Medical Cannabis is a fairly broad topic that could be discussed for quite some time without getting tiresome. We can talk about certain conditions for which Medical Cannabis can be recommended. We can talk about things like state laws and whether cannabis will ever be decriminalized. We can even talk about some of the minute details, like the many different terpenes in cannabis.
We can only speak for ourselves here at Utah Marijuana, but terpenes fascinate us. Everybody tends to focus their attention on THC and CBD, which is fine. But cannabis plants contain more than a hundred cannabinoids and terpenes. We do not know much about them because research has been so limited. But the more we learn, the more appealing Medical Cannabis becomes.
Consider this post your introductory guide to terpenes. We can tell you that Utah growers and processors are hard at work researching terpenes and how they affect Medical Cannabis use. What they are learning will undoubtedly lead to new Medical Cannabis products eventually making it to pharmacy shelves.
Right off the bat, you might be interested to know that cannabis is not the only plant that has terpenes in it. Almost all aromatic plants produce them naturally. Terpenes are what give plants their unique smells. They are what make essential oils aromatic.
Speaking of essential oils, you may have heard that some of them have therapeutic benefits. One essential oil might have a calming and relaxing effect while another might help a person sleep. Guess what? Cannabis terpenes may have similar therapeutic effects. That is why growers and processes are looking at them now.
As a side note, terpenes are molecules that also benefit the plants that produce them. Some terpenes attract beneficial creatures – like pollinators for example. Other terpenes keep predators away. Nature has seen to it that both plants and animals derive good things from terpenes. Why would we suspect anything different from cannabis terpenes?
Some of the more common terpenes associated with Medical Cannabis are myrcene, beta-caryophyllene (BCP), pinene, and humulene. There are many more. How do they influence the effects of cannabis on the human brain? That is what we are trying to find out.
The thinking on this is pretty simple. If terpenes have certain therapeutic benefits on their own, they probably have some benefits that can only be experienced by combining them with cannabinoids. So here’s the thing: when you use raw cannabis flower as a medicine, you’re getting all the cannabinoids and terpenes in one shot. But maybe isolating a single cannabinoid and a single terpene would create a better medicine for you.
That is really what medical terpene research is all about right now. The goal is to eventually have exact recipes for different types of cannabis-derived medicines so that healthcare providers can be more specific in their recommendations. Isn’t that the way medicine is supposed to be utilized anyway?
To summarize everything in this short introductory guide to terpenes is to say they are more than just a smell producer. It goes without saying that cannabis has a very distinct odor. Its terpenes give it that odor. But there is more to terpenes than that; there are lots of things about terpenes we don’t know yet. As we learn more, we might uncover medical benefits that we never dreamed of before.
Keep that in mind the next time you take a dose of your medicine. The odor associated with your Medical Cannabis is a direct result of its terpene profile. But those terpenes might also be helping you medically.
It is fair to say that the amount of scientific study relating to cannabis safety and efficacy pales in comparison to studies of almost all other medications. There are lots of reasons for that, reasons we will not get into in this post. Rather, we want to discuss a 1970s cannabis study that offers a valuable lesson today.
The study in question, conducted in 1973 by researchers at Worcester, Massachusetts’ Mason Research Institute, was designed to determine lethal doses of THC in mammals. Researchers showed a particular interest in primates, using rhesus monkeys as test subjects.
Setting ethics aside for the time being, animal testing is fairly common in the medical field because it allows researchers to carefully study the effects of new drugs without endangering human lives. Primates are often utilized as test subjects because of their biological similarities to humans.
All vertebrates have endocannabinoid systems. Therefore, researchers had their pick in terms of test subjects. They chose rats, dogs, and the previously mentioned monkeys. Unfortunately, the rats fared worst. A majority of them died within the first 72 hours of the test.
Only two dogs died, but even their deaths were not attributed to the THC. Rather, they died of asphyxia after regurgitating and aspirating the material being pumped into their stomachs. As for the monkeys, not a single one died despite being given massive doses of delta-8 and delta-9 THC.
Again, the intent of the cannabis study was to determine a lethal dose of THC in the three test subjects. The fact that there was no lethal dose in either the dogs or monkeys says something particularly important: that different cannabinoid receptors in various animals respond to THC in different ways.
Despite being some fifty years old, the Mason Research Institute study still teaches a valuable lesson. The lesson is even more important when considered alongside the fact that there are no documented cases of human beings dying of THC overdoses.
The fear of overdosing is one of the things that keeps some people away from Medical Cannabis. They hear stories and assume such stories are true. They hear that cannabis is a gateway drug and they do not want to get started and then find themselves drawn to other drugs.
Those fears are understandable given what we have all been told about cannabis over the years. But they really are unfounded, based on the limited amount of research we already have.
There is good news in the fact that there doesn’t appear to be a lethal dose of THC for primates. But that does not mean all the data that came out of the 1973 cannabis study was good. Suffice it to say that the monkeys still suffered some pretty serious side effects from so much THC.
Some 90% of them suffered what we refer to as ‘cannabis toxicity’. If you know anything about cannabis toxicity, you know it can show itself in many different ways including paranoia and loss of motor skills. In the case of the monkeys from the 1973 study, they were observed sitting for hours on end, acting lethargic and holding their heads in their hands.
Different animals react to THC differently because their cannabinoid receptors deal with THC in different ways. A lesson in all of this is that primate endocannabinoid systems seem to be able to withstand massive amounts of THC without the threat of death. Dying from a THC overdose is highly unlikely, if not impossible. That gives Medical Cannabis patients one less thing to worry about.
With the holiday season comes a chill in the air. Well, a physical chill, because emotionally? The holidays are nowhere near chill, am I right? In fact, from November 15 – January 2, you can count on me to be a tangled ball of stress at all times. Don’t get me wrong; I love the holidays. I love bundling up in cozy sweaters and visiting family and friends to exchange gifts, food, and good times. Christmas movies, pecan pie, flavored mochas, sledding, Mariah Carey — count me in. Love the holidays. I just have anxiety.
That’s just how it goes when you get older, isn’t it? We put so much pressure on ourselves to make every year the best year yet and often end up not even enjoying ourselves. Now, to get a little personal with y’all, I don’t have anxiety just around the holidays. I’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder since my early teens. It’s not seasonal for me, and my anxiety is almost entirely social. I have trouble in crowds, at parties, in large meetings or classes, etc. And what’s more social than the holidays? Family coming into town, work parties, Friendsgivings, Black Friday shopping — one million instances to say or do something stupid and feel silly, if you ask me! This year, I was tired of ruining my own fun.
When I was issued my Medical Cannabis Card originally, I was interested in treating my anxiety as well as pain. I’d been prescribed benzodiazepines at the time and hated the way they made me feel. Unfortunately, my QMP, Tim Pickett, informed me that anxiety isn’t a qualifying condition in Utah. But he did give me a few helpful tips to successfully manage my pain while not triggering my anxiety. During my most recent visit, I was dealing more with anxiety than pain, so Tim and I came up with a treatment plan personalized to what I was going through. I’d been using vape cartridges primarily, and they never helped with anxiety. Tim mentioned that it was the high THC content and that I should steer clear of that while anxious. We went over some of the “chill cannabinoids” to look for, like CBD and CBN, and Tim suggested a few products to try during this extra stressful time.
As any cannabis user will tell you, finding your perfect medicine takes some trial and error. In the spirit of experimentation, Tim suggested I try three delivery methods: 1:1 THC:CBD edible gummies, a 1:10 tincture, and flower. Excited to try some new things, I agreed. Twist my arm, Tim. So, last weekend, I headed to my local dispensary to pick up the goods. I snagged a 100mg bag of 1:1 cherry Hygge chews, a bottle of 1:10 THC:CBD tincture by Zion Pharmaceuticals, and a few jars of Standard Wellness flower. Now, because anxiety isn’t a constant symptom for me and is brought on by triggers, for the sake of this article, I was set out to trigger myself. Seriously. First stop: the mall 10 days before Christmas.
One thing about me: I refuse to shop alone. Ask my husband, ask my mom, ask my best friend — I just won’t do it. If I’m in a position where I have to, I’ll call someone to chat with while I’m there. If I don’t, my mind starts to race (and my heart) and I’m just focused on getting the hell out of there. I’ve always been like this. With social anxiety, my biggest fear is looking stupid. That’s the simplest way to put it. So when I’m in public alone, in my head, I’m thinking people are watching me, judging my outfit, judging the things I buy, rolling their eyes at me for taking too long to pay, and generally just hating my guts for even existing in the same space as them.
I’d hoped gummies would help. I struggled with when to medicate, though. On one hand, I know that this will make me anxious, so pre-emptively medicating with a slow-release delivery method, like an edible, seemed like a solid plan to gear up for a few hours of fighting the crowds. (NOTE: I have been using cannabis for many years and am very familiar with my own tolerance. I do not recommend taking edibles before going in public to anyone who is not equally familiar/comfortable. You never know with edibles, folks.) So that I didn’t have to medicate and drive, I grabbed my husband and we headed out.
*SpongeBob narrator voice* Three hours later… I’m back in my car with a trunk full of gifts and taking a moment to be mindful of how I feel. I did not experience some of the physical representations of my anxiety while shopping this time. But, I wouldn’t say that was for lack of anxiety rather than lack of awareness. I didn’t feel stoned, per se, but I was pretty unbothered and unfocused. While that distracted me from anxious feelings, frankly, I just didn’t like the feeling and wanted to feel sharper in public. While I probably wouldn’t reach for an edible when anxious, based on the nap I took when I got home, I’d likely come back to edibles for sleep aid.
Next up, my 1:10 Zion Tincture. I’m more familiar with tinctures and how they work, so I decided to microdose a little one day before a very busy workday. I decided on a full dropper with my 
morning coffee once I got to the office.
The crazy thing about tinctures is that you almost don’t notice they’re working. I didn’t feel stoned, floaty, or high in any way, but if I stopped to take an internal reflection, I was so calm. On my commute home, I surveyed how I was feeling throughout the day. Moments that would have made me anxious, nervous, or filled with dread were tolerable. I spoke to strangers and asserted myself in meetings. I even had a bit of an awkward moment with a coworker that I didn’t dwell on all day long. I felt like a person. While I’m not sure I’d reach for a tincture in a panic attack due to the long onset (about 40 minutes), I am planning on implementing a dropper of 1:10 in my daily regimen. I can’t put into words how nice it is to feel like, finally, you can comfortably do things that others do without trouble every single day. Anxiety can make you feel so weak and fragile sometimes. It was nice to have a day without that feeling to be my very best self.
Now, to test out the flower, I had a bit more of a difficult time deciding when to do so. I thought, what’s something I need to do this week that would normally set me off? And it hit me: long-distance family phone calls. I always like to check in with the family around the holidays as much of mine lives out of state. Anyone with a family should understand this sentiment: I love them, but oh boy.
So, I called a family member who, bless his soul, cannot get through a conversation without bringing up politics or COVID-19 (aka the most stress-inducing topics of the past few years). He likes the debate and just wants to make conversation, whereas I’ve been avoiding the news entirely for years for my mental health. After about 20 minutes, my heart is beating fast and I’m all “mhmm” and “uh-huh” just to get through it. By the time we hang up, I am a wreck. After looking over the strains I had on me (Do Si Do, Ice Cream Cake, Outer Space), I opted to load my Pax with Standard Wellness Do Si Do. It had the highest CBD content, as Tim told me to look for, and a relatively low percentage of THC.
About 5 or so minutes after I finished medicating, I perched up in my favorite spot in the house with our coziest blanket and focused on my breathing (something I’ve found helps me ground myself when anxious). I noticed very quickly that, more than anywhere else, I was feeling it in my body. It was like I was wearing a weighted blanket. It actually reminded me of an episode of Utah in the Weeds I listened to about PTSD and cannabis. The guest said something about cannabis being his nerve blanket when all his nerves felt raw and exposed. That’s what I got from Do Si Do. And frankly, it was lovely. Within a few minutes, I was significantly calmer and less riled up about the increasingly tragic state of our world. The head change was slight, but there. I felt a little out of it, mentally, but at the time, this was the goal.
If I had to sum it up, I’d give my 1:1 gummies a 6/10. In the end, I didn’t like how they made me feel while out in public. I’d probably recommend these to someone with sleep issues or nightmares more than anxiety.
I’m giving the 1:10 tincture a 9/10 for anxiety. This was such a pleasant surprise for me. It’s not often I get to spend entire days feeling light and breezy like that. I am excited to see where I’m at after a few months of daily use. Plus, the bottle is so small and so discreet, I feel completely comfortable adding a little to my drinks in public or putting a few drops under my tongue. The smell is very minimal, too — bonus!
As for my flower, I’ll rate this as 7.5/10. It added a thick layer of calm over my life and I absolutely loved it. However, I did rate it just below the tincture because flower is just risky. We have to be very careful where we use flower. It’s hard to vape on the go, and even if you’re home, you’ve got to worry about landlords, HOAs, nosy neighbors, city codes, etc. For an already anxious person, even the most calming strains can send me into a spiral if I can convince myself the knock at the door was the DEA rather than my Amazon package. And obviously, I can.
However you choose to medicate or stay sane this season, please make sure you’re doing so legally. If you haven’t yet, schedule now to get your Medical Card with UTTHC. If you’re headed out of town for the holidays, make sure you know your rights as a Medical Cannabis patient in other states. For more information about cannabis delivery methods, check out this episode of our educational series, Discover Marijuana. You can also find videos about treating mental health conditions with Medical Marijuana and so many other topics, so go ahead and smash that subscribe button while you’re there. And don’t forget, those solstice scaries have got nothing on you! Not when you’ve got Medical Cannabis. Happy holidays.
Our state lawmakers have come a long way since Utah’s Medical Cannabis Act passed a few years ago. While they were initially hesitant to enact a Medical Cannabis law, they did so in response to what the voters said they wanted. In the years since, they have continually tried to improve our program. They deserve kudos for their latest effort to stand up for government workers.
Despite the fact that Medical Cannabis is a legally allowed substance in Utah, certain municipalities in the state are not allowing public employees to use their medicines. In fact, some public servants are finding themselves in hot water just for possessing Medical Cannabis Cards. Police officers and firefighters immediately come to mind. This is not right, and state lawmakers have recognized as much.
FOX 13 reports that the Government Operations Interim Committee heard from a variety of Medical Cannabis advocates during a recent hearing at which the topic of discrimination against public employees was brought up. Numerous lawmakers made it clear that municipalities defying state law and punishing Medical Cannabis users was unacceptable.
To combat the problem, legislators have drafted a new bill that clearly defines how Medical Cannabis can be used by government workers. The bill reinforces the idea that Medical Cannabis has to be treated like any other controlled substance recommended for patients by prescription.
Simply put, state government workers can’t be punished for using Medical Cannabis. However, they are not allowed to use cannabis while working and they cannot come to work impaired. It is the same type of thing that applies to other prescription drugs, like pain medications.
When you get right down to it, the way some municipalities treat Medical Cannabis creates an unnecessary conflict. Think about it. If police department policy recognizes legally prescribed pain medication as appropriate for certain medical conditions, why treat legally recommended Medical Cannabis any differently? If it is okay for firefighters to use pain medication off the job, why is it inappropriate for them to use Medical Cannabis?
What it really boils down to is the ongoing stigma attached to all things cannabis. Cannabis has been demonized for decades and, in 1970, the federal government added cannabis to the Schedule I list of controlled substances. Classifying cannabis as Schedule I worsened the stigma by defining it as something without a currently accepted medical use.
Furthermore, we think the government has done a great disservice to patients across the country by limiting research into cannabis as a medicine.
Few other drugs have been treated as poorly as cannabis over the last fifty years. The stigma related to this particular drug continues even today, despite the fact that three dozen states now have legal Medical Cannabis programs in place.
We take our collective hats off to the Utah state legislators taking a stand against local governments that would discriminate against Medical Cannabis patients. While the bill they have proposed is limited to government workers, state lawmakers are encouraging private employers to treat Medical Cannabis like any other prescription medicine. To that we say, keep up the good work.
Our Medical Cannabis law is by no means perfect. We are still learning the best ways to implement Medical Cannabis in Utah. As we go, we will have to make adjustments to the rules. That is the way things work when government sails into uncharted waters. In the meantime, we should expect a few rough patches.
Be sure to thank state lawmakers for standing up for workers, for what is right. The more we show our support, the more they will do on behalf of Medical Cannabis patients and the industry as a whole.
A Utah Therapeutic Center billboard along I-80 in Salt Lake City.
If you’ve driven around the Salt Lake Valley recently, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a UtahMarijuana.org billboard or two. Our billboards aim to share an idea we’re passionate about: Cannabis is an effective medicine and a safer alternative to many other drugs.
Of course, when we designed the billboard, we had to shorten the message a bit: Less Risk, More Relief.
Let’s look at some of the ways cannabis is less risky than other drugs.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that, for the first time, more than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses in a 12-month period in the United States.
According to provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, an estimated 100,306 people died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in April 2021.
The CDC’s data show many of the deaths involve synthetic opioids, including illicitly-manufactured fentanyl, which black market drug dealers sometimes mix with other drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine. According to a DEA fact sheet about fentanyl, a person can die from taking as little as two milligrams of the drug.
So how does cannabis compare? In the 1970s, researchers in Massachusetts tried to determine whether or not there is a lethal dose of THC for primates. They administered massive doses, measuring in thousands of milligrams, of THC to rhesus monkeys.
The monkeys showed signs of lethargy, drowsiness, sedation, and a few other negative side effects, but they all survived.
“In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity,” administrative law judge Francis L. Young wrote in a 1988 ruling. “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.”
According to Judge Young’s ruling, a cannabis smoker would have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response.
Numerous Utah Therapeutic Health Center patients and guests on the “Utah in the Weeds” podcast can attest that cannabis has helped them either reduce or completely eliminate their use of opioids. We find it very encouraging to see so many people choosing to improve their lives by saying no to opioids.
The CDC reports excessive drinking is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. Between 2011 and 2015, about 95,000 Americans died each year from causes attributable to alcohol.
“This means that an average of 261 Americans die from excessive drinking every day, shortening their lives by an average of 29 years,” a statement on the CDC’s website says.
Deaths attributable to alcohol include deaths by alcohol poisoning (too much alcohol consumed too quickly), fatal motor vehicle crashes in which alcohol was a factor, and deaths linked to cancer, liver disease, or heart disease brought on by long-term drinking.
Statistics on alcohol-related deaths are readily-available on the CDC’s “Alcohol and Public Health” web page. But they don’t seem to have similar statistics to share on their “Marijuana and Public Health” web page.
There is a brief mention of deaths related to the 2019 outbreak of e-cigarette and vaping-related lung injuries (EVALI). The EVALI outbreak resulted in hundreds of hospitalizations and dozens of deaths. Most EVALI cases are linked to the additive Vitamin E acetate, which research suggests could interfere with normal lung functioning.
If cannabis were responsible for any significant number of deaths, the government and the news media would undoubtedly publicize that information in the interest of public health. But the truth is: everyday cannabis use is non-lethal.
So far, we’ve shown some of the ways cannabis is a safer alternative to drugs like opioids and alcohol. But there are some important potential risks to know about. Some of these include:
Using too much THC can cause some uncomfortable side effects like anxiety, paranoia, and an elevated heart rate. This is what we think of as a “cannabis overdose.” Fortunately, these unpleasant effects are temporary and non-lethal.
See our Medical Cannabis Safety Guide for further details.
There are some limitations to your rights as a card-carrying Medical Cannabis patient. Your Medical Cannabis card is not the equivalent of a “Get Out of Jail Free” card from Monopoly.
While most states have enacted either Medical Cannabis or adult-use (recreational) cannabis programs, the drug remains illegal under federal law.
This means you may not legally bring your cannabis to federal buildings, national parks, military property, and other federal land.
According to NORML, the penalty for possessing cannabis (first offense) on federal property is incarceration for up to one year and a maximum fine of $1,000.
The penalties for selling or cultivating cannabis on federal property are much more severe. First-time offenders could face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for selling or cultivating cannabis in violation of federal law.
Furthermore, transporting cannabis across state lines could, in the worst of circumstances, lead to federal drug trafficking charges. According to the DEA, the penalties for a first drug trafficking offense include up to five years of incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000.
Earlier in Utah’s Medical Cannabis program, out-of-state purchases were OK, at least according to state law. But that changed on July 1, 2021.
“All Utah Medical Cannabis cardholders must purchase their products from a Utah Pharmacy. Out-of-state purchases and possession of Medical Cannabis are no longer permitted.” a bulletin on the state’s Medical Cannabis website says.
Utah has its own set of laws surrounding cannabis possession, sale, and cultivation. A first-time conviction for cannabis possession could result in incarceration for up to six months and a fine of up to $1,000.
If you purchase your cannabis from a dispensary or pharmacy in another state, bringing it back to Utah is no longer permitted for Medical Cannabis cardholders, as of July 1, 2021.
The good news is that your Utah Medical Cannabis card provides some degree of protection in a traffic stop, as long as you’re following the rules.
If you have such an encounter, the officer is supposed to verify your status as a Medical Cannabis cardholder by looking you up in the Utah Criminal Justice Information System.
Once the officer verifies you have an active card, the officer may not arrest you or confiscate your medicine for the sole reason that you are in possession of cannabis.
Imagine yourself in that scenario. You’ve been pulled over for speeding (or some similar infraction) and the officer suspects you have cannabis. Would you rather have an active Medical Cannabis card or not have one just then?
Buying your cannabis from a legitimate, state-licensed pharmacy carries a number of benefits and is inherently less risky than buying from an illegal source.
Cannabis products sold at state pharmacies have gone through laboratory testing to confirm they’re safe to use. Black market cannabis, on the other hand, may not have been tested at all. It could contain unsafe levels of pesticides, mold, fertilizer, adulterants, or other contaminants.
When you buy cannabis from a state pharmacy, the budtender will apply labels to your products and give you a receipt. These provide more proof that you’re in legal possession of your medicine.
In Utah, there are 15 qualifying conditions for which a person can seek a recommendation for Medical Cannabis. In practice, we hear from patients with many other types of conditions that cannabis can treat.
Here are a few of the most common qualifying conditions, and some candid, unpaid endorsements for cannabis from real patients.
“[A friend] gave me an oil pen to try out just to help with the pain and, tell you what, it took things down from a seven or an eight down to a three or a four as far as pain goes,” said Chris Voss, who suffers from pain associated with multiple sclerosis.
“It doesn’t take away your pain completely but it will make it manageable and it dulls the pain. As long as you’re getting the right dosage and you know what’s working for you, it keeps the pain under control to where I wasn’t in agony and tearful chaos all day,” said Vanessa Nielsen, who suffers from residual pain following a bilateral mastectomy operation.
“My migraines will start pounding in my eyes and, even with a hot compress on both sides and pills—I hate pills—it never really did it. But with certain strains of this cannabis, it’s amazing,” said Zac King, who also uses cannabis to treat his PTSD.
“I have a variety of not only different types of flower, but I have tinctures and edibles and vape pens and stuff like that, so that I can tailor exactly what I need for the symptoms that I’m dealing with. Because with the PTSD/bipolar combo, sometimes you just don’t know what the hell you’re going to find when you wake up. You can be happy and having a good day and you wake up the next day and it’s going to be three or four weeks of pure hell of being miserable and depressed, or even worse getting into a mixed episode where your anxiety is amped up. And the cannabis is essential in calming me down,” said Randyl Nielson, who qualifies for Medical Cannabis because of his PTSD.
“I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD three different times over 25 years. The first one was when my husband was killed by a drunk driver. I had a lot of really weird situations. Anyways, neither here nor there, I think that I self-medicated all those years because I couldn’t take antidepressants and I didn’t want to be wiped on Valium or Xanax. I had a full-time job, I had a kid to raise, didn’t have time to mess around. I’ve always paid my own bills, always been super responsible. So, it’s hard to admit back then that I was that heavy of a pot user because people would judge me and be like, ‘Oh.’ But if you didn’t know me and you met me, you’d never guess now, would you?” said Vanessa Nielsen.
“I was actually really sick, nauseous a couple days ago. I took a couple of puffs from [a Maui Wowie vape cartridge] and I was feeling fine. And the high that I got from it, it wasn’t anything where I felt like I couldn’t function. […] Honestly, I didn’t even feel any different. It was just that the nausea went away and I could focus on what I was trying to get done that day,” said Kenyon Snow, who suffers from ulcerative colitis-related nausea.
More than 37,000 patients have now joined Utah’s Medical Cannabis program. New survey results from the Utah Department of Health show 98% of patients report experiencing some sort of benefit from using Medical Cannabis to treat their qualifying conditions. Ninety-eight percent might seem like an outrageously-high satisfaction rate for medical treatment, but it’s no surprise at all for many of the more experienced Medical Cannabis users.
If you or someone you love is suffering with a medical condition that cannabis can treat, make an appointment! A Qualified Medical Provider can listen to your needs and help you find new ways to Feel Better.
We have been looking forward to this for a long time: the state announcement detailing who would get the fifteenth pharmacy license approved by lawmakers earlier in 2021. Now we know that license has gone to Dragonfly Wellness. Dragonfly has been given the green light to open a new pharmacy in Price, Carbon County.
Though some in the industry do not want the state to issue any more pharmacy licenses, we are all in on the fifteenth pharmacy. Patients need access to their medicines regardless of where they live. For some, home delivery just isn’t the way to go. Yet driving an hour or more to visit a pharmacy is pretty much a deal-breaker.
We need more access in rural parts of the state. If that means more pharmacy licenses, then let’s go for it. In the meantime, we are looking forward to letting Medical Cannabis patients know when the new Dragonfly facility opens.
Carbon County is located in the eastern part of the state, adjacent to Utah, Duchesne, Uintah, Emery, and Sanpete counties. Its county seat is Price. With a total population of just 20,000, Carbon County is clearly rural.
Believe it or not, Carbon County was originally part of Emery County. That changed when the railroad was built through the state along the Price River. Coal mines were developed to support the railroad and, as a result, some of the people in the northern part of the county wanted to split off from Emery. That is exactly what happened in 1894, some 14 years after Emery County was established.
The new Carbon County got its name from the coal industry. For many years, coal supported the county’s economy. Today, it is all about natural gas. Carbon County has a plethora of natural resources that support the entire state of Utah. The people who live and work there are every bit as important to the Beehive State as their counterparts in the bigger cities.
We may never know exactly why the state chose Dragonfly as the fifteenth license holder and Price as the location of the new Medical Cannabis pharmacy. Putting a pharmacy in Price is a good start in the effort to increase access in rural counties. Hopefully, successful implementation will lead to even more efforts to improve rural access.
In the meantime, remember that patients still need a Medical Cannabis Card to buy from Dragonfly when their new facility opens. Nothing in respect to that has changed. Medical Cannabis cards are available to patients who are diagnosed with a qualifying condition by a Qualified Medical Provider (QMP).
Applying for card begins with logging on to the state’s website and starting the application process. Then you have to visit with the QMP. We recommend you pay us a visit at any of our facilities in the state. We specialize in helping new patients get their cards.
Following a successful visit, your QMP will enter the necessary information into the state’s electronic verification system (EVS). Then it is up to you to complete your application and pay your fee. The state will send you your Medical Cannabis card via email. Once you have it, you’ll be ready to make your first purchase.
If you have any questions about obtaining your card, don’t hesitate to contact us. We will be keeping an eye on the new Dragonfly facility down in Price. We are looking forward to them being ready to meet the needs of rural patients in eastern and southern portions of the state.
Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a world in which everybody got exactly the right healthcare from skilled providers who knew their stuff? We know that world doesn’t exist, but that shouldn’t stop us from improving healthcare as much as possible. This is one of the reasons that we firmly believe qualified medical providers (QMPs) and Pharmacy Medical Providers (PMPs) should work together on behalf of their patients.
State law allows QMPs to recommend use and dosage directions to patients. They can also defer to a PMP. But nothing in the law prevents QMP and PMP from working together. Nothing prevents them from consulting with one another about a patient’s response to Medical Cannabis.
Let’s face it, QMPs and PMPs have different bodies of knowledge. They have different skill sets. Remember that a QMP is a doctor, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse who has been certified by the state to recommend Medical Cannabis. The PMP is a licensed pharmacist, working at a Utah Medical Cannabis pharmacy, who has been certified by the state to dispense cannabis medicines.
The differences between a QMP and a PMP are nearly identical to the differences between medical providers and pharmacists in a non-cannabis setting. Both categories of professionals are fully trained and licensed by the state. But their training is different. Therefore, their responsibilities to patients are different, too.
All this may sound pretty basic, but there is still plenty of confusion about how the system works. The QMP’s primary role is to diagnose a patient’s condition, offer treatment and prognosis, and then help the patient manage their health. The bulk of a PMP’s training occurs in medical school. However, medical schools do not spend a lot of time training future clinicians about drugs and the effects these have on the body.
Budding medical providers learn about biology, physiology, pathology, and a whole bunch of other “-ologies.” It is not practical for them to study all that stuff and then have to learn about pharmacology as well. That is why there is a distinction between doctor and pharmacist.
Outside of the Metal Cannabis setting, a doctor may prescribe a particular medication to treat a particular condition. But then the doctor relies on a pharmacist to ensure that the prescribed medication is appropriate. It is also the pharmacist’s responsibility to make sure the medication is dispensed properly and that the patient knows how to use it.
A PMP does for Medical Cannabis patients what a standard pharmacist does for patients using other prescription drugs. Note that a PMP also goes to school before being licensed to practice. But pharmacists don’t go to medical school, they go to pharmacy school.
Their exposure to things like biology and pathology are not as extensive as the future doctor in medical school. Instead, PMPs spend more time studying pharmacology. They learn about drugs. They learn how those drugs affect a variety of human systems. They also learn about something that is critical to Medical Cannabis use, something budding doctors don’t learn: the ins and outs of the human endocannabinoid system.
All of this explains why QMPs and PMPs should work together on behalf of their patients. The QMP is the most qualified to determine if a patient has a qualifying condition and will be best served by Medical Cannabis. The PMP is the most qualified to help patients use their medicines safely and to the best possible advantage. When the two work together, the patient gets the right kind of healthcare that improves quality of life.
Tis the season to be jolly and generous, Utah. Nothing quite beats the feeling of letting someone know you care and making them feel valued, whether that be through gifts, kind words, or selfless actions. It’s no surprise that the holiday season is a time people think to give back to their community. As part of the Utah cannabis community, we recognize how important it is to stand beside our people. This holiday season, we ask you to stand with us in our endeavors to brighten the lives of those less fortunate than us.
Listen, we know money is especially tight for all of us around the holidays. Maybe a monetary donation isn’t in the cards for you. Don’t worry, you can still make someone’s holiday season very special. Last Prisoner Project, founded in 2019 by Steve DeAngelo, believes strongly that no person should remain incarcerated due to cannabis-related offenses. (So do we!) These are our people. We use cannabis every day, safely and legally, while many remain locked up behind bars for the same thing. It’s the least we could do to send them some well wishes and good vibes this holiday season. That’s why we’ve decided to participate in their Holiday Letter Drive.
Last Prisoner Project provides a list of incarcerated individuals with photos and a bit about their stories for you to choose from. These people will miss Christmas with their families this year — maybe not for the first time — so send them a warm hug with your words to remind them that they are loved and valued. Drop them a quick line to let them know you’re fighting for them, catch them up on trending pop culture, or share a story or two. More information, rules & standards for letter-writing can be found here — make sure you read through them! We’d hate for your letter to not reach your pen pal for a violation of these rules. Heads up: Each parcel mailed to an inmate will be opened and reviewed by law enforcement before delivery to the recipient. Who knows? You may meet a lifelong friend through this program — find your pen pal here.
Winters in Utah are unmatched, am I right? Flurries of world-renowned soft, powdery snow cover the mountains and valleys every year and for anywhere from 2 – 6 months, we’re living in a snow globe. So beautiful, in fact, that most of us forget how threatening and unwelcome the chill of winter can be to the unsheltered and homeless folks in our communities. Let’s change that together this holiday season.
Through January 31, 2022, KindlyMD is partnering with our friends at Salt Lake Open Air Coalition to provide necessary winter-survival items to unsheltered folks in need. Our winter goods drive has already begun — you can find donation boxes in each of our clinics along the Wasatch Front (from Ogden to Provo) right now, even! We’ll be accepting tarps, tents, sleeping bags, heating supplies, first aid supplies, coats, shoes/boots, and blankets throughout December and January, with Salt Lake Open Air Coalition making regular pickups and distributions of the items. Nothing brings warm, holiday feeling quite like giving to others less fortunate than you. To sweeten an already pretty sweet deal (Hello, warm fuzzies!), we’ll even give you a $25 discount on your next KindlyMD visit for donating one or more of the items listed above (discount cannot be stacked with other promotions, promotion is now expired). I call that a win/winter goods drive.
If you are in a place to give back financially, consider giving someone the gift of feeling better. KindlyMD is proud to announce the launch of a charity program — Uplift — designed to help low-income patients in need receive Medical Cannabis treatment. We believe that safe access to cannabis should be readily available to all. We’re doing what we can to make that happen.
As a new initiative, Uplift aims to subsidize the costs of Medical Card evaluations through KindlyMD and product through our co-sponsors WholesomeCo, Beehive Farmacy, Zion Medicinal, and Deseret Wellness, for ten or more qualified patients per month. No one should be left to suffer due to low-income. That’s why we are now accepting donations from the community, of any amount, to put directly toward Medical Cannabis evaluation costs for patients in need. What’s more, UTTHC and our four co-sponsors will each match these donations, magnifying every dollar contributed by 6x. That means it only takes a donation of a little over $40 to help someone in poverty receive their first Medical Cannabis Card and their first nine months of potentially life-changing plant-based treatment.
Have you been waiting to get your Med Card due to lack of funds? You can apply to become an Uplift patient starting December 20, 2021. Presently, Uplift can sponsor those who earn less than 138% of the poverty threshold and/or have a terminal medical condition. To qualify as an Uplift patient, an applicant must:
We hope to expand the requirements for Uplift in the future to provide access to more prospective patients in need. When the application process opens, you can apply to be an Uplift patient here. Approved Uplift patients will choose the amount they are able to put toward their Medical Cannabis evaluation, from $0 – $150. Should you have additional questions or concerns, call our outreach line at 385-388-8550.
Whether you choose to participate in our endeavors, others, or none at all, we challenge you to spread a good word and keep spirits bright this season. When the new year comes, with all its’ resolutions and goals, we’ll be here to help you feel better. Schedule an appointment to get your Medical Card today. Have a happy holiday season from KindlyMD and UtahMarijuana.org.
In early 2021, we published a post talking about Medical Cannabis layering. The point of that post was to introduce our readers to the layering concept. Hopefully, you read the post and learned a thing or two. That being the case, let us take layering one step further. In addition to knowing what it is, you should also know that learning to layer your medicine effectively takes time and practice.
Medical Cannabis is somewhat unique in that QMPs and PMPs don’t write ironclad prescriptions in the same way a doctor might prescribe an antibiotic or opioid painkiller. Patients are allowed quite a bit of discretion in how they use Medical Cannabis products. Incidentally, this discretion is that which allows layering to begin with.
So what is layering? If you are new to Medical Cannabis, layering is the practice of using several types of medications simultaneously. The goal is to provide maximum relief from your particular condition. Layering is especially useful to patients who are being treated for multiple conditions at the same time.
Take a fictional patient named Joe. He has PTSD. The nightmares associated with his condition routinely interrupt his sleep. With the help of his PMP, he has discovered that certain edibles really help his sleep a lot. But the effects take several hours to kick in. Meanwhile, he starts to get anxious well before bedtime.
His PMP recommends taking edibles two hours before bedtime. If he starts feeling anxious and needs help preparing for sleep, his PMP suggests a little bit of tincture under the tongue. This will help Joe settle down so that he is ready for sleep when bedtime arrives. The tincture prepares him for sleep while the edible guarantees he will sleep through the night.
This brings us to the main issue of why layering takes time and practice. When you first start layering, the chances of you and your PMP knowing exactly what will work best are pretty slim. You just have to try something based on how your body has been reacting to your medicines to date. Your PMP can help you make an educated guess, based on your weight and previous consumption habits, of dosages to use in layering.
You might get lucky and get it right on your first try. But you probably won’t. So you go back to your PMP and report your progress. The two of you then work together on adjusting your medications. You can then try out the new strategy and track it for a little while.
Chances are you are going to try several different delivery methods and a variety of doses before you figure out the best layering strategy. And because you do not want to make too many drastic changes too quickly, all your layering changes will occur gradually. Depending on your medical condition and how you respond to Medical Cannabis, it could take anywhere from several weeks to several months to figure out the best way to layer.
With enough time and practice, you will figure it out. But don’t assume that will be the end of it. If you are like most people, your health will change over time. There may come a day when something changes. That something might be enough to throw off your entire layering strategy. Then it is back to square one.
It takes time and practice to figure out a Medical Cannabis layering solution. Remember to start “low and slow,” meaning to use low doses of cannabis at first, and to allow plenty of time for those doses to take effect before consuming more cannabis. Use our “Find Your Just Right Dose” guide to learn your minimum effective dose.
