• Home
  • MJNews @PRNewswire
  • MJChannelOne
  • MJBA.net
  • MJHeadlineNews
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • MJBA PR

MJNews Network

"The Voice of Legal Cannabis Since 2013"

  • Home
  • Business
  • MJNews by PRNewswire
  • Legal
  • Events
  • BlPOC in Cannabis
  • MJBAPR
  • MJAdnet
You are here: Home / Medical / Prescribing Marijuana Poses New Questions For Doctors

Prescribing Marijuana Poses New Questions For Doctors

September 11, 2013 by MJ News Network 2 Comments

CONNECTICUT: Meeting for the first time since regulations for the medical marijuana program were enacted, the state’s six-member Board of Physicians began working out the details of an entirely new system Wednesday.

Without the guidance of the U.S. Federal Drug Administration, the state is on its own when it comes to figuring out certain details governing the use of marijuana as a medication. For instance: How will patients be informed about the possible side effects of marijuana use and whether it has contradictions with other medications? How will the state collect data on those effects?

“There’s a lot of stuff to do,” said William Rubenstein, commissioner of the of the state Department of Consumer Protection, which oversees the program.  All prescription medications receive approval from the FDA, but because marijuana is not federally approved for medicinal use, there are no FDA-approved studies of its effects.

Rubenstein said there are a number of possibilities for how the state can create a database to track any adverse events patients might experience as a result of marijuana use. Without FDA supervision, Rubenstein said, “we don’t have a perfect mimicking of that system.” Instead, he said, a system for studying marijuana and reporting its adverse effects on patients needs to be developed internally.

Of the 20 states in the U.S. that have medical marijuana programs, he said, Connecticut is in the best position to collect useful data. That’s because of the rigorous testing requirements of all marijuana products and the requirement that each marijuana product be labeled with information about its chemical make-up.

“Because we’re requiring testing and labeling and the maintaining of the integrity of the product by packaging, we’re in a position to know exactly the product profile,” said Rubenstein, who serves as an ex officio member of the board.

Board member Dr. Jonathan Kost, a doctor of anesthesia at Hartford Hospital, suggested that physicians in the state receive special training on the effects of marijuana. He compared it to the training required of doctors before they can prescribe Suboxone, a medicine used to treat drug addiction.

Rubenstein said marijuana should be treated the same as most other medications, instead of putting it in a special category. “Our preference is to tread as lightly on the physicians’ judgment as we can,” he said.

Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, suggested that packages of marijuana come with information gleaned from the use of Marinol — an FDA-approved drug that uses THC, one of the active ingredients of marijuana.

Treating patients with marijuana, D’Souza said, “is not the usual practice for physicians, and I am concerned and uncomfortable about how much physicians know about marijuana.”

Rubenstein said physicians are free to consider Marinol’s effects when deciding whether to certify a patient for marijuana, but the regulations don’t require them to do so.

“The design of the program is that those discussions about the benefits and detriments of marijuana are communicated through the physician and the pharmacist,” he said.

Read full article @ The Courant

Filed Under: Medical Tagged With: Connecticut, Department of Consumer Protection, medial marijuana, William Rubenstein

About MJ News Network

Trackbacks

  1. MJ News Network | Connecticut State Policy On Medical Marijuana Shaping Up says:
    October 27, 2013 at 7:53 AM

    […] CONNECTICUT: Department of Consumer Protection Chairman William M. Rubenstein, whose agency is regulating the state’s newly minted medical marijuana program, joked Friday that he has been dubbed “Connecticut’s Pot Czar” by one newspaper, though he has heard that his counterparts in other states prefer the term “Hemperor.” […]

    Reply
  2. MJ News Network | Connecticut State Policy On Medical Marijuana Shaping Up says:
    October 27, 2013 at 7:53 AM

    […] CONNECTICUT: Department of Consumer Protection Chairman William M. Rubenstein, whose agency is regulating the state’s newly minted medical marijuana program, joked Friday that he has been dubbed “Connecticut’s Pot Czar” by one newspaper, though he has heard that his counterparts in other states prefer the term “Hemperor.” […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect with Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

Top Stories

Cannabis Conference & Cannabis Business Times to Present Tommy Chong With Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award

NEVADA: Cannabis Conference and award-winning media brand Cannabis Business Times are excited to announce Tommy Chong as their inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. The award, which recognizes Chong’s many contributions to the industry, will be presented at a special Cannabis Leadership Awards reception—made possible with the generous support of FOHSE – Future of Horticultural Science + Engineering—Aug. Read the full article…

GKUA + Weedmaps + Young Money = The 1st GKUA VIP Party Series with Mellow Rackz

“GKUA teamed up with Weedmaps, the party sponsor, to give away VIP tickets at dispensaries across the Bay Area. Weedmaps is connecting visitors to dispensaries offering GKUA products and tickets to this inaugural GKUA VIP Party.”- GKUA By Veronica Castillo You may have seen her on the red carpet at the BET Awards in 2022, Read the full article…

BE Cultivation and Provisions: Jungle Healing, Jungle Love, and the Giveaway Tour; Hear from Dreka Gates and the Team at BE

By Veronica Castillo MICHIGAN: On July 7, 2022, business owner, actress, producer, and woman in cannabis Dreka Gates, announced the launch of two product lines: Jungle Healing and Jungle Love. Jungle Healing is a hemp-derived CBD line of products available across the country. Jungle Love is a full line of THC-cannabis products in the Michigan Read the full article…

OLCC and Oregon Dept. of Agriculture Webinar – Agricultural Farm Labor Housing in Oregon

The OLCC is sharing this information provided from a partner agency. What is the webinar about? ODA and OLCC are hosting a webinar on agricultural farm labor housing requirements.  Sarah Rew, with OSHA, will be presenting on requirements and who must meet the requirements.  She will additionally touch on new heat and wildfire smoke rules. Read the full article…

WSLCB Board Action: Proposed Rules Filed for Amendments and New Rule Sections to Establish the Social Equity in Cannabis Program.

WASHINGTON:  On August 3, 2022, during a regularly scheduled meeting, the Liquor and Cannabis Board took the following action: Proposed rules filed – public comment period now open: Approved proposed rulemaking (CR 102) regarding amendments to existing rules and a new rule section that would establish the Social Equity in Cannabis program in response to recommendations Read the full article…

GKUA + Weedmaps + Young Money = The 1st GKUA VIP Party Series with Mellow Rackz

BE Cultivation and Provisions: Jungle Healing, Jungle Love, and the Giveaway Tour; Hear from Dreka Gates and the Team at BE

OLCC and Oregon Dept. of Agriculture Webinar – Agricultural Farm Labor Housing in Oregon

Tags

CA California Canada cannabis cannabis news CBD changing attitudes CO Colorado DC decriminalization dispensary District of Columbia end failed war on drugs end of failed war on drugs failed war on drugs Hemp I-502 legal cannabis legalization legal marijuana legal pot shop marijuana marijuana business medical cannabis medical marijuana mjlegal mjnews MJNews Network mjnewsnetwork.com mmj New York NORML NY OH Ohio OR Oregon politicians on pot recreational marijuana the business of cannabis the business of marijuana WA Washington WSLCB

Search By State:

  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

© Copyright 2014 MJBA Publishing · MJ News Network · All Rights Reserved ·