It has been reported that up to 33% of patients undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C with interferon discontinue therapy because of the drugs severe side effects.   Like HIV treatment, it is believed that use of medical marijuana during therapy will increase the percentage of patients that complete treatment. Hepatitis C affects approximately 4 million [...]

Today I met with a 65 year old man who has the diagnosis of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. He was diagnosed 5 years ago and since then has battled significant anxiety and depression. The thought of considering his mortality and life beyond this world has been too much at times for him to bear. He has seen therapists, psychiatrists and other doctors only to be placed on anti-depressants, anxiolytics and sedatives. Although they helped his symptoms “a little” he still to this day battles depression on and off.

He came to me because for the last 2 months he has been using medical marijuana and says it has helped tremendously. He feels he is sleeping better and his days are not spent worrying (as much) about his mortality. READ ON….

One of the drawbacks to patients using medical marijuana in the past is that they had to smoke it. Over the past 5 years companies have worked hard to come out with alternative methods to use medical marijuana. Vaporization is a method of inhaling marijuana without burning it which is why there is NO SMOKE.

UCSD’s Center for Cannabis Research recently completed a study looking at vaporization vs smoking and this is what they found: READ ON TO SEE THE RESULTS..

As New Jersey tries to implement it’s medical marijuana program, the governor has made it clear what he really feels about it. Read this quote from the newly elected governor…Christie had said there are flaws with laws in some other jurisdictions, leading to situations where there is “”a head shop in every town and quack doctors writing prescriptions for people with headaches to get marijuana.’ A find it pretty unbelievable that he label a physician who has the courage to recommend cannabis to a headache sufferer as a “quack”… especially since he has NO CLUE what he is talking about. READ ON

The great thing about our democracy is that our citizens have the right to vote freely. Obviously the majority of voters in California were not convinced it was the right thing to do.

Moving forward, the state of California needs to strengthen its medical marijuana laws to insure that patients always have safe access to medicine. In my mind four things need to happen. READ ON!

Recently I have taken care a handful of HIV+ patients who are taking the medication Atripla and also using medical marijuana to combat it’s side effect. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that attacks the bodies immune cells leaving the patients susceptible to infection. Treatment has come a long way and today patients can live practically normal life expectancies if they follow a medication regimen to keep the viral activity down and their immune cells up. Unfortunately many of these medications have severe side effects that affect a patients overall quality of life. Nausea, lack of appetite and weight loss are just a few of the ones I have been seeing patients for.

Today I spoke with two female patients who were taking anti-depressants (SSRI’s) for depression and experiencing significant sexual side effects. In both cases, their lack of libido and inability to orgasm were causing significant challenges in their relationships. They came to me to use medical marijuana to help their depression and anxiety and also in turn repair their sex lives.

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California (MCSoCal) I regularly evaluate patients with chronic pain for a medical marijuana recommendation. (approximately 65% of the patients I see are for pain) The question that many patients ask is: How does marijuana reduce pain? Although cannabinoids (medically active ingredients in marijuana) effects on pain have been studied there is a lot of research left to do. My goal of this post is to break down “barney-style” how cannabis reduces pain. I am not going to bore you with the specific scientific details as you will most likely fall asleep like I often do reading typical double-blind placebo studies!

I recently evaluated a 54 year old women for medical marijuana (cannabis) who suffered from Behcets Syndrome. Specifically she complained of painful arthritis in her knees and ankles. She had been taking prednisone and NSAID’s for many years and wanted to try an alternative more natural treatment. Her rheumatologist recommended she try cannabis for her persistent joint pain.

An important study just came out in the periodical “Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes” which demonstrated an increased risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attack and stroke for healthy patients who routinely use NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as motrin, ibuprofen, diclofenac, voltaren, celebrex, naprosyn, aleve etc. to treat pain. This is a very important study and you those patients who routinely pop motrins or take dicofenac to treat pain need to read. Marijuana has for many years been found to have potent anti-inflammatory effects without any of the increased risks associated with commonly prescribed NSAID’s.