Cheryl Pellerin

I’m a science writer with 30-ish years of experience writing for print, broadcast and the web. I earned a bachelor-of-science degree (cum laude) in science journalism from the University of Maryland-College Park, 1987. I've written about infectious diseases, technology, climate science, space science, natural disasters, and how things like hallucinogens and cannabis work in the brain and body. As a freelancer I worked with producers at the Discovery Channel, writing about a range of scientific topics for documentaries and television programs, and in 2011 I contributed to a feature-length film from the Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership called Inside Story, which combined film stars, football and science to educate millions across sub-Saharan Africa about HIV-AIDS. Between 2004 and 2017 I worked for the State Department, writing about U.S. science and technology for an international audience, and the Defense Department, writing about military policy, science, technology and research. Books In 1998, Seven Stories Press-NY published my first book, TRIPS: How Hallucinogens Work in Your Brain. The science is mostly out of date but the history is still good. And the book has cartoons by R. Crumb and his fellow underground artists from ZAP Comics. They never get old. In August 2020 Skyhorse Publishing-NY published my second book, Healing with Cannabis: The evolution of the endocannabinoid system and how cannabinoids help relieve PTSD, pain, MS, anxiety and more. In December 2020 Healing with Cannabis won a Gold Book Award from the Nonfiction Writers Association. When I started work on Healing with Cannabis my aim was to help people understand how cannabis could be used as medicine. But in my research and especially during interviews with researchers, I learned something about cannabis that goes beyond therapeutic treatments. In Healing with Cannabis I tell you what I found out, and explain how medical cannabis works in your body and brain to balance health and disease.