Medical Marijuana law and policies are changing so fast these days. On day a city allows collectives/dispensaries the next day they are raided and gone. Good people are getting taken to court, patients are getting healed and politicians are floundering. HERE IS A WEEKLY ROUND UP OF WHAT IS HAPPENING AOUND THE COUNTY WITH MEDICAL MARIJUANA… READ ON

A recent study performed by researches at McGill University in Montreal demonstrated a reduction in pain in patients who used medical marijuana. Here is the link to the article regarding the study.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20015148-10391704.html

Although the study had only 23 patients in its pool I think their findings align with my conversations with over 5000 patients who I have treated for chronic pain. READ ON…

Here is the link to a national ad regarding medical marijuana that is going to be advertised on TV. A lot of people have differing opinions of this. HERE IS MINE. READ ON…

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-news-potad0830,0,5605124.story

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:

I often treat patients who feel like they have to (or DO have to) hide their use of medical marijuana from their significant others or family members. Some are parents with teenage children. Others are not able to speak to their spouse because of the dissenting opinions regarding its validity as a medication. In this post I offer some advice because having the support of your family can be a blessing when it comes to being healed.

Was just reading today about a Colorado physician was was arrested for writing fraudulent medical marijuana recommendations to 2 undercover police officers. (http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_15800217) Per this article, the two officers said they were involved in a motor vehicle accident. The doctor apparently gave them a recommendation citing “Pain” as the qualifying diagnosis. The problem was that apparently the officers never mentioned that they were in pain. The doctor just used that to justify writing the recommendation. Another example of greed getting in the way of good medicine.

Today I had a patient who went to another clinic last week for a medical marijuana recommendation and the doctor was seeing patients over “skype” (computer). Feeling pretty uneasy about how shady the operation was he decided to walk out and make an appointment to be evaluated in our Irvine office. PATIENTS NEED TO REALIZE THAT SEEING PATIENTS OVER VIDEO SKYPE DOES NOT MEET THE STANDARD OF CARE AS SET FORTH BY THE STATE MEDICAL BOARD. Any recommendation from a doctor over “skype” is at risk of being invalid once this doctor is reprimanded or loses his medical license. It is extremely important that you ask the clinic if the doctor is going to PHYSICALLY BE PRESENT to examine you and sign a recommendation.

Today in my Irvine office I took care of a 31 year old male who was suffering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome. He wanted to use medical marijuana to help reduce his pain as a result of this disease. None of the opiates or NSAIDs that his doctor prescribed were working and they were making him nauseated and constipated. Read on

As a physician who regularly discusses the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes with patients it is my job to make sure patients understand all of the risks of using this medication. In this blog I want to talk about some of the most obvious risks. First and foremost, because cannabis affects a patients mental status, specifically their judgement, coordination, balance, perception and fine motor skills they have to be in a safe environment when medicating.

I keep reading about how cities are opposed to medical marijuana dispensaries because of how much they attract crime. Hold that thought. Recently I visited my local Chase Bank and they were in the middle of renovating the entire bank… to include bullet proof glass, updated surveillance cameras and offices for the individual bankers. I had a working relationship with the bank manager and asked her why they were adding all of the security features and her reply was “we have had five bank robberies in the last 12 months.”