Cannabis. A drug that can do a lot of different things for a lot of different people—it has been proven to be beneficial in managing chronic pain, easing depression, managing diabetes, fighting cancer, controlling seizures as well as helping with glaucoma, autism, anxiety and the list goes on. It has a long and storied history and has been used not only for medicinal purposes but for ceremonial and celebratory occasions. Modern prescription drugs also help with treating illnesses and medical conditions, also have a long and storied history and are also used by some during celebratory occasions, which unfortunately has contributed to a serious public health crisis in society today. The opioid crisis has caused public opinion to shift in favour of cannabis, to the extent that retail cannabis shops, mail order marijuana depots and online marijuana dispensaries are fielding serious inquiries from concerned individuals who are interested in substituting their prescription drugs for cannabis.
First and foremost, retail cannabis shops, mail order marijuana depots and online marijuana dispensaries cannot provide any information or advice to individuals looking to swap out their physician prescribed medication. They are not trained medical professionals and can not provide potential consumers anything beyond the basics when it comes to cannabis drug information. The benefits of substituting highly addictive drugs for cannabis seem obvious enough but there are always risks in doing so without speaking to a physician as there may be unknown interactions that cannabis may have with other drugs, withdrawal symptoms and incorrect dosing.
As the opioid crisis is causing many users of prescription drugs to seek out other alternatives, there are still physicians who are unwilling or unable to help their patients switch a cannabis-based regime. This may be do to a lack or information and education on behalf of doctors or a personal sigma against cannabis use in general. This has forced may prescription drug users to set out on their own, learning what they can from the internet, users experienced with cannabis or from whatever information they can pick up at the local cannabis shops, from mail order marijuana depots and from online marijuana dispensaries. Disastrous affects can result without a trained healthcare professional monitoring a patient and their drug substitution—if CBD is taken in conjunction with certain opioids it can affect how the body processes the medication and in turn amplify the effect, making the dose last longer and inadvertently overmedicating.
The opioid crisis has provided a good opportunity for more serious research to be conducted into using cannabis as a substitute for some prescription medications. The owner of the best online dispensary in Canada has long suffered from chronic pain and when he decided to use cannabis to treat his condition, he noted his anxiety and insomnia was greatly reduced. As cannabis was able to more effective treat the root cause of his pain, medications used to treat his other conditions became unnecessary. This by no means is an isolated incident as others who buy weed online to treat their medical conditions have recounted similar experiences, which should make it all the more worthwhile for the medical community to conduct more research in using cannabis as a substitute for prescriptions drugs—not only may it be more effective overall, it may also save lives.