Andrea Barthwell
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Andrea Grubb Barthwell worked in the White House under President of the United States George W. Bush as Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the Office of National Drug Control Policy. She held the informal title of "Deputy Drug Czar".
Barthwell resigned her position in July 2004 for a possible run for the United States Senate from Illinois with the Republican Party. Earlier, nominee Jack Ryan dropped out of the race leaving the party without a candidate. Favored by moderates on the Illinois Republican Central Committee to run against Democrat Barack Obama, conservative committee members ultimately won out after two days of gridlock, forcing the committee to select former United Nations Ambassador and perennial candidate Alan Keyes. Keyes went on to lose to Obama in a landslide.
[edit] Education
Barthwell studied at Wesleyan University in Connecticut towards a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. She went on to medical school at the University of Michigan. She moved to suburban Chicago where she participated in post-graduate studies at the University of Chicago and through the medical center of Northwestern University.
[edit] Profession
Upon entering the medical profession, Barthwell's ambition allowed her to reach executive positions. She became President of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and President of the Illinois Society of Addiction Medicine, an area of medicine that has been one of her specialties. She served as President of the Encounter Medical Group, an Oak Park, Illinois professional consortium that also focused on addiction healthcare. In nearby Chicago, Barthwell was president of two drug treatment centers: BRASS Foundation and Human Resources Development Institute. In 1997, Dr. Barthwell's peers named her one of the "Best Doctors in America" in addiction medicine. In 2003, Dr. Barthwell received the Betty Ford Award, given by the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse.
Barthwell is a proponent of random student drug testing. In June 2004, she argued against a California bill that would have banned mandatory student drug testing. [1]
Barthwell is an outspoken critic of medical marijuana. She has labeled it a "cruel hoax" and "snake oil" while campaigning against Oregon and Illinois state medical marijuana initiatives. [2] [3] In 2004 she created the website for her Illinois Marijuana Lectures, an attempt to prevent the passage of Medical Marijuana laws in Illinois. She initially listed Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center (GLATTC) as one of the sponsors of her lecture tour; however GLATTC was never a sponsor and its logo and likeness were used without permission.[4] Since 2005, she has been a consultant for GW Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Sativex, a marijuana extract spray. Her efforts for GW have been aimed at pointing out the distinction between Sativex, a consistently formulated medication developed under established regulatory procedures and consistently dosed, and whole medical marijuana, a dried plant that is smoked, vaporized and inhaled, or otherwise delivered in imprecise quantity and with unknown cannabinoid proportions. [5] [6]
Barthwell is CEO of the global health care and consulting firm EMGlobal LLC.
