This now presents a new problem, the current separation, in most states, between medical cannabis being Recommended by doctors, who while offering Recommendations are not actually managing the client-patient they have just Recommended to use medical cannabis and the patients family medical doctor or specialist who knows letter or nothing about using medical cannabis. For a perfect system, they should be the same person. The family medical doctor or specialist should be skilled in managing medical cannabis or the specialist skilled in Recommending medical cannabis should be managing the patient. To prevent abuse all members of the patient’s team should know about use of all pain medication options, including medical cannabis, and they should also be managing the patient when medical cannabis is being used. Patients should not be split between two professionals who each have half the skills and abilities to get them well. Seeing special doctors to obtain their Recommendations and leaving the primary doctor out is a recipe for disaster that we in the medical cannabis field must now work on and prevent.
Today, most Western allopathic medical doctors are not yet trained to use and manage their patients with medical cannabis; we must do something about this. This gap has significantly slowed down the capacity of the medical establishment to remove patients at significant risk for addiction, overdosing and premature death and getting them off opioids and then starting them on the less problematic medical cannabis.
Benefits and Limitations of Medical Marijuana for Pain Relief
While opioids have one and only one value, pain relief, their limitations and risks are many. Obviously, the most important risk is addiction, overdosing and premature death. While the main and only benefit opiates have is their patients ability to control and manage pain, the risk of abuse, addiction and premature death is exceedingly high and in most situations when there are other options, such as medical cannabis, these risks are now much too great to allow unfettered routine use of opioids.
On the other hand, medical cannabis, while it does have some limitations and negative side effects is rarely blamed for unnecessary deaths and in most cases the benefits, even those not necessary in relation to their original complaint of pain, are significant enough to suggest that medical cannabis is clearly the best choice available.
CBD and Pain Relief?
While most varieties of cannabis have the ability to help manage and control pain, and since opiates are only used to manage pain, the ability to switch pain sufferers from opiates to medical cannabis immediately reduces their risk of opiate abuse, addiction and premature death. A simple move for a significantly important mission, to replace opiates with a pain medication that are equally or more effective, are not addicting, and are also cost effective for the patient.
22