Millions of people across the U.S. now use medical cannabis to relieve the symptoms associated with conditions like PTSD, cancer, and fibromyalgia. And with so many people coming online every month, there are undoubtedly new users who approach medical cannabis without any idea of how it all works. Here is a common question: how much should I use?
There Are No Prescriptions
‘How much should I use?’ is a legitimate question born from the prescription process we are all familiar with. When a visit to the doctor results in a prescription, that prescription includes dosage, frequency, and detailed instructions about how to take the drug in question. A prescription bottle might say something like ‘take one tablet every four hours with water’. Easy peasy, right?
It is not so easy with medical cannabis. In the medical cannabis world, there are no prescriptions. There are only recommendations that may or may not be accompanied by dosage guidelines. Only two states with medical cannabis programs have gone so far as to create prescription-like guidelines. The remaining 37 states pretty much expect patience to self-medicate.
Help Is Available
Despite the self-medication culture that permeates medical cannabis, there is help for new patients. That help is found in both doctors and medical cannabis pharmacists. Every state is different but let us use Utah as an example.
The operators of Brigham City’s Beehive Farmacy say that Utah regulations require that they have a licensed medical cannabis pharmacist on-site whenever their doors are open. That way, customers coming in to purchase medical cannabis have an experienced and trained professional they can talk to.
A pharmacist with medical cannabis training can answer most questions. He or she can provide guidance on dosage, frequency, and delivery method. But that is not all. Patients can also consult with their doctors. In some cases, doctors and pharmacists consult with one another to provide proper guidance.
Patients Have to Ask
An important caveat to all of this is that patients need to ask. A small number of states require pharmacist consultations before patients can purchase medical cannabis. But most do not. So if a patient has questions or needs advice, she has to speak up. This applies to both doctor and pharmacist consultations.
Beehive Farmacy personnel say that most doctors and pharmacists would recommend the low and slow approach to new patients. Low and slow dictate that a patient starts with the lowest possible dosage that minimal frequency. If sufficient relief isn’t provided, incremental increases are appropriate until the patient experiences the expected relief.
For example, a patient might start with 2.5 mg of a THC-based medicine once per day. If relief is not sufficient, a pharmacist might recommend increasing the frequency to twice daily. If sufficient relief still is not experienced, he might recommend 3.5 mg.
The key to low and slow is to give each dosage sufficient time to work before increasing. Ideally, patients track their consumption and then provide that data to a pharmacist in order to get an updated recommendation.
It is a Trial-and-Error Thing
If this all seems like a trial-and-error kind of thing, you are spot on. Because prescriptions do not exist in the medical cannabis world, patients need to utilize trial and error to figure out what works best for them. And it is not just dosage. Trial and error also apply to delivery methods.
The simplest answer for a patient asking how much medical cannabis he should use is this: start with the smallest possible amount and see how it goes. That is about it.
