. Their profits are often dependent on patient approvals, with some offering money-back guarantees if customers are not approved for a card.
The post argued medical cannabis should be well-regulated for those with “legit medical needs.” But if lawmakers will not legalize marijuana, the group wrote, the medical program “should act as the Underground Railroad so that people have some legal protection against the brutality of the state.” Elevate Holistics, which offers to serve Pennsylvania patients, features online guidance titled “How to Get a Medical Card Without a Condition.” The same company’s website also refers to “good excuses for getting a medical card” and describes anxiety disorders as one of the “loopholes” on Pennsylvania’s list of qualifying conditions.
Spotlight PA’s analysis of the anonymized data found that in the program’s early years, chronic pain was the primary driver of certifications. Certifications for chronic pain continued to rise, but not as steeply as ones for anxiety. “Anxiety disorder is … just the easiest thing you can say,” Keith Humphreys, a psychiatry professor and addiction researcher at Stanford University, told Spotlight PA.
An estimated 31% of adults in the United States experience an anxiety disorder at some time in their lives, according to. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that occasional anxiety is normal, but when people have an anxiety disorder, “the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time.”
He said cannabis has allowed him to stop taking prescription medications, better manage his panic attacks, and rest at night. In February 2019, the state’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Board considered applications for several new conditions. With little discussion or debate, they approved an application for anxiety with a 5-3 vote.
Until recently, James Rochester interviewed medical marijuana patients for his work as an occupational medicine physician in Lancaster County. Many of those patients were in the medical marijuana program because of an anxiety diagnosis, he told Spotlight PA.Many patients had not tried alternative options either, Rochester said, and they often could not afford counseling.
“In many ways what … is happening all around the country is this giant, uncontrolled experiment on people’s brains,” he said.It is impossible to know how all certification companies and the state’s more than 1,800 approved medical marijuana doctors assess patients to participate in the program. “Do you suffer from ANXIETY or PTSD but have NO records?” the website for medical marijuana card company Releaf Specialists reads. “Self-medicating and you want your card?”
“Pennsylvania has a lengthy but very specific list with seemingly little chance for loopholes — but they are there, e.g., anxiety disorders and medical marijuana for chronic pain,” the website reads.
How headaches led to more people heading to cvs for Tylenol. Really riveting reporting here. We also found after an extensive investigation that more people drink cold beverages when it’s hot out.
If booze can take lives and destroy lives/families and be celebrated then marijuana should at least be legal