We have solutions to the opiate crisis in America. We have options for pain control. We just have to get the information and the products out to the people that need them.
Hi. I’m Dr. Dan Stein, board-certified neurologist and medical cannabis expert. We’re going to answer that question and talk about opiate use and pain control and how we deal with that here in the cannabis clinic.
Almost every day someone comes in wanting to get off opiate therapy. Remember opiates are those strong painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone, fentanyl, even tramadol. These pain relievers have been in wide circulation since the 1990s and have resulted in many, many deaths still every day. People are dying of opiate overdose.
One of the reasons is because opiate therapy creates a tolerance in the individual user where higher amounts are necessary to achieve the same result. So patients will take higher and higher doses of opiates as their bodies become used to drug.
Then they go into rehab. They get out maybe a month later and then they take the same high dose of opiates that they were taking before they went in. Sadly their body had resettled the receptors in the brain to the point where they are again exquisitely sensitive but they take the high dose. They stop breathing and pass away. It’s awful.
Fortunately we have an alternative for patients that are on opiates that want to get off that drug but still need pain control. Here in the cannabis clinic, we have great success in patients that want to get off opiates and replace it with cannabis. We do this very carefully. We reduce the opiate use by about 10 percent every week or two. So there’s a slow titration down and off the opiates as we increase the cannabis therapy.
Cannabis therapy helps with pain. It also reduces craving, which is part of the problem with opiate addiction. Over time, perhaps three or four months, we can achieve great success. Patients are feeling better. They’re not sedated. Their mood is improved and they are getting pain relief. Cannabis therapy is a successful, oftentimes underused but available alternative to opioid pain relief. So if you or someone you know is interested in getting off opioid analgesics and they’re a Florida resident or seasonal resident, please feel free to call us or come in to the cannabis clinic.
We answer questions about opioids and other medical problems every day and if you have a question that you would like to ask, you can reach us at 941-400-1211 or on email info@neurologyofcannabis.com. That’s our video for today. I’m Dr. Dan Stein. Have a great day.