Technology is helping doctors prescribe medicinal cannabis

May 23 2018, 11:57 pm

Cannabis is gaining traction in the medical world, as legalization approaches and its positive therapeutic effects are being talked about more openly.

Lack of training amongst medical professionals has been a barrier in patient access to medical cannabis, but technology is evolving to bridge that gap.

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SailMD, a medical cannabis software company, has created a platform for physicians to educate themselves on the use of medical cannabis, and determine when it might be an appropriate intervention in patient care. The software also provides dosage recommendations, Health Canada compliant medical documents to write prescriptions, and tracking for optimal patient care.

SailMD recently compiled data regarding medical cannabis and patient use. A physician collected information from a subset of patients in Ontario across a three-week period.

Findings indicate that chronic pain was the number one reason patients used medical cannabis (60%), followed by other medical conditions (13%), anxiety (11%), sleep disorders (11%), and depression (5%).

medicinal cannabis

Patients’ reasons for medicinal cannabis use (Sail)

Data collected also looked at patients’ previous experience with cannabis prior to medical treatment. Of those surveyed, 47% reported daily use, while 26% were “naive,” meaning they had not tried cannabis before. The remaining numbers account for unknown or occasional use.

medicinal cannabis

Cannabis experience prior to medical use (Sail)

Data was also collected from a 300-plus patient sample within the Greater Toronto Area across a six-month period.

According to a press release by Sail, “data included insight into cannabis strains that are best suited to the needs of an individual’s condition, asserting that cannabis strains with a 1:1 ratio of THC and CBD were effective in addressing symptoms related to the treatment of cancer, including wasting syndrome.”

High CBD strains were also indicated as an option for gastrointestinal disorders and chronic pain.

The report states that “close to half of the patients were completely naive to cannabis. This shows a willingness of new patients to try and medicate conditions like chronic pain, sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression with cannabis.”

Part of SailMD’s mission is to normalize cannabis use with clinically validated data tracking.

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Jessica BrownJessica Brown

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