Riley KirkDr. Riley Kirk might be the busiest woman in cannabis research and education.
She’s been focused on cannabis research for about seven years. A natural product chemist by trade, she co-founded the nonprofit Network of Applied Pharmacognosy and teaches at multiple universities, bridging the gap of cannabis knowledge between the industry, the consumer and academia.
She’s also the host of the Bioactive podcast and a TikTok star with nearly half a million followers.
And somehow in her free time, Kirk, who has a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences, managed to write her first book, Reefer Wellness, which was published in June by Penguin Random House.
“I think it’s a really unique perspective because it’s a combination of stoner community science and the super rigorous science,” Kirk says. “I don’t think this information has ever really been respected by scientists. And I’m hoping this book helps bring respect to community knowledge, to the people who have been consuming this plant, to the legacy market that really allowed us to get to this point in the cannabis industry.
One of the biggest challenges of writing the book is that science is always evolving and new research is being published regularly. This is where Kirk’s social media presence helps fill in the gaps, with new information that she can disseminate to the public immediately.
Kirk also says her bookcase is full of cannabis books that she regularly rereads.
So what book would a noted cannabis educator and author recommend? The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer.
“That’s my favorite cannabis book of all time,” she says. “I think it’s a great combination of culture, science and history. I just feel super empowered when I read that book.”