June 19, 2018 – Medical Marijuana

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Anchor lead: What are the dangers of medical marijuana? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Medical marijuana is very helpful for treating pain, but using it regularly is just the same as using an opioid or other habit-forming drug. That’s according to Marie Hanna, a pain expert at Johns Hopkins and director of a pain clinic.

Hanna: People take it recreationally and very short time and feel fine, and they don’t feel like they need to take more. But if you persistently take the same dose, every day, every time you have pain, you’re going to build tolerance. No different in medical marijuana. The medical marijuana is very, very powerful and few puffs can make you really feel great. So patients think hmm, if it makes me feel great, I don’t have the side effects of narcotics, why not feeling great all the time?  :32

Hanna says that medical professionals need to speak up about their experiences with pain relieving drugs, including medical marijuana, before widespread use creates a crisis beyond what we are seeing now with opioids. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.