Article – November Newsletter

Dr. Jacob Mirman spoke about medical cannabis recently reported vaping injuries during Tom Bernard’s KQRS morning show on 10/02/2019

CLICK HERE to listen to the entire segment:

“There have been some injuries in Minnesota from vaping products recently, but none of them in Minnesota have been from the local producers of cannabis,” says Dr. Mirman.

“Let me synopsize what has been in the news about vaping. In the past few months there have been many reported lung injuries caused by vaping. Several people died. All the injuries as far as we know were caused by illicit vape cartridges. In MN no people were injured by legally-produced cartridges.”

“People need to understand that it’s not just the THC that causes the trouble. Some of the injuries were caused by nicotine cartridges. We think there is something in the carrier oil of the vape cartridges that is causing the issues and no one so far has been able to determine exactly what it is.”

“There is information on the state’s Department of Health website describing what happened to these people; what issues they experienced. Specifically, that they were sick from periods lasting from days to weeks and some had to be admitted to ICUs. People suffered from symptoms such as shortness of breath, fever, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and chest pain. Some of the individuals were very ill.”

“Minnesota cannabis companies also make capsules, oil drops and topical products such as creams. One of the differences in the way that cannabis is taken is that the oral products take a little longer to take effect but they also work for a longer period of time. The topical product also works well. The vapes are used when you need to get the effect very quickly. The effect of a vape takes only about 15 seconds. People often use it for breakthrough pain or breakthrough anxiety and many times it is used for issues such as PTSD. Since we don’t know yet exactly what causes the injury, we feel that when you can get adequate results from oral or topical products, they would be preferred over the vapes.”

“Legally-produced cannabis products cause very minimal side effects, if any. Most of the side effects can be effectively managed by the dispensary pharmacists by changing the medication dose or type.”

“I spoke with the people at the Minnesota cannabis labs and they confirmed that it is required by law to have all their products tested by a third party lab. They make it and someone else determines that there are no harmful chemicals in the products and that the products have the correct level of alkaloids (THC and CBT). Usually both are necessary to treat pain. So these products are tested and safe to use as prescribed.”

“I’ve certified over 2,000 people and I see all of them for follow-ups. The results that these patients get from cannabis in whatever form prescribed are usually very good, especially with intractable/chronic pain and PTSD. People with pain are usually taking other medications before they try cannabis; narcotics or opioids. Many can stop the opioids or greatly reduce their doses once they are on cannabis. In most cases these people have a significant reduction in pain when they use medical cannabis with virtually no side effects. They sleep better, they are able to go back to work; their lives generally improve greatly. I often hear ‘Trying cannabis was life-changing for me’. The pain patients are the ones that are most often vaping for breakthrough pain in instances where they didn’t take enough of the oral medicine. The vaping helps the pain level decrease very quickly.”

“Sometimes patients using medical cannabis can have unexpected extra positive results. We have treated many patients for pain and all of a sudden their asthma has gone away. Because they are sleeping better we have had many patients say that they have lost weight after going on cannabis. Diabetic patients have also reported improvements. In many cases, PTSD patients report that they experience anger, insomnia and nightmares. They don’t want to go out in public. In most cases when put on cannabis, they experience a total turnaround and these symptoms go away. Also many patients with different types of colitis, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, have used cannabis and have been able to discontinue their other medications and experience excellent results. “

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Zoom has been adopted by many healthcare clinics and organizations around the globe, and this secured platform incorporates a host of security protections to ensure protected health information (PHI) is safeguarded.

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ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE HAS RECENTLY BEEN ADDED AS A QUALIFYING CONDITION FOR MEDICAL CANNABIS IN MINNESOTA

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced that it has added Alzheimer’s disease as a new qualifying condition for the state’s medical cannabis program.

“Any policy decisions about cannabis are difficult due to the relative lack of published scientific evidence,” said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm. “However, there is some evidence for potential benefits of medical cannabis to improve the mood, sleep and behavior of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.”

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that mainly affects elderly people. It is the most common cause of dementia. Other symptoms include cognitive impairment, delusion, depression and agitation. The MDH research brief cited two available studies, which found that after cannabis use, some Alzheimer’s patients saw improvements in disruptive nighttime behaviors and agitation.

As with the program’s other qualifying conditions, patients will need advance certification from a Minnesota health care provider.

The current list of qualifying conditions includes:

• Cancer associated with severe/chronic pain, nausea or severe vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting
• Glaucoma
• HIV/AIDS
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy
• Severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis
• Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease
• Terminal illness, with a probable life expectancy of less than one year
• Intractable pain
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Autism spectrum disorders
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Alzheimer’s disease

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