Medical cannabis exists in a veritable no man’s land. On one side of it are people who view it as one of the most effective natural medicines in the world. On the other are those who view cannabis as highly addictive and just as dangerous as heroin in cocaine. But rapidly changing rules are making a difference. Today, medical cannabis looks more like a medicine than ever before.
This may sound odd given the term ‘medical cannabis’. But when most people use the term, they use it from the angle of a psychoactive plant that is being used medicinally. They do not see the cannabis plant as a medicine in and of itself. Likewise for the main cannabinoid found in cannabis plants: THC.
In fairness, the cannabis plant really is not a medicine. It contains a natural compound that could be transformed into medicine to treat everything from cancer pain to seizure disorders. Still, medical cannabis occupies a strange place in pharmacology. It can be utilized both medicinally and recreationally. So what about these changing rules?
Chronic and Acute Pain in Utah
Utah offers a good example of changing rules with its decision to add acute pain to its qualifying conditions list. When medical cannabis was first approved in the state, chronic pain was on the list but acute pain was not. The thinking at the time was that chronic pain patients who had tried every traditional treatment without success stood to lose nothing by trying medical cannabis.
The mentality was exactly what this post previously described. Cannabis wasn’t being used as a medicine per se. Rather, it was viewed as a psychoactive substance that would offer pain patients a measure of relief in the absence of a successful traditional treatment.
When Utah lawmakers added acute pain to the qualifying conditions list, they unknowingly made a statement in support of cannabis as an actual medicine. Under the new rule, patients expecting to experience acute pain for which a prescription narcotic would otherwise be prescribed can opt for medical cannabis instead.
The professionals behind the Utahmarijuana.org website says a classic example would be a patient scheduled for joint replacement surgery. That patient could obtain a medical cannabis card, through a Utahmarijuana.org clinic or his surgeon, and then rely on medical cannabis for post-surgical pain relief.
Big Changes in Israel
What Utah did by adding acute pain to its qualifying conditions list pales in comparison to changes about to occur in Israel. In that country, anyone wishing to apply for a medical cannabis card had to first be treated for up to three years with traditional therapies. So imagine a chronic pain patient having to take prescription narcotics for three years before applying for a card.
Anyone who knows anything about prescription narcotics knows just how risky this is. Three years is way too long to be on such medications. Well, that three-year requirement is going away for most conditions. Very shortly, Israeli doctors will be able to recommend medical cannabis as a first-line treatment. That makes it more of a medicine and less of a plant used when other things do not seem to work.
These types of changes may seem semantic to some people. But those who rely on medical cannabis as the most effective treatment for a particular condition see things differently. As our general attitudes toward cannabis change, lawmakers are changing the rules accordingly. And with each passing day, medical cannabis is being treated more like a medicine than a psychoactive plant. That is good for those who rely on it for its medicinal properties.
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