It is no surprise that pharmaceutical companies lobby our politicians to keep marijuana a schedule 1 drug (which means no medicinal value and highly addictive).    ONE PLANT can take the place of AT LEAST 6 COMMON DRUGS.    Today I was taking care of a cancer patient who was not doing well.   He [...]

It really is shame that marijuana is a schedule 1 drug  and therefore under-researched in the United States.   There seems to be strong evidence for many different applications in medicine.     I was just reading research about our bodies endogenous endocannabinoid system and its affect on the uterus and implantation of the developing [...]

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

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.

This past week I have had 5 patients who have completely eliminated their dependence on pain pills after receiving their recommendation to use marijuana (cannabis) legally. The improvement to their overall quality of life has been dramatic. No more nausea, constipation and the feeling of being dependent on a drug.

Today I had the opportunity to evaluate a patient who just had surgery to repair a fractured left wrist (radius) as a result of a motor cycle accident. Typically patients that suffer from post operative pain get prescribed opiate narcotics such as vicodin, oxycontin and percocet. The problem with that is that many patients can’t take those medications because of the side effects. As a result more and more patients are turning to cannabis to control their pain. This patient was medicating once before he went to bed each day since the surgery. He has not had to take one percocet that he was prescribed by his orthopedic surgeon. In addition he has been sleeping “great” which is a plus when trying to recover from surgery.

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California I often evaluate patients who suffer from neuropathic pain as a result of diabetes. Neuropathic pain means pain that is associated with direct pathology to the nerves themselves. This is in contrast to pain in a muscle whose signal is transported to the brain via the healthy nerves. In diabetes the elevated levels of sugar in the blood actually cause damage to the nerves leading to chronic pain. Cannabis has been shown in several studies to reduce the pain associated with various causes of neuropathic pain including HIV neuropathy.

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California I often evaluate patients suffering from fibromyalgia. The majority of my fibromyalgia patients are women in the >40 age group. Typically they present to me with a bag of prescription pain medications that they would like to stop.

For the past month I have been treating a 62 y/o women for chronic pain that had been taking 18 pain killers every day. (12 oxycontin!) Not only did they stop working but they made her nauseated, constipated and feeling “loopy” all day. She told me that her life felt like she was out of control. Her pain management doctor spends 6 minutes with her and hands her a re-fill prescription for oxycontin. I am happy to report that after one month of using cannabis to treat her pain she is completely off opiate narcotics! Congratulations. I am glad you have control of your life again. There is hope!

This morning I had the pleasure of taking care of a 24 year old male who has been sober from heroine use for two years. He has managed to maintain sobriety using methadone and suboxone (Subutex). Both of these medications are opiates as well and can be equally addictive. Today was his last day of using subutex and he plans on using cannabis to manage any withdrawal symptoms that he experiences after finally stopping all opiate medications!