Joliet – Brad Frankenfield suffers from knee pain from his time in the U.S. Army and is considering another way to find relief – medical marijuana.
Frankenfield was one of a dozen or so people who came to the Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County on Tuesday to learn more about the medication from PharmaCannis and how to become eligible to receive treatment.
Frankenfield said he’s taken a low-grade opioid to manage pain from his knees from injuries he sustained in the military when he dropped out of planes. He said he would consider taking medical marijuana in the future.
“The point is, there’s other things out there,” he said.
Representatives from PharmaCannis, a medical marijuana provider under the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, were invited to VAC to educate residents on the medicine, the history of marijuana and the stigmas associated with it.
The company is the largest supplier of medical marijuana in Illinois, with dispensaries located in Evanston, Schaumburg, North Aurora and Ottawa. It also has cultivation centers in Dwight and Hillcrest.
“I can stand up here all day and all afternoon telling stories about people who went from [taking] 10 Vicodins and four Oxycontins to, three months later, just using cannabis for relief,” said Mike Richards, PharmaCannis new patient engagement representative.
Richards told his own story to the audience of how he came to use the treatment. He said he suffered from stomach pains and was prescribed pills by doctors for relief but his situation became worse.
He was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder and made a decision to use medical marijuana. He said he’s been managing his condition and functioning ever since.
“I have good days and I have bad days. These conditions that we talk about, these are not little coughs and colds. These are life changing, altering conditions. … [Medical marijuana] helps us manage. That’s what it’s all about – having another management tool out there,” Richards said.
Richards explained the difference between the use of cannabidiol, or CBD, and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in medical marijuana treatment. CBD can have the same therapeutic effects as THC without the psychoactive effects, or the high.
But high from THC can be medicinal. Richards said it can help, for example, a cancer patient tolerate “one more bite of soup” because their nausea is horrible from treatments.
“I try to debunk the myth with people that the high is not a negative thing, if you’re looking at it from a medical standpoint sometimes,” he said.
Richards said the number of people who’ve died from marijuana – compared to opioids – is zero because it doesn’t affect a person’s brain stem or respiratory system the same way.
When it comes to administering medical marijuana – inhalation, oral absorption, ingestion or topical – he said it’s best to go low and slow.
“[It’s] figuring out what we like to call your ‘therapeutic threshold’ or the least amount of cannabis you need for the most amount of therapeutic benefit,” he said.
Kristi McNichol, superintendent for VAC of Will County, said she invited PharmaCannis to give a presentation because the education on medical marijuana is significantly lacking in society.
Besides hearing from veterans about the benefits of the treatment, she said her sister-in-law’s father was diagnosed with cancer and medical marijuana helped him with the pain.
“That’s truly my whole purpose of doing this. No. 1, because I’ve seen it work on physical illness and, No. 2, the lack of education out there,” McNichol said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Will County Agency Offers Education On Medical Marijuana Treatment
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