Dr. David Bearman received his M.D. from the University of Washington School of Medicine. He has served at all levels of government including the U.S. Public Health Service, Director of Health Services at San Diego State University, Health Officer and Director of Sutter County Health Department and Medical Director and Director of Medical Services for the Santa Barbara Regional Health Authority (now CenCal). He is the author of Drugs Are NOT the Devil’s Tools.
Dr. Bearman has a long and illustrative half-century career in the field of drug abuse treatment and prevention. He was prominent in the community clinic movement, having started the third Free Clinic in the country in Seattle before directing the Haight Ashbury Drug Treatment Program, and in 1970 founding the Isla Vista Medical Clinic. He was Medical Director of Santa Barbara County Methadone Maintenance Clinic and Ventura County Opiate Detox Program, and Zona Seca, an outpatient drug treatment program.
He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1963 with a degree in Psychology and in 1967 obtained his M.D. degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine. He now maintains a private practice as a specialist in pain management and cannabinoid medicine in Goleta, California where lives with his wife, Lily (a career counselor). They have two adult children, Samantha and Benjamin.