Hi Darryl,
The recent presentation has changed my attitude toward medical mj. I am wondering if there is contrary research to his. I’m not going to advocate for any policy changes or start discussions with patients.
The deal breaker for me is the THC piece. THC is unwanted in medical mj. Therefore mood alteration is what you DON’T want for medical usage. The Israelis apparently have bred a strain that has no THC. You’ll be happy to know the US government has grown a strain with 3% THC in Mississippi.
Second huge consideration: no LD50. People do not die of respiratory depression when they use marijuana. There’s a lot more in here but I’ve already crossed the “busy people” threshold.
The presenter was measured and seems like a responsible, experienced clinician. I’m just impressed with how he uses the substance, how much discretion he uses and how he counsels his patients relative to DUIIs, adolescent ingestion of any mind altering substance I think the guy who authored “Reefer Madness” did not help us use our intelligence when evaluating this drug.
Peaceful holidays to all.
Sara,
I have heard this Dr. give this specific talk before and he is a renowned consultant for medical marijuana and a national spokesperson before congress. So he is very qualified to present on medical marijuana and the data he presents if very convincing albeit anecdotal.
Problem is that the last presentation I was at …earlier this year, a couple of strange things happened that led me to question his stuff.
1. He took a cell phone call while he was speaking, probably from his wife, but then went on for 15 minutes or longer talking about how to hook up the propane for their barbecue that night in total disregard for his audience and the conference. Most of the participants walked out in disgust of his insensitivity and arrogance but that didn’t seem to phase him in the least bit.
2. Some questioned him about the addictive properties of marijuana and he very rudely shut them off saying he was refusing to answer any questions about recreational use of marijuana and would only answer questions about its medical use.
There are a bunch of studies about marijuana that are all over the map and contradictory to each other possibly because, as the presenter points out in his presentation, cannabis contains over 400 biologically active chemicals, 100 or more of which are psychoactive and then the body creates almost a 100 psychoactive metabolites from just one of the psychoactive phytochemicals, delta nine tetrahydrocannabinol. So to me, medical marijuana is not smoking pot, it is as he only tangentially mentions during this presentation is the use of specific chemicals extracted from the plant or synthesized to produce a specific medically desired effect. His lecture presents about 5 of these pharmaceutical products available to be used as “medical marijuana” in the form of a pill, inhalant, injectable, etc. which is much more medically sound than smoking pot. The down side of these pharmaceutical products is that “Big Pharma” charges a lot for their medical marijuana and makes big bucks from them where as growing or buying someone’s grown pot is a lot cheaper and a lot less hassle than dealing with schedule 2 triplicate prescriptions (more readily available).
Hope this response doesn’t anger you much as it always seems to do to other medical professionals. My intent is to only share what I currently feel as about the subject which may change depending on what new evidence comes to the topic.
Darryl
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Darryl,
I am far from angered and am grateful for your thoughts. I want to learn more and know that means wanting more perspectives from people who are knowledgeable about the topic of medical marijuana. I was pretty rocked by his presentation.
That behavior is very interesting. Odd. It does seem pertinent.
2 questions I have about extracting the various psychoactive chemicals:
He said cannabinoids work best in combination with one another, which was the only reason he saw for having any amount of THC in “medical marijuana”. If they do work best in combination — which seems like something nature would do — then wouldn’t extracting this or that cannabinoid have weaknesses? Maybe it’s the best thing to do to avoid the downsides of “getting high” for the “medicinal” effects.
Secondly, would you see any value in the “THC free” strain being ingested through vaporization or liniment? Are there just too many biologically active compounds to answer that?
I very much appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts. Would it be alright for me to share them with the 5 other people I sent the presentation to?
Sara S., RN, BSN, Controlled Substance Nurse Case Manager
Sara,
As was pointed out in his presentation, some of the approved medical marijuana products: i.e. Sativex, do indeed include the combination of THC with CBD for the specific reason you put forth, different cannabinoids work better in combination with each other. So pharmaceuticals can indeed combine extracted cannabinoids or synthetic ones in whatever combinations and proportions they find that best produces the effects they seek. But they do not and should not include all of the 400+ chemicals or 100+ psychoactive molecules found in the plant as some the chemicals counteract each other or have severe adverse effects.
I am having a little trouble understanding your other question about “THC Free” as I’m not sure if you mean just THC or chemicals from marijuana that are not psychoactive. This may not be totally possible as some feel that even CBD has some psychoactive properties. Also, the various chemist making synthetic versions of THC are claiming that they have not been able to totally separate out medically beneficial effects from psychoactive effects. Vaporization is the quickest way to get a substance to the brain if that is a target organ that is needed for an effect (i.e. analgesia). If done appropriately, it is also a clean and safe way of getting the drug to the brain. NORML here on 6th Street actually promote extracts that can be vaporized along with the various devices that can be used to vaporize the cannabinoids in the plant without burning the plant material. The presenter even providing the best temperature needed (I think that was about 189C) to do the job without causing combustion. Liniments may be good at directing the chemicals towards specific muscles or joints that these chemicals can benefits However … there are already a whole array of effective topical medications they have concocted for the same purposes that topical marijuana is proposed.
Darryl