New York Times reporters Megan Twohey, Danielle Ivory, and Carson Kessler recently published findings from their month-long reporting journey into the risks of cannabis use. The article is titled As America’s Marijuana Use Grows, So Do the Harms. They interviewed and surveyed hundreds of doctors and consumers to better understand the “emerging ill-effects of cannabis” which are “severe and widespread”.
Cannabis science evolves every day. For the last twelve years Realm of Caring has been at the forefront of this conversation in several ways by both leading research projects and being directly tapped into the everyday cannabis consumer at a global scale. We have accumulated millions of data points and conducted hundreds of thousands of one on one interactions. More about Realm of Caring later, but first I feel we must address the wrongly directed harms in this article before the conversation propagates a prohibition rhetoric any further.
Allow me to begin by bringing to your attention to the real issue:
Individuals have been self-medicating with cannabis for a host of health conditions for decades without proper guidance from a medical professional or regulatory oversight that ensures patient safety over profit. As a society, we are to blame.
Medical patients who have found success through their cannabinoid therapy often have the same story: they researched, studied, observed, and tried various products until finding something that allowed them to live an improved quality of life. These patients filled in a gap that a medical system could not and would not provide to them.
Unfortunately, without directly saying it, this article highlights problem after problem that can be attributed to: lack of education, lack of knowledge before purchasing, lack of medical support, and lack of products for a medically fragile community. And yet, the only solution they provide is “educate the consumer”. A resounding “yes” – educate the consumer! However, the burden cannot stay with them, as they have to constantly dig into the latest available research and bring that research to the retail worker behind the dispensary counter or their doctor. The burden must lie with those profiting off of their health.
“Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS), once rare but is now common.”
Negative consequences can happen. Anything can become addictive. However, these things generally do not happen when professionals support individuals in treating their medical conditions.
From Realm of Caring’s decade of recorded interactions, individuals reaching out to our free support line to ask questions about CHS makes up 0.0047% of inquiries. The problem exists and should be solved but not by instilling fear. Fear-based decision making is what has kept cannabis as a Schedule 1 substance for nearly 55 years and prevents further research into the endless beneficial health claims. This scheduling has also prevented those suffering from debilitating, life-threatening conditions from having honest and constructive conversations with their doctor about incorporating the plant into their health regimen.
Legal scholar Cass Sunstein has used the term “probability neglect” to describe this process of fear-based decision making as creating an inflated perception of probability by focusing on the potential harm of a worst-case scenario, rather than considering how likely it is to actually occur. We should be cautioned to incite such feelings based on one month of investigative journalism.
“We as scientists have done a really bad job educating the general public about the risks of cannabis.”
Wrong. We have not done a bad job of educating the general public about risks. We have done a lousy job at educating our doctors and medical health professionals. We have done a terrible job at not translating scientific knowledge into policy so cannabis can be regulated at the federal level. We have done a poor job at giving consumers a safe space in their doctor’s office to ask questions about cannabis to determine if it is even for them or not.
Cannabis is not for everyone. For example, if you are predisposed to a major psychiatric condition, there is a correlation between that and self-medicating with cannabis; this article highlights that exact sentiment. Cannabis may not be the cause of a psychotic disorder, but it may exacerbate symptoms. Suppose this is the case, and we know that those who may be genetically at a greater risk for psychological conditions are consuming cannabis; then why is there not more emphasis put on how to support these patients on that journey rather than waiting until a catastrophic event happens? If veterans, for example, were able to speak with their VA doctor about utilizing cannabis as a therapy for their PTSD, might we have more conversations about cannabis being a catalyst for success rather than a catalyst for disaster?
“States have rolled out inconsistent standards.”
This one is very true. A medical cannabis patient in one state may not cross state lines with their medicine or purchase medical cannabis in another state. States are favoring the interests of multi-state operators over patients. A large number of cannabis companies are seemingly more concerned with profits over patients. Very few are listening to the patient.
While cannabis companies are crafting products to yield higher percentages of THC, patients are shopping elsewhere, growing it themselves, or, low and behold, suffering from CHS and turning away from cannabis altogether. The article may allude to the fact that the “public health experiment” has failed when, in actuality, the state experiment has failed. Inconsistency and ambiguity create loopholes that allow products to be on the market that shouldn’t be and make access to quality cannabis products a privilege. A solution is needed at the federal level.
Enter: Realm of Caring Foundation
Realm of Caring was born out of necessity. Parents whose children were suffering from intractable diseases scoured every research article ever written for their child’s diagnosis and discovered cannabis could be an option. When they bravely approached their doctor with the information. They were told that they could try it but would not or could not receive support. Believe it or not, 12 years after Realm of Caring was founded, this is the same message that is given to patients today – no matter the age of the patient.
Realm of Caring was born so suffering individuals would not have to do this alone. They, at long last, had a safe space to ask questions, understand research, learn how to find a quality product that could help them, be provided with affordable options, and become active, healthy members of society. There may not be a solution at the federal level yet that ensures cannabis is safe, accessible, accepted, and de-stigmatized. Still, in the meantime, Realm of Caring is filling the void through compassionate care and groundbreaking research.
“None are monitoring – or even equipped – to access the full scope of health outcomes.”
As Realm of Caring is dedicated to cannabis research and education, we will advance our work into medicinal cannabis by collaborating on a National Cannabis Study supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awarded to Johns Hopkins Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit through the NIH Registry of Medical Cannabis Use and Health Outcomes funding opportunity. This project will develop and maintain a medicinal cannabis use registry to assess the medical conditions reported as reasons for consumption, how and what products are being used, and the associated medical outcomes. Through this publicly accessible registry, Realm of Caring and others may utilize the data to inform both policy and clinical recommendation practices on medicinal cannabis, CBD products, and associated conditions and outcomes for patients.
The grant will support research to understand the potential benefits, harms, and outcomes of medicinal cannabis use in the United States, to enroll 10,000 individuals over the next 5 years. The hope is that this research project will have an instrumental ripple effect in helping millions of patients, providers, and caregivers make informed decisions about incorporating cannabis into their healthcare. Additionally, the project aims to provide data-driven information that can be used to inform drug policies across the country.
In addition, Realm of Caring funds and conducts several independent research projects to close the gap between scientific knowledge and policy. Realm of Caring has the capacity to collect data on every diagnosis that one may or may not be using cannabis to self-treat through our Observational Research Registry. We are also collecting data on the long-term effects of cannabidiol (CBD) and the potential benefits of cannabis for female veterans.
Since our inception, we have welcomed an array of individuals – from those who are curious to those desperate to find a solution to keep their loved ones alive – and we helped them. We have created space for one-on-one discussions to provide research-backed answers to questions that detail both the potential benefits and potential risks of cannabinoid therapy. No one wants to forge alone into the unknown, which is why Realm of Caring exists. Here, we will remain until the questions splattered throughout the Times article are highlighted as the problem and resolved instead of pointing the finger at a plant.
