Consequences of Drug Use
• 2017. President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Appointed by President Trump as one of six Commission members: Gov. C. Baker (MA); Attorney General P. Bondi (FL); Gov. C. Christie, (Chair, NJ); Gov. R. Cooper (NC), Congressman P. Kennedy (RI), Prof. Madras (MA). She was charged with shepherding, writing major components of Report
• 2016. Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Panelist on Narcotics; co-author of final report
• 2014-2015. U.S. Department of Justice. Sole expert witness DoJ, on marijuana re-scheduling
• 2015. World Health Organization. Sole author of report commissioned by World Health Organization, “Update of Cannabis and its Medical Use”; co-author of “The Health and Social Effects of Nonmedical Cannabis Use
• 2014. National Football League (NFL). Member, Committee on prescription drugs
• 2006-2008. Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President; a presidential appointment confirmed with unanimous consent (99-0) by U.S. Senate
Educational Outreach
• 2023-2025 HARVARD X. Developer of course for parents on drug prevention
• 2001-. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. Developer, international course on Cell Biology of Addiction. Course is offered biannually to present
• 1991-2004. Museum of Science, Boston. Directed production of a museum exhibit, a CD (licensed by Disney) “Changing Your Mind: Drugs in the Brain” and play
• 1995. DEA-NIDA Museum Exhibit. Wrote draft of storyboard for exhibit, 1 Times Square, NYC, NY
• 1991-2005. Addiction biology. Developed, instructor 4th year HMS medical students
Honors, awards
• 2026: Barry Prize, American Academy of Sciences and Letters
• 2025: Asteroid 147703MADRAS named for BK Madras by the International Astronomical Union
• 2024: American Academy of Sciences and Letters, inductee
• Research and public service awards (partial list): NIDA Public Service Award, NIH MERIT Award, CPDD Innovator Award, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Jack H. Mendelson Memorial Research Award, CPDD Fischman Award, Adler Distinguished Service Award, CADCA National Leadership Award, Nils Bejerot Award, others
• 2006: Better World Report designated her brain imaging invention as “one of 25 technology transfer innovations (university to industry) that changed the world”.
Her experiences in neuroscience research, drug addiction, education, government and public service offer a unique perspective at the intersection of science and public policy.
Director of Legal Policy, Firearms Policy Coalition
Matthew Larosiere is the policy director for the Firearms Policy Coalition. He writes on the subject of the 2nd Amendment, gun law, taxation, and gun violence. His work has been featured in National Review, Cato Blog, Fox Nation, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and more. Matt hosts the gun law myth-buster YouTube channel Fudd Busters.
Matthew graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama with a J.D. and Master of Laws in Taxation. During law school, he served as the president of the Federalist Society and the ethics opinion editor of the Journal of the Legal Profession. He holds a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Central Florida.
Wayne Fisher Research Professor, Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Professor Dru Stevenson is a Wayne Fisher Research Professor and Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law Houston. He joined the faculty at South Texas College of Law Houston in 2003, and teaches Administrative Law/Regulation, Professional Responsibility, Nonprofit Incorporation, Legislation, and the Law & Economics seminar. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Connecticut Law Review. After receiving his J.D., he practiced as a Legal Aid lawyer in Connecticut for three years. He earned his Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Yale Law School in 2002, and became an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Connecticut until leaving to accept his position at South Texas College of Law Houston. Professor Stevenson’s publications cover topics ranging from criminal law to civil procedure, with an emphasis on the intersection of law with economics and linguistic theory. His articles have been cited in leading academic journals and treatises, by federal and state appellate courts, and in recent briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Stevenson’s current research focus is firearm law and policy.
Director of Legal Policy, Firearms Policy Coalition
Matthew Larosiere is the policy director for the Firearms Policy Coalition. He writes on the subject of the 2nd Amendment, gun law, taxation, and gun violence. His work has been featured in National Review, Cato Blog, Fox Nation, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and more. Matt hosts the gun law myth-buster YouTube channel Fudd Busters.
Matthew graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama with a J.D. and Master of Laws in Taxation. During law school, he served as the president of the Federalist Society and the ethics opinion editor of the Journal of the Legal Profession. He holds a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Central Florida.
Wayne Fisher Research Professor, Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Professor Dru Stevenson is a Wayne Fisher Research Professor and Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law Houston. He joined the faculty at South Texas College of Law Houston in 2003, and teaches Administrative Law/Regulation, Professional Responsibility, Nonprofit Incorporation, Legislation, and the Law & Economics seminar. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Connecticut Law Review. After receiving his J.D., he practiced as a Legal Aid lawyer in Connecticut for three years. He earned his Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Yale Law School in 2002, and became an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Connecticut until leaving to accept his position at South Texas College of Law Houston. Professor Stevenson’s publications cover topics ranging from criminal law to civil procedure, with an emphasis on the intersection of law with economics and linguistic theory. His articles have been cited in leading academic journals and treatises, by federal and state appellate courts, and in recent briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Stevenson’s current research focus is firearm law and policy.
Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Professor Douglas A. Berman is Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law and Executive Director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, housed in the Moritz College of Law. Berman’s principal teaching and research focus is in the area of criminal law and criminal sentencing, though he also has teaching and practice experience in the fields of legislation and intellectual property. He has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Punishment and Sentencing, Criminal Procedure – Investigation, Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform Seminar, Federal and State Clemency Decision-making, The Death Penalty, Legislation, Introduction to Intellectual Property, Second Amendment Seminar, and the Legislation Clinic.
Professor Berman attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. In law school, he was an editor and developments office chair of the Harvard Law Review and also served as a teaching assistant for a Harvard University philosophy course. After graduation from law school in 1993, Professor Berman served as a law clerk for Judge Jon O. Newman and then for Judge Guido Calabresi, both on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After clerking, Professor Berman was a litigation associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison in New York City.
Professor Berman is the co-author of two casebooks. Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines, published by Aspen Publishers, is now in its fifth edition. Marijuana Law and Policy was released by Carolina Academic Press in 2020. In addition to authoring numerous articles on topics ranging from capital punishment to the federal sentencing guidelines, Professor Berman has served as a managing editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter for more than twenty five years, and also serves as an editor of the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law.
Professor Berman is the sole creator and author of the widely-read and widely-cited blog, Sentencing Law and Policy. The blog often receives nearly 50,000 page views per month (and had over 20,000 hits the day of the Supreme Court’s major sentencing decision in United States v. Booker). Professor Berman’s work on the Sentencing Law and Policy blog, which he describes as a form of “scholarship in action,” has been profiled or discussed at length in articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Legal Affairs magazine, Lawyers Weekly USA, Legal Times, Columbus Monthly, and in numerous other print and online publications.
In addition, Sentencing Law and Policy has the distinction of being the first blog cited by the U.S. Supreme Court (for a document appearing exclusively on the site), and substantive analysis in particular blog posts has been cited in numerous appellate and district court rulings, in many briefs submitted to federal and state courts around the country, and in hundreds of law review articles.
Professor Berman is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice and frequently is consulted by national and state policymakers, sentencing commissioners, and public policy groups concerning sentencing law and policy reforms. He has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and before numerous sentencing commissions. He also is frequently contacted by national and local media concerning sentencing and marijuana reform developments.
Professor Berman has appeared on national television, radio and podcast news programs and has been extensively quoted in newspaper articles appearing in nearly every major national paper and many local papers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Legal Times, and in pieces from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Knight-Ridder news services.
Professor Berman sometimes serves as a consultant to lawyers working on important or interesting sentencing cases. In most instances, Professor Berman’s consulting has been on an ad hoc and pro bono basis, and it usually involves a quick review of draft briefs and other court filings and then providing general advice on litigation strategies. On some occasions, however, Professor Berman has been formally retained to play a more sustained role in certain cases, including being retained by law firms to provide consulting service on various cutting-edge federal sentencing issues.
Senior Legal Fellow, the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
Paul J. Larkin is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law at Advancing American Freedom. Paul has held various positions in the federal and state governments throughout his career, such as being an attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, Special Agent-in-Charge and Acting Director of the Criminal Investigation Division at the Environmental Protection Agency, and a member of the Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform Commission and of the Juvenile Justice Reform Commission in the Office of Virginia Governor George Allen.
He has also worked at Verizon Communications and two law firms in Washington, D.C. His current research is principally in the fields of drug policy, criminal justice policy, and administrative law and policy. He has published numerous articles in law and public policy journals, both in print and online.
Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School; Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital
Bertha Madras, PhD is a Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School (Harvard faculty 40 years) She is based at McLean Hospital and cross-appointed at the Massachusetts General Hospital
Scientific Research. Dr. Madras’s translational and multidisciplinary research focuses on the neurobiology of addiction, neuropsychiatric disorders, and drug policy
Authorship. She is author of more than 500 scientific manuscripts, reviews, book chapters, abstracts. She also is co-editor of academic books including “The Cell Biology of Addiction”; “Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Nervous System”; “Imaging of the Human Brain in Health and Disease”
Intellectual Property. Inventor, co-inventor on 19 issued U.S. patents and 27 issued international patents
Government, other Service
• 2018-present, National Academy of Medicine Opioid Collaborative. Member
• 2024. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Panel on Consequences of Drug Use
• 2017. President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Appointed by President Trump as one of six Commission members: Gov. C. Baker (MA); Attorney General P. Bondi (FL); Gov. C. Christie, (Chair, NJ); Gov. R. Cooper (NC), Congressman P. Kennedy (RI), Prof. Madras (MA). She was charged with shepherding, writing major components of Report
• 2016. Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Panelist on Narcotics; co-author of final report
• 2014-2015. U.S. Department of Justice. Sole expert witness DoJ, on marijuana re-scheduling
• 2015. World Health Organization. Sole author of report commissioned by World Health Organization, “Update of Cannabis and its Medical Use”; co-author of “The Health and Social Effects of Nonmedical Cannabis Use
• 2014. National Football League (NFL). Member, Committee on prescription drugs
• 2006-2008. Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President; a presidential appointment confirmed with unanimous consent (99-0) by U.S. Senate
Educational Outreach
• 2023-2025 HARVARD X. Developer of course for parents on drug prevention
• 2001-. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. Developer, international course on Cell Biology of Addiction. Course is offered biannually to present
• 1991-2004. Museum of Science, Boston. Directed production of a museum exhibit, a CD (licensed by Disney) “Changing Your Mind: Drugs in the Brain” and play
• 1995. DEA-NIDA Museum Exhibit. Wrote draft of storyboard for exhibit, 1 Times Square, NYC, NY
• 1991-2005. Addiction biology. Developed, instructor 4th year HMS medical students
Honors, awards
• 2026: Barry Prize, American Academy of Sciences and Letters
• 2025: Asteroid 147703MADRAS named for BK Madras by the International Astronomical Union
• 2024: American Academy of Sciences and Letters, inductee
• Research and public service awards (partial list): NIDA Public Service Award, NIH MERIT Award, CPDD Innovator Award, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Jack H. Mendelson Memorial Research Award, CPDD Fischman Award, Adler Distinguished Service Award, CADCA National Leadership Award, Nils Bejerot Award, others
• 2006: Better World Report designated her brain imaging invention as “one of 25 technology transfer innovations (university to industry) that changed the world”.
Her experiences in neuroscience research, drug addiction, education, government and public service offer a unique perspective at the intersection of science and public policy.
Topics
Supreme Court Upholds Tennessee’s Ban on “Gender Affirming Care” for Minors in United States v. Skrmetti
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s ban on “gender affirming care” for minors in...
Topics
A Constitutional Crisis Narrowly Averted: The Biden-Harris CFPB’s Digital Payments Rule Threatened Constitutional Balance
Even after Joe Biden became a lame duck and Kamala Harris lost the 2024...
Topics
DOJ Can’t Prosecute AI for Price Fixing Unless There’s Price Fixing
Among the Biden administration’s attempts to lower the cost of living, actions addressing housing costs have been...
The Law, Policy, and Politics of Rescheduling Cannabis
Douglas A. Berman, Paul James Larkin, Bertha K. Madras
The legal status of cannabis has been a controversial issue ever since the Controlled Substances...
The Law, Policy, and Politics of Rescheduling Cannabis
Douglas A. Berman, Paul James Larkin, Bertha K. Madras
The legal status of cannabis has been a controversial issue ever since the Controlled Substances...
The Law, Policy, and Politics of Rescheduling Cannabis
Topics
State Attorneys General Write to AG Garland
In 2021, the National School Boards Association wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland...
Topics
Book Review: “Saving Nine” by Senator Mike Lee
As the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board recently warned, Democrats have put killing the filibuster...
The Future of Homemade Firearms: The Legal and Political Implications of ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F
Matthew Larosiere, Dru Stevenson
Americans have been privately manufacturing and assembling firearms since before this country’s founding. Now, thanks...
The Future of Homemade Firearms: The Legal and Political Implications of ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F
Matthew Larosiere, Dru Stevenson
Americans have been privately manufacturing and assembling firearms since before this country’s founding. Now, thanks...