Iowa is set to launch its new medical marijuana program on December 1 but the doctors within the state seem lukewarm towards this development. Currently, only 325 out of the 7,000 doctors in the state have certified patients to start receiving medical marijuana.
Under Iowa state law, doctors cannot prescribe medical marijuana since it is a controlled substance. They can only give patients written confirmation of the condition for which the patients are eligible to enroll on the medical marijuana program.
The patient can then buy medical cannabis from authorized dispensaries after receiving a medical cannabis card from the state. So far, approximately 600 patients have been certified to get on the medical cannabis program.
Many doctors, such as oncologist Richard Deming, say that they are uneasy about participating in the program because they haven’t seen any scientific research to prove that cannabis has medicinal value.
He also adds that it is hard to recommend a treatment when there isn’t any information regarding the dosing levels for the substance that someone will take as medicine. Deming added that the whole program is different from the way doctors were trained to administer medicine or provide health care.
The Des Maine oncologist ends by saying that it would be helpful if the federal government eased the restrictions on marijuana research so that more scientific data can become available on the medicinal uses of cannabis.
The views of Dr. Deming were echoed by another doctor, Steven Adelman. The physician has only certified a single patient so far. He says more cannabis research is needed to address the concerns of the medical professionals.
Dr. Adelman says that in the present circumstances, one would conclude that the hype about the medical uses of cannabis has gone ahead of any scientific basis for those claims. This needs to be corrected, he adds.
The operators of the licensed medical cannabis dispensaries feel frustrated by the reluctance of doctors to take the first step needed to get patients on the medical marijuana program. They feel that a great disservice is being done to patients since some are reporting that they are finding it difficult to discuss medical cannabis with their primary healthcare givers.
It is unfortunate that such issues are coming up when the state has just expanded the list of qualifying conditions from only uncontrollable seizure disorders and intractable epilepsy to the current list that has nearly two dozen qualifying conditions.
However, there is hope that more doctors will come on board as more awareness drives are conducted to allay any fears they may have. FinCanna Capital Corp. (CSE: CALI) (OTCQB: FNNZF), Generation Alpha, Inc. (OTCQB: GNAL) and other industry players would love to see the concerns of the doctors addressed quickly so that patients can get the care they need.
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