Almost all of my patients ask me which type of medical marijuana they should use to treat their specific complaint. If you were to walk into dispensary you will probably have the option to try one of 30 different strains of medical marijuana. Which one is right for you? In this post I am going to try and give you a general idea of how to approach picking the correct marijuana strain. READ ON…

Although no one can state with 100% confidence what the impact will be on the medical marijuana and marijuana community as a whole if it passes, many people in the medical marijuana community agree that it looks like a big set back. LET ME EXPLAIN.

Unfortunately there are not a lot of physicians in traditional practices who are even willing to discuss cannabis use with their patients, let alone provide a recommendation. For example at Kaiser they have a policy that doctors are not allowed to recommend cannabis. Most kaiser doctors dodge the question or reply to a patients inquiry by saying “if it works then Ok but I can help you with it.”

Today in Irvine I took care of a 56 year old man who has a herniated disc between his 5th and 6th vertebra in his neck and has debilitating pain, weakness and numbness to his right arm. He has been using medical marijuana occasionally for the past 12 months to treat his symptoms and wanted safe regular access to it because of how good it made him feel. He had been on a regimen of Tramadol (for sleep), Vicodin (for pain), Ibuprofen (for pain) and Prednisone (to reduce the inflammation). ALL of those medications were causing significant side effects and he no longer could tolerate them… read on.

If you are not familiar with the various methods of medicating with medical marijuana you are probably reading this thinking that patients must SMOKE it in order to get it’s benefits. Actually a high percentage of my patients who have been using cannabis for quite some time thought they had to smoke it. There are really two ways to medicate:

Yesterday in my Irvine office I took care of a 78 year old man who has chronic pain in his legs as a result of fracturing his left femur 3 years ago during a fall. He ambulates with a walker as a result of contracting POLIO VIRUS as a child. He uses medical marijuana to combat the chronic pain in his legs and to assist him with sleeping at night. He had been using traditional pain killers but experienced significant nausea and constipation.

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California I evaluate patients daily for the use of medical marijuana. Often patients ask me if cannabis (marijuana) has any long term adverse effects on the body. It is a great question and one that can not be answered with 100% confidence until more research and studies are completed. Cannabis research has been limited because of the federal governments currently classification system which states that cannabis is a schedule 1 drug (no medicinal value). It is difficult to get any funding to study this incredible plant

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.

As medical director of Medical Cannabis of Southern California I often evaluate patients who are taking Soma (carisoprodol) for muscle spasms. Typically they are frustrated because it not only is ineffective (for many patients) but they worry about being addicted and being on it for prolonged periods of time. Cannabis is a great alternative to Soma for patients who have muscle spasms.

As medical director for medical cannabis of southern california I provide medical marijuana recommendations for patients throughout Orange County and Long Beach. One of the most common complaints that I here from patients is that they are tired of taking Xanax to treat their anxiety because of all the side effects and want a safer more natural alternative. Marijuana has been shown to have incredible anxiolytic properties and has limited unwanted side effects.