Marijuana as Medicine

            With medical marijuana now available in thirty states, people are turning to this plant for the treatment of various ailments and illnesses that pharmaceutical drugs either cannot treat, or treat ineffectively. People with chronic pain, anxiety, cancer, seizures, and a host of other conditions are seeking relief through the use of the plant. Indeed, the medical literature indicates that cannabis shows promise as a medication for the treatment of numerous conditions. Dispensaries are opening up across the country to serve this need. Cannabis is more widely available than ever before with a never ending variety of cannabis products to choose from. It would appear at first glance that there is a cannabis product for nearly every ailment.

            For those new to cannabis or those who have only used cannabis casually and recreationally, it is difficult to determine what strain to use, what method of ingestion is the most effective, and what type of cannabis product best treats the condition that one is attempting to treat. The information available to the person new to medical cannabis is often confusing and contradictory. The products that one finds at the dispensaries often do not treat the symptoms they are used for very well. When one finds a product that works, it’s not uncommon to return to the dispensary a week later to find that product no longer available. Or, you purchase what is said to be the same product, only this time you realize no medical benefit. Inconsistency abounds, and proper medical advice related to the use of the plant is rarely available.

The result is that many people trying cannabis as a treatment for various conditions are unable to find the effective relief that they seek. If you are such a person, then this blog is for you. In these pages you will find the information you need to separate fact from fiction. I will provide an overview of the various medical studies that show promise for the use of cannabis for various conditions. I will explain why it is so difficult to find effective treatments at the medical dispensaries and why it is so hard to find consistency in the products they offer. And I will show you what you can do to ensure that you get the proper medication that you need for the condition you wish to treat.

As a registered caregiver in the state of Colorado, I have worked with many people desperately seeking a treatment for their particular conditions. Often these are people for whom traditional pharmaceutical drugs have either been ineffective, or caused debilitating side-effects that are intolerable, prodding the sufferer to seek out new and alternative therapies. I’ve helped many people use cannabis to either eliminate their need for many pharmaceutical drugs, or to significantly reduce the dose needed to treat their condition. My clients come to me frustrated by their experiences with the products they purchased at the dispensaries. They've often experienced some benefit, some relief, only to find that what seemed to work for them before either no longer works, or the particular product can no longer be found. They come to me in need of assistance in finding the best treatment modality for their particular illness and to sort out the confusion surrounding the often conflicting information they have received from those working at the dispensaries or from on-line support groups for those using and growing medical cannabis.

People new to medical cannabis are in need of information that is easy to understand and supported by the latest clinical evidence. They need an authoritative source for understanding what cannabis does and what it does not do. They need help in sorting out the facts as we currently know them from the many myths about the plant that are simply in error but still widely held to be true. As a registered caregiver (a caregiver in the State of Colorado is a person who grows cannabis plants for an individual and creates the medications that the individual needs to help treat what ails them) I often meet people who are confused by the misinformation surrounding this plant. These people are suffering and they are desperate for a treatment that will ease their pain. Unfortunately, they do not know where to begin. They enter a dispensary and are confronted with an overwhelming number of products, never knowing for sure what they might need, what might work, and more importantly, what won’t.

In this blog, I will share with you the information that I have found. I will provide references to the clinical studies for those who wish to dig deeper into the current body of knowledge. I will present the information in a way that is simple and easy to understand. It is important to know that the effective treatment of various conditions with cannabis will require some familiarity with the plant and its compounds and how those compounds work in the human body. You need not be a chemist or a botanist to understand the core concepts that will help you get the most benefit from the plant, but you will need some understanding of the plant and its various compounds. My hope is that this blog will save you a lot of time and frustration, and it will also save you a lot of money as it will help you avoid the purchase of many products in a trial and error attempt to get the benefits you are seeking. But most of all, this blog will help you find the most effective means of easing your suffering; and easing suffering is the reason we’ve turned to this plant in the first place.