Database of Patients Treated With Medicinal Marijuana

Will it be possible to create the first database of patients treated with medicinal marijuana?

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University announced they are going to build the world’s largest database of patients who have used medical marijuana as an alternative therapy. Researchers are making efforts to collect information from over 100,000 users. The proposed project initiated by MMJ.org will start this summer until the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019.

Charles Pollack

In those US states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana, patients will be recruited at clinics and by their doctors,” said Charles Pollack, director of the Lambert Center for Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp at the University of Jefferson. he added, “millions of sick Americans use medical marijuana. Of course, not everyone will be interested in participating in the project, but 100,000 patients are the target number. If we gather enough patients, we will create an overview of the medical use of marijuana in specific diseases, its dosage and efficacy.

IoVita

Lambert Center cooperates with a Boston startup, ioVita, which has created an online platform for patient registration. Interested patients will be asked to keep a health diary. Such persons will have to provide information about their illness and medical use of cannabis.

Survey

Marcus Bachhuber, a physician and scientist, presently conducting research on cannabis in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, said that MMJ’s initiative “can be an extremely effective project”. Bachhuber’s surveys show that 85% of patients using medical marijuana in New York would “certainly or probably” take part in the study if they were asked to do so.

According to the researcher, New York patients are very enthusiastic about sharing knowledge about the use of cannabis products, because they are aware of the fact that administering medical marijuana is still an innovative alternative therapy.

It is worth mentioning that attempts have already been made to create databases on the use of medical marijuana for certain diseases. For example:-

Canadian researcher Philippe Lucas collected information from 2032 patients as part of an observational study on the efficacy of cannabis in the treatment of migraines and headaches.

Medical marijuana preparations vary due to the different types of cannabis strains, which in turn produce cannabinoids (THC, CBD) in various proportions.

It is worth mentioning that prescribed dosage for cannabis products for specific diseases has not yet been established. In lieu of this, there is an urgent need to exchange information between patients and their doctors.

The Coming of a New Era

Why is the database of patients treated with medicinal marijuana such a big deal?

Though some countries have legalized marijuana, however, Canada will be the first country to completely legalize and regulate cannabis. Pro-Marijuana activist and enthusiasts are warming up for the coming of a new era —an era of legalized marijuana which will come into effect summer 2018.

When this happens, there will be more reasons for the rest of the world to legalize medicinal marijuana because there will be records of patients who have used marijuana as an alternative medicine.