Salem doctor champions medicinal marijuana

Dr. David Rideout describes medicinal marijuana as “not a gateway drug but an exit drug.” The physician with more than 31 years of emergency room experience recently spoke at Salem State University’s Explorers Lifelong Learners Institute on what he called the positive benefits his patients have experienced using medicinal marijuana to treat a myriad of medical conditions and symptoms.

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  Dr. David Rideout talks about medical marijuana during a lecture at Explorers LLI of Salem State University. Wicked Local Staff Photo / David Sokol
  

  
  By William J. Dowd

  Dr. David Rideout describes medicinal marijuana as “not a gateway drug but an exit drug.”

  The physician with more than 31 years of emergency room experience recently spoke at Salem State University’s Explorers Lifelong Learners Institute on what he called the positive benefits his patients have experienced using medicinal marijuana to treat a myriad of medical conditions and symptoms.

  Rideout said he opened his Salem-based practice, MMJ, devoted to solely certifying patients in 2013.

  MMJ patients between ages 25 and 35, and 55 to 75 year olds, constitute Rideout’s largest clientele at 47 percent. Anxiety tops the list of symptoms Rideout certifies clients for followed by insomnia, back pain, post-traumatic disorder and attention deficit disorder.

  On the latter, Rideout said his patients tell him they’re “much calmer and can focus.”

  THC, formally known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, alters the mind and can be found in marijuana. In fact, over 100 different chemicals that modulate a number of bodily functions exist in marijuana, depending on the plant’s strand.

  “They seem to work very effectively in the spine and the brain,” said Rideout. “Back pain is a common reason people come to us because they seem to work well in relieving pain.”

  And he had several examples to back up his supposition.

  He told a story of young girl who suffered “50 seizures day,” but when she took a particular strand of medicinal marijuana called “Charlotte’s Web,” the seizures stopped.

  A 48-year-old woman diagnosed with breast cancer under Rideout’s care told him the pain, anxiety and nausea from chemo treatments subsided when she began using medicinal marijuana.

  Another patient of Rideout’s diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia told him, “The voices stop” when he began using, Rideout said.

  The lecture segued into a robust hour-long question-and-answering period; one person asked Rideout if addiction plays into using medical marijuana.

  “It has a reputation of being an addictive drug,” he answered. He then compared withdrawal symptoms to “quitting coffee.”

  A voice from the seated crowd and self-declared patient of Rideout offered on-the-spot testimony.

  “You certified me recently,” the man told Rideout. “I’m here to tell you everything you said here has been true.”

  The man said he suffered an injury and his “opiate use was at uncomfortable level” to relieve chronic pain.

  “Since I’ve been using medical marijuana, the opiate use has declined,” he said. “By the summertime, I expect to be off the opiates.”