Medical Marijuana

Drug interactions with cannabinoids
National Center for Biotechnology Information 2020, March 2

-Cannabinoid levels can be increased by other medications

-Cannabinoids can affect levels of other drugs

-Smoking marijuana can increase clearance of some drugs

-Additive effects can occur with other drugs

-There are potential “red flag” interactions

Cannabis in Medicine: Evidence Base Approach
National Center for Biotechnology Information 2020, January

The title of “Cannabis in Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach” contains an irony. In chapter after chapter in this multi-authored book written predominately by providers associated with mainstream medical facilities in Colorado, the authors point out the inadequacy of the evidence we have and the absence of the evidence we need to determine how – or even if – cannabis has medical legitimacy. The foreword’s title, “Losing Ground: The Rise of Cannabis Culture,” sets the tone. David Murray, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, argues convincingly that “the current experiment with cannabis, underway nationwide [is] leading us towards a future of unanticipated consequences, a future already established in the patterns of use ‘seeded’ in the population but as yet unmanifested.” In other words, the cannabis horse has not only fled the barn but has been breeding prolifically to the point that we couldn’t get rid of it and its progeny if we wanted to.

Surgeon General: “No such thing as Medical Marijuana”
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams M.D., M.P.H. 2019, June 24

In states like Colorado, where marijuana is legal, Surgeon General Jerome Adams says the potency of today’s marijuana may be a detriment to business investment and worker efficacy. “There is no such thing as medical marijuana,” he says. Adams also shares his concerns for black communities, “adding a marijuana dispensary to the mix” on street corners won’t fix our social justice ills, he says.