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Tips for Talking to Your Doctor About Medical Marijuana

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Tips for Talking to Your Doctor About Medical Marijuana

With marijuana becoming more popular as a medicine, people may assume that its gentle effectiveness and lack of harmful side effects means there’s no reason to talk to a doctor before deciding on their own to use it. However, this needs to happen for a number of reasons, not least of which because of the potential for drug interaction. So, in order to understand how to get the best out of this conversation, there are a few simple tips to follow.

Understand Rights

Anyone planning on speaking to their doctor about this should first be aware that they will not be breaking any laws by speaking with their physician. Additionally, doctors protect their patients’ privacy thanks to HIPAA. Additionally, a 2003 Supreme Court ruling states that law enforcement cannot charge the doctor either. 

Do Research

Anyone planning to talk to their doctor would need to understand what they will need to talk about. By doing research, patients will be able to talk to their doctor about why they feel they need medical marijuana. Additionally, doctors are often not trained in the usage of cannabis for medicinal purposes. As such, a patient explaining what they plan to use the marijuana for would be beneficial. Learning as much as they can about marijuana, specifically in regards to cannabinoids, terpenes, and the endocannabinoid system, can help patients explain the situation with their doctor.

Be Certain

Patients should not treat medical marijuana as a recreational drug, or as anything other than legitimate medicine in a conversation with their doctor. That is crucial. For a doctor to consider this, patients should treat this conversation like they are discussing any other potential medication. They need to be able to explain the situation with the doctor in a clear fashion.

Be Understanding

If the doctor refuses to help by providing access to medical marijuana, they likely have good reasons for doing so. Patients should not be upset or forceful for their requests and accept that the doctors have their reasons for this. That said, patients can consider going to other physicians to find help if they still feel that cannabis is the best route to follow. In fact, there are websites and apps that list doctors who are open to using medical marijuana.

Get Talking

Potential medical marijuana users should speak with their doctors to ensure there won’t be drug interaction. Hopefully, as the benefits of medical marijuana are proven, more doctors will be happy to help patients with their needs.

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