Marijuana use big issue for employers, expert says Darrin Rogowski said he is launching a human rights complaint after his employer let him go in late July because he uses medical marijuana after hours. Rogowski, 30, was working for Inertia Environmental - an Okotoks-based hydrovacing company. He worked on the company's trucks, which use high-pressure water to move earth when excavation by other means isn't allowed. "When I got my medical marijuana licence back in May, I told one of my supervisors I had it, and nothing else was really said about it," he said. [continues 262 words]
Legal Limbo Limits Training on Subject Medical marijuana has been legal in Maine for almost 20 years. But Farmington physician Jean Antonucci says she continues to feel unprepared when counseling sick patients about whether the drug could benefit them. Will it help my glaucoma? Or my chronic pain? My chemotherapy's making me nauseous, and nothing's helped. Is cannabis the solution? Patients hope Antonucci, 62, can answer those questions. But she said she is still "completely in the dark." Antonucci doesn't know whether marijuana is the right way to treat an ailment, what amount is an appropriate dose, or whether a patient should smoke it, eat it, rub it through an oil or vaporize it. Like most doctors, she was never trained to have these discussions. And, because the topic still is not usually covered in medical school, younger doctors, as well as seasoned ones, often consider themselves ill-equipped. [continues 492 words]
Those who argue against the mass legalization of marijuana say it's dangerous and can lead to more addictive drugs. But that hasn't been the experience of all who casually smoked pot in their younger years and then let it go. And, some in the medical field believe marijuana can relieve side effects of chemotherapy, ease the pressure associated with glaucoma and help with minor maladies. Thus, the Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to stay with a 46-year-old law categorizing marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, a serious drug with no medical value, seems unreasonable. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence from people who have used it for medical reasons, and even as a "recreational" drug, is pot really more harmful than alcohol? That's a difficult argument to make. [continues 116 words]
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has just issued a helpful reminder to all Americans. In denying a petition to loosen restrictions on marijuana, the agency repeated that the drug has "no currently accepted medical use" in the U.S. This may come as a surprise, given that 25 states already allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat maladies from PTSD to Alzheimer's disease. Yet the truth is, research has yet to find firm evidence that marijuana can alleviate physical suffering. [continues 395 words]
At least once a week, Steve McDonald drives from his home in Irvine to an industrial stretch of Santa Ana filled with auto shops and home-improvement wholesalers. Inside a beige storefront, McDonald consults with young budtenders about the jars of raw cannabis flowers and rows of infused edibles that fill the shelves at From the Earth medical marijuana dispensary. The 40-year-old said cannabis products help him avoid prescription medications for pain from severe burns he suffered in a fire two years ago, as well as lingering back trouble and anxiety that plague him from his days as a paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. [continues 1823 words]
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has just issued a helpful reminder to all Americans. In denying a petition to loosen restrictions on marijuana, the agency repeated that the drug has "no currently accepted medical use" in the United States. This may come as a surprise, given that 25 states - including Nevada - - already allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat maladies from PTSD to Alzheimer's disease. Yet the truth is, research has yet to find firm evidence that marijuana can alleviate physical suffering. [continues 391 words]
The federal government has for years employed a bizarre circular logic when it comes to marijuana. Officially deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical application, marijuana is listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act - on a par with heroin and LSD. Yet that very listing has severely limited the research that could settle the question of whether marijuana does indeed have therapeutic value, as attested to by countless glaucoma sufferers, nauseated cancer patients and a raft of other ailing people and their physicians who report anecdotally that marijuana eases suffering. [continues 317 words]
CBD Oil Reduces Seizure Activity but Without the Side Effects of Cannabis Preparations of the leaves and resin of the cannabis plant have been in use for more than 2,000 years. First introduced into western medicine in the mid-19th century, cannabis was prescribed in the past for a diverse range of complaints including anxiety, arthritis and rheumatic disorders, migraine and painful menstruation. A cannabis derivative, nabilone, is effective in treating nausea and vomiting brought on by chemotherapy treatment in cancer patients. The benefits of cannabis in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have been well described. It reduces muscle cramps and relaxes bladder and bowel sphincters. And it has been shown to reduce the pressure in the eyeball that leads to glaucoma. [continues 371 words]
TALLAHASSEE - Marijuana was sold legally in Florida for the first time this week since it was outlawed by the federal government in 1937. In a staid Tallahassee storefront more akin to a doctor's office than a head shop, Dallas Nagy, a Tampa-area native with chronic seizures and muscle spasms, plunked down $60 for a non-euphoric strain of marijuana Tuesday. "I thank you for the hope of getting better," Nagy said at the opening of Trulieve, the first medical marijuana dispensary in the state. [continues 797 words]
Prescription Drug Rates Drop As More Patients Turn to Cannabis Recent findings show that medical marijuana not only saves state and federal governments millions of dollars on Medicare but it may help curb prescription drug use too. A new study reports that in states where medical marijuana is available, prescriptions for painkillers have dipped drastically. There's been a spate of studies on how overdose and painkiller abuse - - particularly among chronic pain patients - are lower in medical marijuana states, but the researchers have largely hypothesized that these patients are picking pot over prescription drugs. Now, a recent report in the journal Health Affairs suggests that the link between prescriptions and marijuana is no longer just a hypothesis. [continues 950 words]
No business licence means store must close, city says The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary battling the City of Abbotsford to stay open has filed a constitutional challenge, claiming the city has no right to ban pot shops. In court filings submitted this month, Don Briere, who operates marijuana dispensary Mary Jane Glass and Gifts on South Fraser Way, claims many of Mary Jane's patients are unable to obtain marijuana elsewhere due to low incomes, disabilities or both. Briere, who owns a dozen similar locations in B.C. and Ontario, most of which are named Weeds Glass and Gifts, shut down a previous shop on Clearbrook Road after the city brought an injunction against it in January because it lacked a business licence. [continues 384 words]
Researchers at the University of Georgia have published a study in the July issue of Health Affairs showing that Medicare's prescription drug benefit program saves money in states that have legalized marijuana for medical use. Authors Ashley Bradford and Dr. David Bradford - daughter and father, BTW - calculate that in 2013, patients using medical marijuana in 17 states enabled Medicare Part D to save US taxpayers $165.2 million that would have been spent on prescription drugs. As reported by the university's media office, the Bradfords [continues 654 words]
The Department of Health and Human Services denies a petition by a caregiver who sought to add addiction to the list of medical conditions that qualify for marijuana prescriptions. A state agency has denied a petition to allow medical marijuana to be prescribed for treatment of addiction to opioids and other drugs. Dawson Julia, a medical marijuana caregiver in Unity, filed the petition Jan. 12 and was informed of the denial Monday in a letter from Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew. Julia had sought to add "Addiction to Opiates and drugs derived from chemical synthesis" to the list of debilitating medical conditions that qualify for medical marijuana prescriptions. The list currently includes glaucoma, cancer and other conditions. [continues 700 words]
It was always clear that many hurdles will have to be jumped before legal marijuana can become a reality in Canada. Pot advocates won't be too pleased with the latest one. Ottawa, which recently struck a marijuana task force led by former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, is sending strong signals legalized pot will be so strictly controlled that homegrown weed (even for medical purposes) may remain an illegal substance. For advocates, this will come as surprising and unwelcome news. [continues 297 words]
It was always clear that many hurdles will have to be jumped before legal marijuana can become a reality in Canada. Pot advocates won't be too pleased with the latest one. Ottawa, which recently struck a marijuana task force led by former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, is sending strong signals legalized pot will be so strictly controlled that homegrown weed (even for medical purposes) may remain an illegal substance. For advocates, this will come as surprising and unwelcome news. [continues 298 words]
Patients fill significantly fewer prescriptions for conditions like nausea and pain in states where medical marijuana is available, researchers reported Wednesday in one of the first studies to examine how medical cannabis might be affecting approved treatments. Prescriptions for all drugs that treat pain combined, from cortisone to OxyContin, were nearly 6 percent lower in states with medical marijuana programs. Anxiety medication was 5 percent lower. The result was a drop of more than $165 million in health care spending in states that had medical marijuana programs running in 2013, according to the analysis of national Medicare data. The savings would equal 0.5 percent of the entire Medicare program's drug budget if medicinal cannabis was available in every state, the authors projected. [continues 421 words]
Patients fill significantly fewer prescriptions for conditions like nausea and pain in states where medical marijuana is available, researchers reported Wednesday in one of the first studies to examine how medical cannabis might be affecting approved treatments. Prescriptions for all drugs that treat pain combined, from cortisone to OxyContin, were nearly 6 percent lower in states with medical marijuana programs.Anxiety medication was 5 percent lower. The result was a drop of more than $165 million in health care spending in states that had medical marijuana programs running in 2013, according to the analysis of national Medicare data. The savings could equal 0.5 percent of the entire Medicare program's drug budget if medicinal cannabis was available in every state. [continues 223 words]
Fewer Meds Are Sought in States With Legal Marijuana. Patients fill significantly fewer prescriptions for such conditions as nausea and pain in states where medical marijuana is available, researchers reported Wednesday in one of the first studies to examine how medical cannabis might be affecting approved treatments. Prescriptions for all drugs that treat pain combined, from cortisone to OxyContin, were nearly 6 percent lower in states with medical marijuana programs. Anxiety medication was 5 percent lower. The result was a drop of more than $165 million in health-care spending in states that had medical marijuana programs running in 2013, including New Jersey, according to the analysis of national Medicare data. The savings would equal 0.5 percent of the entire Medicare program's drug budget if medicinal cannabis were available in every state, the authors projected. [continues 1156 words]
The arrival of medical marijuana in Massachusetts and other states is changing the way doctors prescribe conventional medications, a study published Wednesday reports. The study, one of the first to investigate whether medical marijuana laws alter prescribing patterns, analyzed data from 17 states and Washington, D.C. It found that after medical marijuana laws were adopted, doctors wrote fewer prescriptions for Medicare patients diagnosed with anxiety, pain, nausea, depression, and other conditions thought to respond to marijuana treatment. That translated to about $165 million less spent on prescription drugs in just one year in the Medicare program, which provides health insurance for older adults, according to the study published in the journal Health Affairs. [continues 764 words]
