Physician’s/Pharmacist’s Roles MJ is not intended to be used as first line therapy for pain relief, either smoked or as a medible. Before cannabis is recommended for this indication, physicians should ensure their patients have an adequate trial of standard analgesics for pain control. Multimodal approaches for chronic pain management appropriately include antidepressants, anticonvulsants, NSAIDs like ibuprofen, topical analgesics, and TENS units, in addition to narcotics. In

Clinical Interest/Safety The two main available strains of cannabis are cannabis sativa and cannabis indica. Cannabis sativa is associated with more psychotropic effects and cannabis indica causes more sedation. There is a third strain, cannabis ruderalis, which is less popular than the other two in our country. MJ contains nearly 500 different actives and ~80 unique cannabinoids. THC (analgesic) as well as cannabidiol (CBD, anti-seizure for Dravet Syndrome) are the main cann

The earliest documented use of cannabis or marijuana (MJ) took place around 2700 B.C. in China where it was touted for the treatment of gout, malaria, constipation, menstrual disorders, and memory loss. Ancient Egyptians used it to enhance uterine contractions and for the management of general fever and illness. Medical MJ was adopted into Western medicine in the 1830’s, prescribed by physicians through the 1930’s, and predominantly sold in U.S. pharmacies as an OTC analgesic