Prescribing Medical Marijuana

guest416560 · Jul 19, 2018

Nobody can prescribe marijuana. That is a federal offense. You can recommend marijuana to your patients if your state has legalized it. The majority of prescribers I know who do this MDs NPs and PAs are a bit on the fringe. Personally I wouldn't risk my DEA license to recommend weed.

djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP · Jul 19, 2018

Nobody can prescribe marijuana. That is a federal offense. You can recommend marijuana to your patients if your state has legalized it. The majority of prescribers I know who do this MDs NPs and PAs are a bit on the fringe. Personally I wouldn't risk my DEA license to recommend weed.

That's generally my stance as well. Also Marijuana isn't FDA approved to treat any medical condition. I view it under the same lens as a supplement you buy from GNC. There is no validation or understanding of the efficacy, potency, or appropriateness of the supplement you are ingesting. I don't under treat or look down on those who opt to use it, but the studies don't exist to justifiably recommend it either IMO.

Jules A, MSN · Jul 19, 2018

Enacted by politics not the FDA. I don't understand how it was allowed to happen and would much prefer they simply legalize it.

Trauma Columnist · Jul 19, 2018

In IL, there are providers that are certified by the state to Rx with a Medical Marijuana Card. Then the pt takes the card to the dispensary where they procure the pot. There are few providers in the state of IL and at least in IL, only MD can Rx it.

wyosamRN · Jul 20, 2018

It has really got to get out of its current legal limbo before I would consider prescribing it (not to mention I probably live in the last state to legalize, and am not yet a provider). 1.- still federally listed. That is a big problem, since a provider needs the DEA to continue to allow them to write prescriptions. 2. It is not FDA approved for anything- not that it is not useful, just not approved. 3 When a provider writes a prescription for "medicine" it contains information like dose, route, frequency, amount to dispense, refills, etc. Yet with pot, it is just a "so and so can have some weed".

Kuriin, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2018

Isn't marijuana a schedule I drug that requires only a physician to prescribe?

caliotter3 · Jul 20, 2018

If I were to think about entering this realm, I would also want to gain the knowledge to recommend all manner of herbal/natural remedies and I believe there is just too much involved.

djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP · Jul 20, 2018

Isn't marijuana a schedule I drug that requires only a physician to prescribe?

It's schedule 1, so deemed to have no medical value. Fairly certain even an md wouldn't be able to legally prescribe it.

Oldmahubbard · Jul 20, 2018

A resident with a "card" is using it via vape in one of my LTC facilities. She is flying higher than a kite.

The caveat is she has to pay for it herself, and most residents only have 50 dollars a month, which has to go for all of their personal needs, to include clothes.

Jules A, MSN · Jul 21, 2018

It's schedule 1, so deemed to have no medical value. Fairly certain even an md wouldn't be able to legally prescribe it.

In my area it isn't prescribed. This is how it goes:

3 When a provider writes a prescription for "medicine" it contains information like dose, route, frequency, amount to dispense, refills, etc. Yet with pot, it is just a "so and so can have some weed".

No dose, no frequency, no type just whatever the patient and the clerk working the counter happen to decide on.

Oldmahubbard · Jul 22, 2018

I have read that weed can replace all kinds of "toxic drugs". It is supposedly safer and more effective.

The jury is definitely out.

It is going to take a lot to convince me.