Cannabis Patient Care - December 2021

Cannabis Patient Care December 2021

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15 cannapatientcare.com december 2021 | cannabis patient care doctor focus Another patient of Dr. Grinspoon's is a veteran who tran- sitioned from using six shots of vodka twice a day and nev- er leaving his house, which affected his mental health be- cause of the isolation and loneliness. Now, the patient takes a puff twice a day of cannabis with some cannabidiol (CBD) in it and is able to enjoy his life again. "He's fishing with his bud- dies. He's re-engaged in life. His life is so much better," said Dr. Grinspoon. "I mean it really does not help everybody, but it does work for a certain segment of people with PTSD. It can be transformative. And given that cannabis is equally, or much less harmful than the other treatments for PTSD, the benefits outweigh the harm." If veterans say that this treatment option works for them, it should be made more available and without repercussions. Cannabis is a medicine with more pros than cons. You cannot overdose from using it and it's a natural alternative. Dr. Grin- spoon detailed how studies have shown that when people start using cannabis, they very often cut down their benzodiazepine use, valium, klonopin, and the use of other drugs like opiates. Cannabis helps other ailments beyond PTSD. "As a primary care doctor, if you're my patient and you have a symptom, I'll try something. And if that doesn't work, I'll try something else. And if that doesn't work, I'll try something else. So the more options we have, the better," said Dr. Grinspoon "Cannabis is an option that many people find really helpful. But again, people ask, is cannabis safe or not safe? I prefer to ask, is cannabis safer or as safe as anything else I'd be try- ing, and the answer is often yes. For insomnia, it's much safer than the Ambien. Ambien is not a harmless drug by any means or the other sleeping pills that we use. The other sleeping pills are not without side effects. The more options we have to treat people, the better. And it's just so arbitrary and ridic- ulous that we don't have this safe, relatively nontoxic medi- cine," he added. Dr. Grinspoon did share that all medications can have some harms. "We have to be careful about plant-based med- icine to give to people instead of giving them a big dose of Ambien. For example, I don't mean to pick on Ambien, but just as an example, Ambien, you can drive in the middle of the night and not be aware that you're doing it," Dr. Grin- spoon explained. He believes that cannabis should be a more easily acces- sible medicine alternative. Through the nonprofit he works with, Doctors for Cannabis Regulation (DFCR), he hopes to do just that. DFCR is an organization made up of mostly doctors but doesn't exclude others from joining. Group members be- lieve that cannabis should be legalized and regulated. "We have a ver y specific platform of ideas, but the main idea is that the harm of criminalizing cannabis is much worse than the harm of having it be legal and just regulated so that, we're not throwing people in prison to rot just for using a plant-based medicine," said Dr. Grinspoon. "It's a ver y bizarre paradox in this countr y that in par ts of it, you could sell cannabis and become a prisoner and go to jail for 10 years. We're really working on legalization, and we're also working on really educating healthcare providers. Because, as I men- tioned before, the healthcare providers, especially the doc- tors, really don't know that much about cannabis. Many of them know next to nothing, and that's not their fault. It's be- cause they haven't been taught it. It's a little bit their fault. Doctors, just haven't been par ticularly curious about can- nabis, and they haven't really done their due diligence be- cause you can be able to tell if this stuff you're being taught is nonsense." When Dr. Grinspoon begins working with a veteran, the first step he takes is building trust and rappor t. "Doc- tors have been so dismissive about cannabis that many pa- tients don't even mention it to their doctors. If the doctor is, I would say, par ticularly the psychiatrist. But in general, Cannabis is an option that many people find really helpful. But again, people ask, is cannabis safe or not safe? I prefer to ask, is cannabis safer or as safe as anything else I'd be trying, and the answer is often yes. – D R . P E T E R G R I N S P O O N

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