What Might Medical Marijuana Mean to You? – A Primer

Marijuana is the world’s most popular illicit drug, with hundreds of millions of regular users worldwide.

One in three Americans has smoked pot at least once.

The Drug Enforcement Agency estimates that Americans smoke five million pounds of marijuana each year. And yet marijuana remains largely misunderstood by both its advocates and its detractors.

To some, marijuana is an insidious “stepping-stone” drug, enticing the inexperienced and paving the way to the inevitable abuse of harder drugs. To others, medical marijuana is an organic means of easing the discomfort or stimulating the appetite of the gravely ill. Others still view marijuana, like alcohol, as a largely harmless indulgence, dangerous only when used immoderately. All sides of the debate have appropriated the scientific evidence on marijuana to satisfy their claims.

Marijuana’s medicinal uses can be traced back as early as 2737 B.C., when the emperor of China, Shen Neng, touted cannabis tea as a treatment for gout, rheumatism, malaria and even poor memory, writes Mitch Earleywine, a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Albany who researches drugs and addiction, in “Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence” (Oxford University Press, 2005). The drug’s popularity as a medicine spread throughout Asia, the Middle East and then to Africa and India, where Hindu sects used it for pain and stress relief.

William O’Shaughnessy, 1809 – 1889, an Irish doctor, popularized medical use of cannabis in England and America after noting its effects in India. But by the late 1800s, with morphine addiction rampant in the United States, attitudes toward drugs such as marijuana shifted dramatically. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration was formed in 1906. While marijuana wasn’t specifically mentioned in the original FDA guidelines, the move to control chemical substances curtailed its use as treatment. By 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act [sic] imposed such high taxes on physicians prescribing cannabis, retail pharmacists selling cannabis, and those cultivating medical cannabis that it essentially fell out of favor as a treatment.

Health Benefits of Cannabis

Medical marijuana is available in several different forms. It can be vaporized, ingested in a pill form or an edible version can be added to foods such as brownies, cookies and chocolate bars. The flowers can also be smoked, though not legally in Florida, at least not yet, until attorney John Morgan wins his pending lawsuit against the state.

Because the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has a high potential for abuse and no legitimate therapeutic uses — it is exceptionally difficult to do high-quality studies on its medicinal effects in the United States, said Donald Abrams, an integrative medicine specialist for cancer patients at the University of California, San Francisco.

But the idea that marijuana may have therapeutic effects is rooted in solid science. Marijuana contains 60 active ingredients known as cannabinoids. The body naturally makes its own form of cannabinoids to modulate pain, Abrams said. One study found that cannabinoids with opiates led to dramatic levels of pain relief. (Animal models have found similar effects). “Cannabinoids plus opiates are synergistic in their relief of pain, so that 1+1 = 5 and not 2,” Abrams told Live Science magazine.

Researchers at the American Academy of Neurology have also found that medical marijuana in the form of pills or oral sprays seemed to reduce stiffness and muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis (MS). The medications also eased certain symptoms of MS, such as pain related to spasms, and painful burning and numbness, as well as overactive bladder, according to a number of studies.

Marijuana may be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, a study led by Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute suggests. It may ease painful symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in May suggests. Research from the University of Nottingham shows that marijuana may help protect the brain from damage caused by stroke, by reducing the size of the area affected by the stroke — at least in rats, mice, and monkeys. The Department of Health and Human Services recently signed off on a proposal to study marijuana’s potential as part of treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Marijuana is approved to treat PTSD in some states already.

In New Mexico, PTSD is the number one reason for people to get a license for medical marijuana, but this is the first time the U.S. government has approved a proposal that incorporates smoked or vaporized marijuana, which is currently classified by the government as a drug with no accepted medical applications. Naturally occurring cannabinoids, similar to THC, help regulate the system that causes fear and anxiety in the body and brain.

Medical marijuana is also frequently used to treat nausea induced by chemotherapy, though scientific studies of the smoked form of the plant are limited. Two FDA-approved, chemically altered forms of THC, dronabinol and nabilone, have been shown to reduce chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, and to help with the symptoms of AIDS, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 6, 2017 a well-known effect of marijuana use is the “munchies,” so it has been used to stimulate appetite among HIV/AIDS patients and others who have a suppressed appetite due to a medical condition or treatment.

Medical marijuana is also frequently used to treat nausea induced by chemo- therapy, though scientific studies of the smoked form of the plant are limited. Medical marijuana has also been touted as a treatment for glaucoma, which is an elevated pressure in the eyeball that can lead to blindness.

While smoking marijuana may reduce intraocular pressure, marijuana must be consumed numerous times during the day to have the desired effect and other drugs are more effective, according to the American Cancer Society. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive component of  marijuana that has therapeutic benefits, but because it does not target the CB1 receptor, it doesn’t leave people feeling stoned. CBD may help prevent cancer from spreading, researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported in 2007.

A 2012 study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry found that cannabidiol may be effective in treating schizophrenia. In the study at the University of Cologne, 42 patients randomly received either cannabidiol or amisulpride, an effective drug used for the treatment of schizophrenia, for 28 days. Comparison of the clinical effects found  “no relevant difference” between the two treatments.

A 2014 study by the College of Pharmacy of the University of South Florida find that THC could be helpful in the therapeutic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as well.

Side Effects Marijuana does have side effects.

THC binds to cannabinoid receptors, which are concentrated in areas of the brain associated with thinking, memory, pleasure, coordination and time perception. The effects of marijuana can interfere with attention, judgment and balance.

Studies have produced conflicting results on whether smoking marijuana carries a significant cancer risk. Medical marijuana “ prescriptions” are termed  “recommendations” or  “referrals” because of federal laws prohibiting the prescribing of cannabis. A 2016 study on 108 people by the University of Michigan Health System found that marijuana use may make other addictions worse.

Availability

In most states, patients need to fill out the application, pay a fee and provide identification information. To successfully receive an ID card in most states, patients need a signed statement from a doctor diagnosing the condition and a document stating that medical marijuana is the treatment recommended for the patient’s particular condition and situation. Most of the laws allow dispensaries and outline specific conditions for which medical marijuana can be prescribed. The restrictions also vary by state as to the format and amount of medical cannabis that can be obtained at each visit for personal use.

Here in the St. Petersburg area there are several practitioners authorized to issue cards that will allow you to access a  “Dispensary”, essentially a medical cannabis pharmacy, and there are two facilities open to serve you.  

Once you have an ID card and a prescription, you can visit the pharmacy, or call them and they will be happy to deliver your order to your door.

Google Florida Medical Cannabis card to find a physician. Generally cards costs $169-$200 + $75 State Fee. (2 6 month follow up visits about $59 each).

Local dispensaries you can visit online or in person after the state sends you your temporary card include:

Trulieve – 8435 4th St N,, St. Petersburg, FL 33702;  M-F 10-7  Sat 10-5  Sun 12-5; Phone: (727) 498-5115

Knox Medical (Location Coming Soon) Meanwhile Visit: Knoxmedical.com then call 1-888-441-5669 or email info@knoxmedical.com.

Article by Peter A. Roos