by Yami Virgin
The Texas Compassionate Care Act takes
care of one group of epilepsy patients when it comes to using
marijuana, but according to some physicians we spoke to in Colorado,
where recreational marijuana is now legal, medical marijuana is the
gateway to a lot of trouble.
Fox San Antonio traveled to Colorado,
where they want Texans to study the problems they've had in their
state before we decide to legalize or not. The pros may not always be
worth the risks and while so many seem to get relief from medical pot,
some docs in Colorado say its the first step of the point of no return.
"At
the end of the day, medical marijuana is simply a non-treated
legalization," said Dr. Kenneth Finn, who is a pain doctor in Colorado
Springs. His area of expertise is the hidden cost of marijuana use in
the state of Colorado. Dr. Finn says you no longer hear about the
Compassionate Care Act in his state, the main reason many voted to
legalize cannabis.
"It was huge back in 2000 when they said people
are dying of cancer, that are terminally ill, the right to try. And I
kind of support those concepts, but we had no idea what was going to
happen with impaired driving, illegal grows, foreign nationals, driving
impairments adolescent use of addiction and we have the vaping
epidemic. Our kids, they're not vaping nicotine. Don't kid yourself.
Their vaping high concentrated pot."
What
Dr. Finn also found through his work with Colorado University's
pharmacy department is that marijuana may not be for all types of
chronic pain especially for people who've had transplant surgeries...
"The
ones that are using CBD are having a very hard time maintaining
adequate levels of anti rejection medication. So I tell my patients
that are wanting to use particularly any type of medical marijuana
product - buyer beware," said Dr. Finn.
And
there is also concern for the types of of poisons like insecticides,
rodent killer, molds and mildew in products being used in Colorado. So
from a state where the Compassionate Care Act was dormant, Colorado
transformed into a state where Dr. Finn says dispensaries popped up like
daisies.
"We went from having maybe 2000 medical marijuana
patients and in one year it went from 2,000 to 140,000 so we went in a
year from a very healthy state to what look like a very sick state,"
said Dr. Finn.
Dr. Finn says most people who have pain or pain
problems carry a medical marijuana card in Colorado, but as he has
uncovered through his own research not all doctors are following the
rules and required physical exams have almost become non-existent.
"I
can tell you I've had patients of mine who've told me this -- I have
had people in the community that I know, that the physical exam is
nonexistent , they may touch your knee and move your knee and say here's
your card for your knee pain," said Dr. Finn.
The opioid epidemic
is the reason why Dr. Finn admits he started researching the effects of
marijuana on pain, but he soon realized that more than 95 per cent of
his patients would tell him cannabis didn't help with the pain.
"Every
now and then I'll hit a home-run and I'll get a patient off their
opioids and they're using their marijuana products, fine, I don't have
to write a prescription. I'm not under the magnifying glass of the DEA
or the state, monitoring my pain prescriptions but that's the
exception, not the rule, I would love to get all my patients off their
opioids and if they are using a low potency cannabinoid that is not
contaminated, not full of heavy metals or fungus's or what have you, I'd
be ok with that, but that doesn't happen here... that's the problem,"
said Dr. Finn.
As Texas decides on proposed bills legalizing
marijuana in some form, Dr. Finn says all its done in Colorado is create
a black market, create a drain on law enforcement and its been a
significant drain on the healthcare system.
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