Although marijuana is illegal under federal law, many states and territories have legalized cannabis for medical use.

Currently, 25 states including the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico have approved the use of medical cannabis with laws varying from state to state and medical experts differing when it comes to recommending medical cannabis as a source of treatment. Those who do recommend it say medicinal cannabis is effective when treating different diseases.

Dr. Daniel Brubaker, a physician at the Muscular Skeletal Medical Associates in Fresno, helps patients decide if medicinal cannabis is right for them.

“I keep saying it over and over,” he said. “I’ve never seen any other herb or plant that covers as many medical conditions as this one does on planet Earth. It’s natural and it’s effective.”

According to the American Cancer Society, cannabis has been used for herbal remedies for centuries and scientists have found many active chemicals in the drug which are called cannabinoids.

The two main cannabinoids that are used for medical purposes are delta-9-tetrahydrocannobinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) which have different actions in the human body. Scientists continue to study other cannabinoids.

THC is the chemical that causes people to get “high” and is used to help relieve pain and nausea and reduce inflammation but can also lead to anxiety and paranoia. On the contrary, it is reported that CBD can help reduce anxiety and paranoia, treat seizures and “can counteract the ‘high’ caused by THC,” according to the American Cancer Society.

Brubaker said many patients who use medicinal cannabis use low amounts of THC and high amounts of CBD, which is different for those who use recreational marijuana.

“With recreation they want the highest THC so they can get high,” he said. “They want to get high.”

Brubaker said patients can still get high when using medicinal cannabis but not to the same extent if they were using recreational marijuana. He said it all depends on the amount of THC that’s in the cannabis and what they want to use it for.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, marijuana is a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act meaning it is considered to have a high potential for abuse and is not accepted for medical use. Other Schedule I drugs are heroine, LSD and Ecstasy.

Cannabis has not been approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration as a source of medical treatment, but the FDA has approved cannabinoids like dronabinol and nabilone. They are used to treat nausea caused by cancer chemotherapy and increase the appetite in patients who have HIV/AIDS, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Like many drugs, cannabis and cannabinoids can be addictive.

“It can be addictive just like food can be addictive,” Brubaker said. “It doesn’t have the same addictive qualities that narcotics have or sleep aids, or medications for anxiety – Xanax – that is very addictive.”

Some harmful side effects of cannabinoids include increased heart rate, low blood pressure, bloodshot eyes, dizziness, lightheadedness, depression, hallucinations and paranoia, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Milton Teske, Kings County health officer, said he is aware that medicinal cannabis is legal but can’t dismiss the negative side effects.

“There are a lot of problems associated with it,” he said.

Teske said he sees at least one patient a day in the emergency room who suffers from a severe vomiting syndrome associated with regular cannabis use. He said the drug affects a person’s neurotransmitters, absorbs into the body’s tissue and over time causes the person to vomit.

“So that’s one of the common bad things I see associated with this,” he said.

Teske said not every other medicine is perfect, but would not recommend medicinal cannabis as a source of treatment.

“It’s not a very reliable medicinal drug,” Teske said.

On the other hand, Brubaker said most of his patients come to him because they want an alternative, something natural, or to help to get off of their prescribed medications for their disease.

“I’ve seen patients who are kind of at the end state of their conditions,” he said.

Brubaker said he has prescribed medicinal cannabis for patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, bipolar, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, insomnia, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, asthma, seizure disorders and a variety of others.

Brubaker said he calls medicinal cannabis an “exit drug” rather than a “gateway drug” because it can also help people reduce the amount of narcotics they use.

Brubaker said at least 75 percent of his patients use medicinal cannabis for chronic pain and 90 percent of those patients are off of pain medication.

The doctor completes a medical history with his patients, conducts a physical exam and goes over any medications that they want to get off.

“I don’t want them to stop all of a sudden,” he said. “I help them weed off of any medications that they want to get off.”

Weston Hardin, operations manager for Canna Can Help Inc., a medical marijuana dispensary near Visalia, said he comes across a lot of customers who have addictions to pain killers and use medicinal cannabis as a replacement to treat their condition.

Hardin said the dispensary helped 90 people get off of pain medications last year.

“We are not here just to sell pot,” he said. “We are here to make peoples’ lives better.”

Opened since 2008, Hardin said the medical marijuana dispensary gets its marijuana from about 12 growers from all over the state but mainly from Humboldt and Santa Cruz counties.

Customers spend about $50 on medicinal cannabis each visit and he has about 200 customers per day.

“We are a business,” he said. “Our goal is to provide people safe access to the medicine of their choice.”

In order to become a new patient for the dispensary, people must bring a recommendation from their doctor and a California driver’s license or identification card.

Those who want to apply for a Medical Marijuana Identification Card can do so at their local county public health department. The card is used to help law enforcement identify those who can have certain amounts of cannabis legally to treat their condition, according to the California Department of Public Health.

“When someone comes in, we treat each patient seriously,” Hardin said.

This reporter can be reached at mailto:csandoval@hanfordsentinel.com”>csandoval@hanfordsentinel.com or 583-2422.