About This Episode The relationship between doctors and patients has been one built on trust, mainly with the patient relying upon the doctor to come up with a diagnosis and treatment and the patient trusting that they will get well in the doctor’s care. Now that more than half of the U.S. regulates medical marijuana, patients are looking to find ways in which cannabis therapy can improve their treatment outcomes.
With groundbreaking revelations about the endo-cannabinoid system, the science is only beginning to catch up with the anecdotal evidence from patients suggesting cannabis is as or more effective than conventional synthetic pharmaceutical drugs for a wide variety of medical conditions. Despite the revelations, there remains a significant barrier of acceptance within the medical community, which has left many patients to fend for themselves when it comes to discovering cannabis remedies that work for their conditions. As a result, the traditional doctor-patient dynamic has reversed – often the patients are having to educate their doctors about ways in which cannabis is improving their outcomes.
There are a lot of reasons for this.
Only a handful of medical schools even mention the word cannabis in required courses. Of those doctors who have taken the time to become aware, very few still have been willing to integrate medical marijuana into their practice. Aside from the obvious cultural stigma, the fact that cannabis is still a federally-illegal Schedule I Controlled Substance has prevented physicians from considering cannabis as a treatment option for fear of losing their DEA license. Of those who see the value of medical marijuana, and even in states where medical cannabis is legally regulated, too many doctors barred from advising or even discussing it with patients by the medical institutions that employ them.
In the meanwhile, Stressing the importance of deploying resources to educate healthcare providers and help them keep pace with rising demand for information about cannabis treatment options. Recent discoveries about the human endo-cannabinoid system, cannabis pharmacopeia, emerging treatment protocols spotlight that medical marijuana is not only a viable treatment, it could be a necessary component of human health.
This science only enhances odds that more doctors will begin advocating for more liberty to integrate cannabis into their patient’s treatment and that the DEA policy will change to accommodate overwhelming patient demand. But until that happens, patients who are unable to discuss cannabis with their primary care physicians must continue to rely upon literature coming from advocacy groups, published medical studies and dispensary personnel to navigate their treatment options. Patients will need to continue to provide testimony to their doctors and encourage them to become educated. This synergistic doctor patient paradigm will eventually shifts back to a more conventional relationship.
That’s the topic of today’s show and something we discuss with our guest, Dr. Regina Nelson, right after Dr. Bryan Doner’s Medical Marijuana Minute.
About Our Guest Dr. REGINA NELSON is CEO, founder and Board President of The ECS Therapy Center, a 501c3 nonprofit that raises awareness of the endocannabinoid system and supports peer-to-peer education programs, accredited curriculum for the medical cannabis industry and research projects related to the experiences of medical cannabis patients. An accomplished author, speaker and researcher, she earned her Ph.D. in Ethical and Creative Leadership with concentration on the issue of medical cannabis. Inspired by experiences as a medical marijuana patient Refugee, her dissertation focused on the ever-evolving challenges faced by doctors and patients navigating the cannabis recommendation process stemming from barriers to acceptance within the medical community. Her published titles include: Theorist-at-Large: One Woman’s Ambiguous Journey into Medical Cannabis, The eCS Therapy Companion Guide, and Time for the Talk: Talking to Your Doctor or Patient about Medical Cannabis, and most recently, The Survivor’s Guide to Medical Cannabis, which is hot off the presses to be released in 2018.Also pending release is the published version of her dissertation titled, The Medical Cannabis Recommendation: An Integral Exploration of Doctor/Patient Experiences, which is the subject of our interview and I’m eager to delve right into that.
Acknowledgements If not for the generosity of our supporters, we wouldn’t be here! We’d first like to thank our sponsors Hemp Meds and Healthtera. We’d also like to shout out to our producer, Ed Vanderlee at Star Worldwide Networks, Erik Godal, the composer of our theme “Evergreen,” Steve Webb at XRQK Radio Network and Dr. Bryan Doner for the Medical Marijuana Minute and Compassionate Certification Centers for helping us spread the word. We are grateful!
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