Patients Don’t Want to Be Told to Stop
Users of medical marijuana can become dependent, said Ellen Burnham, MD, also from the University of Colorado.
“Patients want a blessing from care providers that it’s okay to use,” she told Medscape Medical News. “We’re in a state where people are really interested in holistic approaches to health, and cannabis is a natural product, but it may exacerbate allergies.”
Some components of cannabis might have bronchodilator properties but there are so many unknowns at this time. “I don’t think allergists should be recommending or condoning cannabis as part of a patient’s therapy,” she said. “It’s not okay for everybody.”
As business flourishes for operators in the cannabis industry and for the legal profession, Burnham said she worries that there isn’t enough protection for workers. “Do workers exposed to plant material on a daily basis have adequate workplace protection,” such as masks and gowns? “There’s a downstream effect that impacts people that nobody has really thought about,” she pointed out.
If the cannabis industry becomes driven by money, with a lobby like the tobacco industry, there will be no way to keep people who are vulnerable from using cannabis.
Is an occasional joint, much like an occasional glass of wine, okay? “We don’t know,” said Burnham. “We just don’t have enough information about it.”
Research is needed to develop medicinal strains of cannabidiol, cannabigerol, and cannabinol, which offer “medicinal and anti-inflammatory relief without the psychologic affects,” Silvers added.
This article first appeared on Medscape.com.