Medical cannabis has gotten a lot of attention over the last 25 years. We began using cannabis as a medicine in earnest when California and a couple of other states gave the green light back in the 1990s. I wonder how many early adopters still use cannabis as a medicine today.
I wonder because I know people who take other types of prescription medications daily. They plan to take them for the rest of their lives. In some cases, this could be decades. So I assume some medical cannabis patients plan to continue using their drug of choice too. But do they have to? That is the big question.
We Are Treating Symptoms
One of the criticisms against cannabis as a medicine is the fact that its only real purpose is to treat symptoms. The truth is that cannabis doesn’t cure anything. It may relieve pain, help a PTSD sufferer sleep, or even take the edge off the side effects of cancer treatment. But cannabis is not curative.
That alone is no reason to dismiss medical cannabis efficacy. After all, prescription painkillers aren’t curative either. Neither are statins, immunosuppressants, antidepressants, anti-inflammatory drugs, etc.
Most of the drugs doctors prescribe are designed only to alleviate or manage symptoms. Someone on a blood pressure medication will not be cured by that medication. In all likelihood, he will have to continue taking it until he passes. That brings us back to medical cannabis and the potential of using it forever.
The Purpose for Taking It
I suppose the first factor in determining treatment duration would be the purpose for using medical cannabis. A chronic pain patient may live with persistent pain for her entire life. She might choose to use medical cannabis for the rest of her days. On the other hand, consider a patient who might only use it for acute pain.
Acute pain is on Utah’s qualifying conditions list, according to the operators of the Beehive Farmacy in Salt Lake City. An example of an appropriate scenario promoted by the state is surgical pain. It is considered acute pain expected to last for at least a couple of weeks. Under Utah regulations, a doctor can recommend medical cannabis if he would otherwise prescribe opioid painkillers.
This is a case in which a patient’s medical cannabis consumption would not be permanent. He would only take the drug for as long as the acute pain persists. Meanwhile, the chronic pain patient will continue using medical cannabis year after year.
Other Factors to Consider
Whether or not a patient continues with medical cannabis therapy is influenced by several other factors as well. Here are just some of them:
- Professional Advice – At some point in the future, a patient’s doctor may advise that cannabis is no longer appropriate. She might recommend some other treatment instead.
- Patient Choice – Patients ultimately choose which therapies they will and will not accept. While some patients are happy to continue with cannabis therapy, others are not.
- Health Concerns – Patient health can change over time. Changes can definitely influence whether or not a patient continues with medical cannabis perpetually.
There are questions of tolerance to consider as well. Tolerance is a medical condition that occurs when the body gets used to having a certain drug in its system. It can have an impact on whether cannabis continues to be appropriate as a therapy.
It is not a given that a medical cannabis patient will remain on cannabis for the rest of her life. Using it forever is not guaranteed at the start of a patient’s therapy journey.
