Dear Colleagues and Friends,

  The Brazilian researcher Elisaldo Araujo Carlini passed away on September 16 at 90.  He was the pioneer in discovering the anticonvulsant effects of cannabidiol, still in the 70s.  Carlini lived a period of his childhood in a small rural district of Pirajá, São Paulo.  In this village devoid of all resources, including health care, he came into contact with herbal treatments and developed a deep sense of solidarity with human suffering.  The Professor used to say to his students that his passion for research with medicinal plants began in that period.  As a consequence of these experiences, he turned his interests to study medicine at Escola Paulista de Medicina, EPM (renamed later, The Federal University of São Paulo, UNIFESP).  He obtained his medical degree in 1957.  During the graduation, Carlini volunteered to research in Prof Jose Ribeiro do Valle's Pharmacology Lab.  There, at the EPM, he first began studying the effects of Cannabis extracts in laboratory animals.  In 1964 he earned his Master's degree at Yale University (New Haven, USA).  On his return, he became a pharmacology lecturer at the Medical School of Santa Casa de Misericordia, São Paulo.  In 1970 he joined, as an associate professor, the Biochemistry & Pharmacology Department at EPM where he established the Psychopharmacology Division.  Three years later, he organized and headed the first Department of Psychobiology in Brazil at EPM.

  Carlini was undoubtedly one of the most prolific researchers in psychopharmacology, having devoted well over six decades of his life to unveiling the mysteries of Cannabis Sativa compounds.  He made fundamental contributions to understanding the psychopharmacological effects of Cannabis, even with inherent difficulties in working with such a plant during the rigid conservative Brazilian Military Dictatorship (19641985).

  He published his initial papers almost simultaneously as that of Raphael Mechoulam's group at Hebrew University, Israel, who identified delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as the main component responsible for the plant effects.  At that time, Mechoulam and Carlini established an extremely productive partnership and a lifetime friendship.  Along with his research, Carlini took great interest in mentoring students and advising colleagues.  A few years later, with his colleague Isaac Karniol, he observed that Brazilian marihuana samples' THC content did not explain all of its biological activities.  This finding highlighted that other cannabinoids might also produce pharmacological effects that, as in the case of cannabidiol (CBD), could be even opposite to those observed with THC.  These studies were fundamental to the subsequent discovery of CBD's anxiolytic and antipsychotic properties, setting the basis for the recent new therapeutic approaches and commercial medicines, such as epidiolex® and Sativex®.

  Other of his seminal work suggested for the first time that CBD presented anticonvulsant properties both in animals and later in humans.  Interestingly, this finding remained almost unnoticed for 30 years until parents of children with severe refractory epilepsy decided to use this cannabinoid with their kids with positive results.

  Carlini's studies and laboratory opened the doors for diverse students, now world-class researchers in the field, which was essential to turn Brazil as one of the most influential countries in the cannabinoid area.  His lab had the peculiarity to have the "coffee hour" obligation twice a day after the ring of a bell; all the students could gather and raise ideas for new studies and projects during a period.

  Carlini's academic legacy is immense and includes the foundation of the Brazilian Society of Psychobiology (renamed, Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior) and an essential Brazilin center for information and epidemiology on psychotropic drugs (CEBRID) at UNIFESP.  Also, as a scientist who was always engaged in translating his knowledge to the society, he led the direction of the Brazilian National Health and Vigilance Agency (now named as ANVISA).  Moreover, he acted as a member of the United Nations Social and Economic Council and an Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence and Alcohol Problems of the World Health Organization.  Along his career he was a passionate supporter of the medicinal use of Cannabis and its derivates, organizing at least six major national/international events on the topic.

  In 2009, Elisaldo was awarded our Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Cannabinoid Research Society's 19th Annual Symposium in Pheasant Run, IL.

  Even following his retirement, Carlini remained active as a researcher until a few months before he died, mainly mentoring graduate students, and struggling to defend the cannabinoids as medicine.

  Elisaldo Carlini is survived by his wife Solange Nappo, six children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
 

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Antonio Waldo Zuardi¹, Reinaldo Takahashi ², Francisco Silveira Guimarães³, and José Alexandre S Crippa¹

Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, University of São Paulo Ribeirão Preto,

¹ Brazil and Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia Translacional em Medicina (INCT-TM).
  Laboratory of Psychopharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Federal University;

² of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.  Department of Pharmacology, University of São Paulo Ribeirão Preto, Brazil;

and

³ Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia Translacional em Medicina (INCT-TM).