- Andrea Barthwell
Andrea Barthwell was deputy
drug czar under President George W. Bush. She resigned in July 2004 with an interest in running for United States Senate from Illinois.Andrea Grubb Barthwell worked in the
White House underPresident of the United States George W. Bush as Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at theOffice 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 theUnited States Senate fromIllinois 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 DemocratBarack Obama , conservative committee members ultimately won out after two days of gridlock, forcing the committee to select formerUnited Nations Ambassador and perpetual candidateAlan Keyes . Keyes went on to lose to Obama in a landslide.On February 1, 2007, prior to giving the [http://www.natsap.org/press_releases_and_statements.asp keynote address] at the annual conference of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs in
La Jolla, California , Barthwell was introduced as "the nextGovernor of Illinois," fueling specualation that she will seek the governorship in 2010.Education
Barthwell studied at
Wesleyan University inConnecticut towards a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. She went on to medical school at theUniversity of Michigan . She moved to suburban Chicago where she participated in post-graduate studies at theUniversity of Chicago and through the medical center ofNorthwestern University Fact|date=June 2007.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 nearbyChicago , Barthwell was president of two drug treatment centers: BRASS Foundation and Human Resources Development Institute. She was a founding member of the Chicago Area AIDS Task Force. In 1997, Dr. Barthwell's peers named her one of the "Best Doctors in America" in addiction medicine. In 2003, Dr. Barthwell received theBetty 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. [http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=oid%3A30955]
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. [http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n643.a03.html] [http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1605.a04.html] In 2004 she created the website for her [http://www.illinoismarijuanalectures.org/index.htm 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. [http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2005/02/13/andreaBarthwellCaughtRedha.html] Since 2005, she has been a consultant forGW Pharmaceuticals , the manufacturer ofSativex , a marijuana extract spray. Her efforts for GW have been aimed at pointing out the distinction between Sativex, a consistently formulated medication developed from whole plant cannabis under established regulatory procedures and consistently dosed, and whole medical marijuana, a crude plant that is smoked, vaporized and inhaled, or otherwise delivered in imprecise consistency and quantity. [http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1639/a05.html] [http://www.doctordeluca.com/Library/AddictionMeds/CanadaApprovesSativex05.htm]Barthwell is CEO of the global health care and consulting firm EMGlobal LLC. She is also president and CEO of Human Resources Development Institute, Inc. (HRDI), a leading African American behavioral health and human services organization.
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