Pubdate: Tue, 04 Feb 2014
Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
Copyright: 2014 The Palm Beach Post
Contact:  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333
Author: Paula Klempay

TOP POT DISPENSARY SITES WATCH QUALITY

As a recent transplant from Washington state, let me share some of 
the standards and practices the medical marijuana industry evolved to 
serve its patients there.

The best medical marijuana dispensaries have independent labs measure 
and certify the chemical compounds in each of the strains they offer. 
Likewise, quality makers of products like hard candies, cookies and 
salves also have the compounds in their products certified.

There are many strains of marijuana with varying levels of 
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and cannabinol (CBN). 
Much is written about which strains are best for which conditions. 
Websites such as leafly.com give both the indications and 
contraindications of the different strains. Dispensary personnel are 
trained to advise patients, who soon learn what works for them, and 
in what form.

The patients are not raging addicts. They often are gravely ill 
people who had been unable to find relief for their conditions in 
conventional medicine. Most medicines come with a long list of 
contraindications, and conventional palliative care has serious side 
effects. My grandmother was barely lucid on her morphine drip.

Given the track record of many of the conventional drugs, this 
relatively natural substance may have answers to medical questions 
currently not available in conventional medicine, with potentially 
lower risk. One has to question the morality of not testing medical 
marijuana and using it in the treatment of illness and pain.

PAULA KLEMPAY North Palm Beach
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom