Patient Education ►
Why Is Healthcare So Slow to Adopt Cannabis as Medicine ?
by Darcey Trescone , RN , BSN , contributing writer
Cannabis as medicine requires a paradigm shift . Western , or allopathic , medicine is based on disease rather than a wellness-based model . When a patient is ill , they are traditionally given a clinically researched , quality controlled , consistent medication typically in the form of a pill or similar with specific dosing protocols by the medical community . Although anecdotal research supports the benefits of medical cannabis for various medical diagnoses , the market remains fragmented in published research , quality standards , and consistency of products available in any one market . no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse . According to federal law , no prescriptions may be written for Schedule I substances , and they are not readily available for clinical use . 2 Simply put , cannabis can be legal within a state ; however , it remains federally illegal .
Other Schedule 1 drugs like mushrooms , LSD , MDMA , for example , do not carry the research restrictions marijuana has . 3 Cannabis is the least toxic of all the Schedule 1 drugs ; still , it has carried the harshest barriers for medical study as a whole plant .
In Western medicine , research and development focus has been on pharmaceuticals as manufactured singlemolecule formulations and away from plant / botanical medicine because of profitability , not efficacy . As a result , the slow adoption of cannabis in healthcare is not surprising . Without scientific research , the utilization of cannabis is more anecdotal in that physicians cannot define precisely why or what about the plant worked for a patient .
Much of the cannabis research allowed by the federal government to date has focused on upholding the stigma around cannabis as a medicine with minimal to no human trials or long-term studies . Although this is changing , the medical community is still lacking concrete evidence and dosing protocols necessary to embrace cannabis as a proper medicine in the Western healthcare model .
The prohibition of cannabis directly results from the broad authority given to the federal government over drug control and prejudiced beliefs that occurred in the early 20th century .
It was not that long ago when Denis Peron pushed for proposition 215 in 1996 to initiate legalizing marijuana for AIDS patients . Although the government was opposed , their federal raids had failed , and they agreed that access to medical marijuana was acceptable if recommended by a physician . The government then used the physician recommendation requirement to create fear amongst physicians recommending marijuana to patients .
In the case of Conant vs . McCaffery in 2002 , the courts decided that the government cannot initiate administrative or criminal proceedings against physicians that recommend marijuana as a treatment to their patients . 4 However , many physicians and healthcare facilities that rely on federal funds to service their communities remain fearful of economic repercussions for encouraging medical cannabis use because the Schedule 1 classification remains .
The prohibition of cannabis directly results from the broad authority given to the federal government over drug control and prejudiced beliefs that occurred in the early 20th century . Cannabis prohibition and categorization of this plant as a Schedule I drug was an effort to control public behavior with no scientific evidence to support this classification . The scientific and medical community and presidential committees commissioned to study cannabis have advised the government on the safety and efficacy of marijuana since the 1930s ; however , the classification for cannabis remains unchanged . 1
According to the DEA website , the Schedule I classification is designated for drugs , substances , or chemicals defined as having
28 February 2022
The fragmented legalization of cannabis by states has allowed for various regulations specific to each state . This has resulted in testing and quality standards that the physician community has come to rely on with “ Big Pharma ” still lacking and inconsistent across legal cannabis markets . Additionally , a cannabis recommendation from a physician is only a recommendation . The weight of obtaining a cannabis product that is appropriate along with dosing falls solely on the patient ’ s shoulders . This is a risk factor for the medical community , especially when working with elderly patients who struggle to keep their essential pharmaceutical medications straight .