Medical Marijuana was legalized in the state of Maine about two decades ago. However, Farmington physician Jean Antonucci stated “she still feels as though she has not been adequately prepared when talking to patients about whether or not they should be taking medical marijuana.” The questions are often “Will it help my glaucoma? Or my chronic pain? Is cannabis the solution?” Of course, patients always expect their doctor, such as Antonucci, 62, to answer these questions, but as she indicated, she is “completely in the dark.”
Antonucci is still unaware of whether cannabis is the right way to treat an illness, how much a patient should be taking, or the method of ingestion. There are choices between smoking the drug, eating it, rubbing it in, or vaporizing it. Similar to many other doctors, Antonucci has neither been trained to handle such discussions nor was she taught anything about it in medical school. Both experienced doctors and even younger doctors feel as though they are not prepared for this; and why should they unless they have gone to the University of Mississippi.
Medical Marijuana as of last week was only able to be studied at the university of Mississippi. This week however the DEA and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have decided to expand university study so doctors like Antonucci can have a better means of prescribing medical marijuana, or at least having answers for their patients. ”
As the amount of states allowing medical cannabis grows and is currently at twenty-five right (including the District of Columbia), doctors and other practitioners will need peer reviewed data to study. Big Pharma has been involved with cannabis as early as 1985 with one company ABBV marketing a drug called Marinol to increase appetite in cancer patients. It only makes sense that with the recent cannabis expansion to universities that more data will mean a better options for patients that do not want to end up taking RX drugs for their RX drugs. Hopefully the DEA pulls it’s head out of it’s ass or the government puts the scheduling of cannabis in the hands of the agency that should be in charge of it since it already regulates RX drugs… The FDA.
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