Former NFL player Marvin Washington, Tilray's Phillipe Lucas and Cory Jones of Civilized take part in a panel discussion on medical cannabis at the World Cannabis Congress in Saint John, NB on Tuesday.
More women than men are turning to medical cannabis to deal with chronic pain and insomnia and the average user is 51 years old.
The impact of medical cannabis on opioids and other drugs being explored at the World Cannabis Congress in Saint John, NB on Tuesday.
Former NFL player Marvin Washington is the co-founder of Isodiol, a cannabis company, told the World Cannabis Congress, he’s hopeful the new collective bargaining contract in the NFL will take a sensible approach to cannabis.
He pointed out that cannabis is not banned in the NHL, Major League Baseball and the NBA.
Washington said in his playing days he was careful when prescribed opiates to only use them for a week before giving the rest to his teammates.
“I went to alternative medicine as far as massages, chiropractic care and things of that nature because I always knew that my body was the vehicle that I was employed with. I also knew I wasn’t going to play football forever and I was very conscious of that.” Washington said.
He notes cannabis is not banned in the NHL, Major League Baseball or in the NBA.
#CivilizedWCC Highlight: @PhilippeLucas_ of @tilray shared his expertise around the impact of medical cannabis on the use of #opioids and other drugs. #MedicalCannabis pic.twitter.com/bIXwGZNec6
— World Cannabis Congress (@CivilizedWCC) June 18, 2019
Dr. Phillipe Lucas is vice-president of Patient Research and Access at Tilray.
He says one opportunity with the end of prohibition is the rise of clinical and observational cannabis research.
Tilray is conducting a series of studies at hospitals in Toronto, British Columbia and in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Lucas is also the co-founder of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, a non-profit medical cannabis dispensary.
He told the story of addicts with hepatitis C or HIV using a medical cannabis prescription and discovering they didn’t have the same desire for heroin or crystal meth after using it.
“This was a real revelation to me because it flew in the face of what our governments and school system who were saying cannabis was a gateway drug. It was apparent to me for at least some of this population it was an exit drug to addiction.” Lucas said.
Lucas says older Canadians are the people who are wondering about the use of medical cannabis.
He wants medical cannabis to be a second line treatment option for pain.
“It’s clear that you should not have to fail out of opioid treatment before trying cannabis treatment. It’s time to modernize these treatment recommendations so we can move past the opioid crisis.” Lucas said.
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