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* All views expressed here are those of Dr. Craig Blinderman and do not reflect the views of New York Presbyterian Hospital. 

Dr. Craig Blinderman, a palliative care specialist at New York Presbyterian Hospital, is one of the New York physicians intrigued by the potential medical marijuana holds for treating pain.

“What we’re trying to do is restore some functioning, whether it’s physical or mental or whatever,” Blinderman said. There’s actually a lot of research that suggests that it has benefits in patients with chronic pain, no appetite, nausea.”

Despite an “exponential increase in research,” however, Blinderman said we’re “just barely scratching the surface of this very complex network” of “cannabinoid receptors” all over our bodies, from our brains to our immune systems.

He insisted that there’s no reason why something so ubiquitous in our bodies shouldn’t be allowed for medical use. 

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  Some of America’s favorite stoners

“The problem is it’s associated with a huge stigma in our society, it’s remarkable just how much stigma is associated with it,” Blinderman said.

He emphasized that THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component in marijuana), is “not the only cannabinoid that exists.”

“Marijuana, the cannabis plant, contains a number of chemicals [and] can have dozens of different types of cannabinoids,” Blinderman explained. “There are some growers in California that are trying to actually tailor their plants so they can actually have different concentrations, like 20 percent THC or 10 percent cannabinol” (a non-psychoactive component).

These attempts are especially promising for making marijuana a truly effective medication.

“Let’s say the law‘s passed and I prescribe to a patient with severe nausea and pain, and the patient ends up feeling lethargic and spaced out and so forth,” Blinderman said. “I might seek out a different strain that has lower psychoactive qualities.”

Blinderman said there is already evidence suggesting that small doses of cannabis can have an “opioid sparing effect,” meaning one of the possible benefits of medical marijuana could be lessening a person’s need for opioids.

Opioids are very strong pain medications like oxycodone, morphine, and methadone. They are often used for cancer-related pain, and high doses can pose a lot of negative side effects. Cannabis, Blinderman said, may even affect the duration of pain relief and minimize withdrawal symptoms, which would not only decrease how much opioid a patient needs to take, but also how often it needs to be taken.

Blinderman rejects the reasoning that legalizing marijuana is dangerous because some people may use it for reasons other than pain management, pointing out that’s fairly common with prescription drugs already.

“People use ketamine recreationally, for example,” Blinderman explained. “It’s a powerful anesthetic, it’s used all the time, it’s great for pain.”

“Just the fact that people use it and go to dance parties, doesn’t mean I can’t prescribe it to someone with chronic pain, or depression for that matter,” Blinderman added.

Blinderman said he’s heard of studies showing that some elements in cannabis could have the ability to actually stop cancer from growing or spreading, by blocking key enzymes used in angiogenesis: blocking the enzymes prevents tumors from drawing in blood and growing.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think we’ve seen higher incidences of lung cancer” in patients using smokable marijuana to cope with chemotherapy. In fact, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no association between smoking marijuana and negative effects on lung functioning.

Ultimately, Blinderman is hopeful about the New York legislation, though expressed dismay at Senator Diane Savino’s rejection of “chronic pain” as a possible use for the substance. Savino said the term is too vague; the legislation instead lists specific illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, and epilepsy.

“It should include all types of chronic pain, I think,” Blinderman said. “That’s too bad.”

But he said he understood Savino’s inclination to narrowly restrictive legislation, and called the California legislation “kind of a farce.”

“Anybody can get a prescription for it, for any kind of ailment,” Blinderman said. “It makes a joke out of it being medicinal.”

If medical marijuana were legal in New York state, Blinderman said he would consider recommending it for patients with pain, nausea, appetite problems, and patients having a rough time with chemo.

“Hopefully with more states passing it, there will be more opportunities for research to be done, and clinical testing,” Blinderman said. “Drugs with less evidence have been approved.”

Medical marijuana: the political

Medical marijuana: the personal

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Medical marijuana: a NY doctor’s perspective appeared first on Metro.us.

New York State Senator Diane Savino had been a co-sponsor of the New York state medical marijuana bill since she first joined the Senate, and credits her interest in the cause to the “thousands and thousands of New Yorkers who suffer from chronic, debilitating conditions like multiple-sclerosis, epilepsy, diabetes, and cancer.”

“Unfortunately for them, the options that are available to them are high addictive, very deadly narcotics—oxycodone, vicodin, ativan,” she listed. “[These drugs are] a lot more damaging to you than marijuana but because of the laws in New York state, they can’t sit down with their doctor and come up with the best treatment plan for them.”

Savino said the New York bill would be the most regulated marijuana statute in the country.

“California is the worst model, there it’s like the Wild West, literally,” she said. “There’s almost no regulation, there’s almost no discernment on the part of medical professionals [about] who should and shouldn’t have marijuana.”

“It’s exactly the opposite of what we want in New York,” she added.

The way Savino describes it, legalizing marijuana could even be a profitable endeavor for the state.

“We want to license it, we want to tax it, we want to derive a significant amount of revenue from it,” she said.

Savino said there would be a licensing fee imposed upon growers and dispensers, and an excise tax that has yet to be determined.

As for whether medical marijuana will be available to veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a potential use floated by advocacy group the New York Cannabis Alliance, Savino said she’s “not sure.”

“I don’t believe we’re listing that,” she said. “Unfortunately, unlike other drugs, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, marijuana is still going to be considered illegal by the federal government, so we have to list specific conditions.”

Savino said that public opinion is a factor in how restrictive the criteria in the bill is.

“Unfortunately the public is a little leery about what this substance could be used for, so we have to proceed a little bit carefully,” she explained.

But the senator said she knows this legislation is vitally important to many New Yorkers.

Savino said she gets letters and phone calls not just from her own constituents, but from “people all over the state who have been living in pain, and if they just lived across one of the three bridges that connect us to New Jersey, they would have that option [to use medical marijuana].”

“Unfortunately, some people aren’t going to live long enough to avail themselves of this options, but for those people that are, we have to move,” Savino said.

The senator hopes to have a vote on the bill before the end of the legislative session.

Medical marijuana: the personal

Medical marijuana: a doctor’s perspective

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Medical marijuana: the political appeared first on Metro.us.

Cops busted a pot operation in Queens yesterday. 

According to police, NYPD officers found an extensive weed-growing operation in a building on 44th Road in Hunter’s Point.

Police officers found marijuana plants, lamps and growing apartment, the NYPD reported.

Cops released a photo of an officer near what appear to be rows of plants.

The post Cops bust pot-growing operation in Queens appeared first on Metro.us.