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 [...]

A lot has happened since 2009 when Eric Holder, Attorney General for President Obama, announced that he would respect States medical marijuana laws. Almost overnight a green-rush swept across the state of California. Everybody and anybody tried opening up a marijuana dispensary in hopes of cashing in. As a result of the banking and housing collapse there were a lot of people looking for work that were willing to take the plunge into this evolving industry.

Unfortunately this green-rush has led to a lot of unscrupulous behavior and the communities have finally had enough. We are seeing more push back against the medical marijuana community today than we have had in the past 15 years. We have no one but ourselves to blame. READ ON…

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!

Today in Long Beach i took care of a 54 year old female who has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Bipolar since 1994. She is currently seeing a psychiatrist every month who has her taking 5 (FIVE!) different medications to manage her symptoms. Since starting her medication she has gained 120lbs (known side effect of two of the medications) and states she is “a walking zombie”. She has very little quality of life and now wants to do something about it. She had use marijuana in the past when first diagnosed and managed to only need to use 1 medication but stopped when she started having children. She is now at her wits end and wants a better life. READ ON

Today I had a VERY encouraging visit from a 52 year old women who has been suffering from Restless Legs Syndrome “my entire adult life”. Her symptoms have become so severe that she rarely gets a good night’s sleep and the pain is debilitating. Her description sounded like it was more severe than other patients with RLS that I have treated.

She has been treated with a medication called Requip for her symptoms but it causes debilitating headaches after 2 consecutive days of use so she is trying to stop it all together.

A month ago one of her friends let her try medical marijuana using a vaporizer to see if it helps and to quote her she said “It was the best night of sleep I have ever had in my life!” READ ON….

Today Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill 1449 which makes possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana an infraction punishable by a $100.00 ticket. As of January 1, 2011 no longer will citizens be arrested for possession and have to appear in court. It will be equivalent to getting a traffic ticket. By doing so he will free up some 61,000+ arrests each year and save money otherwise spent on prosecuting these minor offenses.

As the general election in November approaches the people of California will have the right to vote on the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. But if it passes, will it be legal?? If you read the fine print of the Proposition, each INDIVIDUAL CITY will still be able to keep it illegal if they choose to. In many cities they have already preempted the law and have already banned the recreational sale of marijuana. WHY WOULD THE FINE PRINT SAY THAT?? GOOD QUESTION…. 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.

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!