ca why get medical mj card

Studies of marijuana users overall show that a large majority do not become long term users. In the 1990's, studies showed that although 31% of Americans 12 years and older had tried marijuana at some point, only 0.8 percent of Americans smoked marijuana on a daily or near daily basis. It is not unheard of for heavy chronic marijuana users to enroll in a drug treatment program for marijuana dependence. There is a significant difference, however, between a dependence on marijuana and a true addiction. Are there any symptoms of withdrawal when a heavy or frequent user stops smoking? The answer is - possibly. Some individuals report nervousness and some sleep disturbance - about 15% of the time. But you do not see the sweating, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, etc that is commonly seen from narcotic withdrawal. In animal studies looking at high dose marijuana administration, no matter how much of the drug is given, animals do not self administer the drug after cessation. Narcotics are a different story. The main point here is that marijuana may cause psychological dependence, but not physical and physiologic dependence.

Narcotics cause both and even if a patient is able to overcome the psychological attachment to the drug, the simple fact that the side effects are harsh may prevent going "cold turkey" or being able to stop at all. Thankfully marijuana does not act in that fashion. Even after long term heavy use, there is minimal if any physiologic reaction upon cessation. Marijuana acts on the brain in a different pathway than opiate medications. This may allow medicinal marijuana being utilized to effectively decrease the amount of opiates patients need for pain control, and in some cases entirely replace them. Also, medical marijuana has a psychoactive effect of decreasing anxiety and improving mood. This is different than opiates, where patients may see a decrease in pain but also may see a depressive effect. This helps explain why so many chronic pain patients need to take anti-depressant medication along with the narcotics.

Glenburn residents sent a clear but emotional message to the town’s planning board at a public hearing Monday night — they don’t want a medical marijuana cultivation facility in their town. Members of the planning board got a lesson in Maine’s medical marijuana regulations but put off making a decision until next month. About 25 residents attended the meeting in person at the town office. About half of them sported stick-on name tags that said, “NO! The town can’t prevent Morin-Smith from operating a cultivation facility, his attorney, Seth Russell of Portland, told the board. Glenburn has an ordinance that prohibits a retail facility of medical or recreational marijuna from opening in town but nothing that would prevent cultivation of medical marijuana, Russell said. No residents spoke in favor of the proposed facility. Morin-Smith is a licensed caregiver and plans to grow marijuana plants indoors and harvest the flowers to sell to his patients. He told the board that he would not manufacture items such as edibles. Morin-Smith also does not intend to sell to dispensaries as a wholesaler. Several residents said that their experiences as teachers, pastors and counselors had convinced them that marijuana was a gateway drug to harder drugs. Phil Mumford, pastor of the First Assembly Church on Finson Road in Bangor, asked board members to consider the impact having a marijuana grow house in town would have on property values and zoning regulations. Scott Mitchell urged the board to consider how allowing a marijuana greenhouse in Glenburn would affect the town’s future. We need to consider what kind of town do we want to be in 10, 20, 50 years? If we let this in, that takes us in a certain direction. Does this mean that anyone can bring anything here? Maine legalized medical marijuana in 1999 and there are now about 3,000 registered caregivers who grow and provide cannabis.

The vast majority of Americans — nearly 95% of us — support the use of medical cannabis. Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have legalized it, and that number is likely to rise. But like all swiftly embraced changes in public health, there can be unintended consequences of legalizing cannabis for medical uses. My colleagues and I are seeing this one: the rise of a new health care disparity, because it is harder for poor people to access medical cannabis than it is for wealthier people. Since 1996, I have worked as a primary care physician in the Bronx, N.Y., home to several of the county’s poorest congressional districts. Two years ago, we started a medical cannabis practice in one of our busiest primary care practices to better serve people with chronic pain — one of the qualifying conditions in New York state for the use of medical cannabis. Each year, our practice sees thousands of patients with chronic pain stemming from conditions such as degenerative joint disease, inflammatory arthritis, HIV, sickle cell anemia, fibromyalgia, and neuropathy.

In addition to certifying patients for medical cannabis, I educate them on the potential harms of cannabis and on how to obtain legal, highly regulated, non-smokable medical cannabis from legal dispensaries. I always recommend that patients purchase particular tinctures or oils based on the relative quantities of the two common compounds in medical cannabis: cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Of nearly 500 chronic pain patients certified to use medical cannabis in our practice to date, fewer than half reported purchasing it at a licensed dispensary — largely because they cannot afford it. Because the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies medical cannabis as a Schedule I substance, insurance doesn’t cover it. For the same reason, it can’t be bought using a credit card. While this is manageable for some people, the majority of my patients find this to be a very heavy burden. On top of the high cost of medical cannabis, it is available only at licensed cannabis dispensaries.