As more patients turn to medical marijuana, doctors and lawmakers remain divided

Straight Arrow News

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00:00I was in a bad accident in 2015 and I couldn't move and I couldn't get out of the chair half

00:14the time. We tried 36 different medications, none of them worked. This took a course of a

00:19little bit over a year. Once we emptied out the entire medicine cabinet full of options,

00:24I started getting really desperate. So desperate, Josh Donovan chose a route he swore he would never

00:30try. And when the traditional stuff from the pharmacies didn't work, I had to figure something

00:35out. The recovery process came to a halt when he couldn't withstand the pain during therapy.

00:40When Donovan's doctor suggested medical marijuana, he really had to think about it. It never crossed

00:45my mind. I'd never done it as a teenager. I was against it. I really didn't like the sounds of

00:50it, but I was so desperate. I would have licked a toad if it would have helped me. They deserve

00:56the dignity of treatments that can be safe and effective when everything else has failed. This

01:02doctor Patricia Hereford started him on low dosage gummies, ultimately finding a safe point. I was

01:08completely sober, only I just had about 50% less pain. According to the medical marijuana project,

01:14there are approximately 3.7 million medical cannabis patients in the United States.

01:20That number does not include states that aren't required to report their numbers.

01:24With so many patients, why are doctors reluctant to suggest the drug for pain relief?

01:29There are only about 30% of physicians who feel comfortable discussing cannabis,

01:33and that 30% does not include physicians who have a more intimate knowledge of the

01:41cannabis potential therapeutically. Hereford points to drug scheduling as the issue. Marijuana

01:46is currently a Schedule One. Other Schedule Ones include heroin and methamphetamine. According to

01:52the Drug Enforcement Agency, marijuana is more dangerous than cocaine, oxycodone, or fentanyl.

01:58As a result, Hereford says many doctors are afraid to suggest the drug as a method of treatment.

02:03And so by having them scheduled in a lower classification, I think it takes a bit of that

02:08stigma away, not only for the patients, but for physicians.

02:15Straight Arrow News recently toured a medical cannabis processing plant. What we saw was similar

02:19to any pill making facility. Special attention is made to hygiene and safety. Scientists sit in a lab

02:25working on various mixtures to target certain disorders. Yet, this treatment is sold at a cannabis

02:31dispensary, not a pharmacy. This is one reason why some groups are so concerned about rescheduling or

02:36legalization. There's no other medication where a doctor gives you a card that lets you get an

02:42unlimited prescription of an intoxicating substance at a commercial retail operation that is operated

02:50by people who aren't necessarily medical professionals or nurses or trained pharmacists. Jordan

02:56Davidson is the government affairs director for smart approaches to marijuana. The organization

03:01was created to educate legislators on the benefits of science-based policy,

03:05keeping it out of the hands of commercialization. There's no reason we can't reform within the system

03:11and do more to loosen research restrictions without actually rescheduling the drug because that is

03:16really the first step to addiction for profit. Back in August, President Donald Trump said his

03:21administration is looking at reclassifying the drug. Some people like it. Some people hate it.

03:26Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because if it does bad for the children, it does

03:31bad for people that are older than children. But we're looking at reclassification and we'll make a

03:36determination over the next, I would say, over the next few weeks. Congressman Gerald Nadler also

03:40reintroduced a bill calling for decriminalization of marijuana. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment

03:46and Expungement Act, also known as the Moore Act, removes marijuana from the list of scheduled

03:51substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for any individual

03:57who manufactures, distributes or possesses marijuana. The legislation currently sits before the Judiciary

04:04Committee. Right now, 24 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized adult use cannabis. 40 states have

04:11legalized medical cannabis. Donovan lives in Missouri, where cannabis is legal. He admits it took at least a

04:17year to see improvements. I could not raise it above my shoulder and now I have full range of motion in both arms

04:24and everything else. But that's from, you know, medicating and then being able to survive the exercises to

04:31get your range of motion. He credits the drug with helping him get back on his feet and build enough strength

04:36to return to work. Donovan admits the experience has changed his perspective. I'm not here to beat the drum

04:43saying that this is right for everybody. I'm just saying that if you're responsible and you

04:50do it responsibly, you can have really great results with it. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Diane Duenas.

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