Presenter: Paul Bergner

Original Date: May 21, 2016

Cannabis is now legal for some medical purposes in 23 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and millions of patients now take it on a daily basis for various health problems. The Therapeutic Order, from naturopathic practice, describes a clinical strategy that relies first on supporting the normal determinants of health and life such as diet, activity, rest, then on stimulating or supporting normal physiological processes with natural methods, or correcting physical lesions with bodywork or manipulation. Such methods may be curative, and may remove the cause of a condition. Lower on the therapeutic order is intervention with strong pharmacological agents – lower because these are not curative, and they produce side effects or distortions of normal physiological function.

The use of medical Cannabis may be necessary or desirable on a short or long term for some patients, but it is not curative for the conditions it is used to treat. Further, chronic daily use is associated with acute and chronic side effects, including increased tolerance, decreased effectiveness over time, and a withdrawal syndrome in habituated chronic users. Accumulating evidence indicates that subtle deficits in cognition and executive function are nearly universal in chronic users. Other side effects, such as the Cannabis emesis syndrome, or disruption of male or female reproductive function, are common in daily users yet are usually not recognized as side effects. We will present a review of some of the approved uses of medical Cannabis, with suggestions for supporting or alternative approaches. This presentation is based on a science review and results and statistics from a case series of 40 heavy daily Cannabis users.

2.0 General CEUs approved by OBNM