Cannabis & Heart Health - Part 2

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
From the WA and M Studio onthe campus of Florida A and M University.
This is Mary Forum Radio, aweekly conversation on the education and research
of the medical marijuana being conducted atBAMMI. Hi, I'm Heidi Outway,
your host for this conversations on CannabisVirtual form, brought to you by the
Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative atFlorida and M University. In this conversation,

(00:25):
we're talking about cannabis use and itsimpact on heart health. Co Let's
talk and learn about this subject withour guests. Doctor Shimerio Roverson is a
highly skilled public health administrator with expertisein various areas including epidemiology, chronic disease,
infectious disease, and emergency response.She is also the former Deputy Health

(00:49):
Secretary for the Florida Department of Health. Doctor Robson, Welcome to the Forum.
Thank you. Happy to be onthe Forum today as a former also
chronic disease. He's not right,God of the State of Florida. Heart
disease is very important and so excitedto be here today to talk about the
relationship between heart disease and cannabis.All right, thank you. Our other

(01:11):
guest is doctor Kyn Tamar, aretired board certified surgeon who spent nearly thirty
nine years in public and private practice. He is now a qualified medical cannabis
physician in Florida who has seen morethan eight thousand patients. Doctor Tomorrow,
Welcome to the forum. Thank youHaty for having me back. I'm be

(01:33):
a pleasure to be here again todiscuss this very important issue and make sure
to get started all right. Thankyou to everyone joining us on this live
forum. Please share a post andtag a friend on Facebook to have them
join this conversation. If you're onYouTube, share the links so others can
join us as well. During theforum, we want you to send us

(01:55):
your questions in the comment box andwe'll do our best to have our guests
to answer them. We also wantyou to tell us what you think about
this form by completing the survey thatwill be posted in the comments on YouTube
and Facebook. After the live program, your name will be entered into a
drawing on March seventh, twenty twentyfour to win a one hundred dollars gift

(02:15):
card provided by one of Mary's partners. Now let's start this conversation. On
cannabis. It is important to understandthe studies. So for example, with
this, when people say they dida study on cannabis and it showed,
you know, effects on the heart, there are limitations to those studies in
that, you know, they maynot have asked patients who are using medical

(02:38):
marijuana. I think it's important tonote with the studies, especially with the
studies that's on many of the websitesthat were just released, that there is
a limited amount of research that isbeing done on medical marijuana, especially in
control populations like Florida. There's ahuge need to research medical marijuana conditions,

(03:00):
interactions with risk factors, different typesof products. So I think there's an
opportunity to continue to look at thoseeffects and to understand and read the studies,
but with some limitations and palls forinterpreting that and generalizing that to all
populations, because a lot of thosestudies do not distinguish between cannabis as an

(03:23):
unlawful product versus a medical marijuana product, and a lot of the studies they
were not conducted for medical marijuana productsin itself. A lot of the studies
was unlawful use, and you cannot, you know, figure out how much
THC, where it came from,what other chemical interactions were in the products

(03:44):
that they ingested. So I thinkwhile looking at the studies as a cause
for understanding the relationship between heart diseaseand cannabis, it is important to note
that that is not specifically studies exclusivelyon patients in a medical marijuana usage case.
Yeah. Absolutely, let me justmention this, and many of those

(04:09):
studies is doctor Roberson are indicated theywere just on people who are sneaking cannabis
from the street. It's not medicalcannabis. And the reason that and those
studies even say admit that their studyis flawed because they haven't had a wider
study group to see those that areusing street versus medical cannabis. And that's

(04:32):
all because cannabis remains on Schedule one. There are limited studies. But I
will tell you from my own eightthousand patients, there are hundreds of thousands
of anecdotal stories on how well thisplant works. But the studies are lacking
because the cannabis remains on Schedule oneand cannot be studies appropriately. But that

(04:56):
of course is going to work forheart disease because it's anti oxiditive which slows
down the say they have a stressthat causes cardiac disease and cancer and hypertension
and diabetes. You know, asdoctor Robinson indicated, you got to eat
properly. You gotta avoid certain foods, you gotta lower your your wind,

(05:16):
you gotta exercise, you got toreduce stress. There's so many things that
cannabis can help us reduce stress,anxiety and depression and sleep and pain and
appetite issues. Yeah. Yeah,And I just want to remind everyone.
I mean, in Florida, recreationalor adult use is not legal. It
is. You have to get amedical cannabis card to get a product.

(05:41):
And doctor Roberson you kind of touchedon it safer products, So you want
to talk a little bit about that, the difference between the two for those
who are currently using UH cannabis saidthey got on the street corner got you
know, absolutely. There are alot of cases all across the United States
and in Florida with poison cases associatedwith children with unlawful ingestion of marijuana products.

(06:04):
So it is important to understand thatthere are safety protocols in place for
medical marijuana. Those products are testedand approved from outside laboratory and internal laboratories
of the medical marijuana treatment centers atthe focus and then my previous role as
Deputy Secretary for Health, it wasimportant to ensure all protocols regulations were followed

(06:29):
to ensure for safe products. Thathas been a primary role is a primary
role of the Office of Medical MarijuanaUse at the Florida Department of Health.
So patient safety is very important.So when you look at unlawful use of
marijuana, you don't know where itcame from. For example, with medical
marijuana, they follow those products fromseed to sell, making sure that they

(06:53):
track those products from the growing processessentially not actually that it came from seed,
but that's just what the process iscalled. But they follow the product
to ensure that what it is thatthey say that you're getting that that is
what you're getting. That is thedose of THC. So in the event
that something happens or you have anadverse event, they can go back and

(07:14):
look in this track, these arethe types of products that were purchased.
This is where it was purchased from. So if they need to go back
to look at a strain, tolook at a particular MTC, you can
do that with unlawful use of marijuana, there's no way to track that,
there's no way to understand its origination. So it is very important that if

(07:35):
you are using marijuana, you areusing medical marijuana that has regulatory regulation on
what can go in it, howit is moved, how it is stored,
and how it is tested to ensureyou're getting a safe and effective product.
Doctor Tamorrow, talk about your rolein that, well, my role

(07:57):
is to educate the patients as towhat products they need, because when you
come to see me and you getthe information, you are not taking control
of your health care and you haveto do so much research on your own
and to take on too Doctor Robertson'spoint about the purity of the product.
Every product that leads a dispect thatyou leave the dispensary has a batch number

(08:20):
on it. Look at the batchnumber deceiver within your product. Move into
terror, I'm sorry moving. Trueleafhas a certificate of analysis to see what
combinations of the connabinoids and the terrapines, the percentages of each and all the
processes they've gone to make sure theproduct is safe and pure. I've gone
to grow farms and I've seen theprocess from seed to sale. And the

(08:45):
whole point is you have to lookat your products, look at what you're
getting, and most importantly, keepa journal. Because you take a certain
round of CBD and TAC and yourheartwat goes up to one hundred and twenty
and your blood pressure goes up andyou feeling more anxious. You have to
write down what was the ratio ofCBD and THAH that made you feel that

(09:11):
way and what earpiece made you feelthat way that you can know exactly what
you need and what you want.And now you know that on the street
some of the problems are laced withfatanyl gasoline. So I'm not telling patients
not to use in the relation,but you must use more weed, more

(09:33):
routes, strengths and ratios, andpay attention to what Rutson doesn't work.
Okay, So I want to aska follow up going in that vein that
if you go into convenience stores andif you go on street corners, you'll
see, you know, the CBDshops with the Delta Ace, the Delta
nines and they have all these productsin there. So if someone who has

(09:58):
not watched this show and now knowsthat you need to be mindful of what
you ingest with cannabis. If theygo into one of those stores and they
buy a product, what are theygetting, what are the concerns they let
me go to you on that oneas a public health expert, they don't
know what they're getting and it couldbe very dangerous. A lot of those

(10:20):
products that are sold in that mannerthey don't have the same regulation as medical
marijuana treatment centers. They don't havea process to test the products. They
don't have batch numbers to follow upa product. For example, if there
is an adverse effect a problem withone of the batches, easily they can

(10:41):
see where those batches went, whopurchased those batches, so that they can
notify those patients to tell them,hey, we've had a report of an
adverse event from dispatch, you know, take caution or come back in what
have you. But in no stores, there is no regulatory authority, no
way to watch how that product ismade, what other chemicals went into that

(11:01):
product, how much CBD or otherchemicals are in there. So it could
potentially be very dangerous and should beyou know, taken with caution. So
I am an advocate for using productsfor medical marijuana treatment centers because it is
regulated. It is you know,with regard for safety for patients. So
if you're going to ingest cannabis,and again it is not legal. Recreational

(11:26):
use of cannabis in Florida is notlegal, so it is important to understand
the facts. Go to the Officeof Medical Marijuana at the Florida Department of
Health website to understand how to getapart, how to retain a part,
and how to understand how to getthe products and how to find a position
like doctor Jamar, absolutely, thankyou. You going to add to that

(11:48):
the CBD that you and the dealtaaid that you're getting keeping your stores,
supermarkets, gas stations and semin elevensof essentially worthless because there is no eye
in team. It's called the entourageof fact that some of all parts of
the plant have a greater impact thanany individual component. Yeah, I've seen

(12:11):
the stores. Delta A here,Delta nine there, CBD. But there
are twelve cannabinoids that we know aboutin the cannabis plants, CBD, c
BGCBN, t ACB, Delta eight, ALTA nine, cbd A and CBN.
There are one hundred and thirty wedon't know anything about because cannabis remains
on Schedule one. And then thereare the terpenes. You don't get the

(12:33):
terrapenes in the CBD in the storeson the street. You don't get any
terpenes. That's the most powerful partof the plant because there are over two
hundred turpees in the planet. Sohow can you get all two hundred cap
Can you get the amount of terpenesyou need? How can you get the

(12:54):
cannabinoids that you need if you're onlygetting one of them? Because there's no
I in team. I am aretired surgeon. What could I do without
my team as a search and it'sthe same thing. And you have over
one hundred and fifty cannabinoids and overtwo hundred therapies that can treat everything under

(13:20):
the sun. Yeah, two hundredmedical and neurological conditions. Mm hmm.
So what resources are available in Floridaand doctor Roberson, I'm gonna go to
you first. For people who areexperiencing heart disease or heart health issues and
you know they may not want totake care, you know, what resources
are available to them that can helpthem with their condition. So first,

(13:46):
if people are insured and have healthinsurance. I encourage people for heart health
to make sure you're seeing your primaryhealthcare provider on a regular basis, to
get screenings, to make sure you'rehypertend is controlled, if you have high
blood pressure, making sure you're lookingat your cholesterol to ensure that your cholesterol

(14:07):
levels are the right way, makingsure that you're checking your A one C
and watching for pre diabetes, andif you are pre diabetic, making sure
you're not you know, moving tothat type two diabetic type category. And
if you are a type two diabeticor if you do have hypertension, the
number one way to prevent exacerbation ofheart disease is to control your diabetes,

(14:31):
take your medication, and is tomake sure you control those other risk factors
physical inactivity, eating healthy. Thereare chronic disease management programs that are evidence
based. They have been known toif you take them, for example,
lifestyle change programs, you reduce yourweight from by five to seven percent,

(14:52):
that can significantly reduce your risk ofbecoming a type two diabetes. Sometimes that's
through exercise, sometimes that's through medication. But just understanding how to not exacerbate
or develop heart disease is very importantanother resource that you have for people that

(15:13):
don't have insurance, there are Federallyqualified health Care Centers that are funded by
HERSA. Those can be your medicalhome if you don't have insurance. They're
located in communities across the United States, including Florida. A lot of times
in those fqightcs you can receive yourhigh blood pressure medicine or your medicine for

(15:37):
diabetes at low costs or no costsfor example. So understanding where to go
to control heart disease and to controlrisk factors around it is important. In
addition to that, the Florida Departmentof Health has an insulin Distribution program that
is the safety net program for diabetespatients. If they can afford their insulin

(15:58):
or the copaid is too high,that program can help them get free insulin
if they qualify. So these aresome of the resources, and Heart Health
Plus is another program that the Departmentof Health has. You can reach out
to your local health department and havethem come out to community events to teach
about how blood pressure control, toteach about healthy eating, active living,

(16:22):
to receive blood pressure cuffs and otherthings it takes to help you be healthy.
So engaging with your local partners suchas your county health department, to
help communities, to help families stayhealthy. Are important resources to really take
into account and really I here sothat everyone can have a healthy heart.
All right, So for everyone whois watching on social media right now and

(16:47):
for those who are listening, wewill post those links to those resources on
the YouTube and the Facebook page afterthis live form nowta tomorrow. Did you
want to offer any resources? Iwant to add to doctor Robers said,
it's so important to prevent infection.If you have heart disease, get your
flu vaccination, COVID vaccination. AndI want to tell people that the NIH

(17:11):
put out of study to stay thatcannabis can reduce to the verity of covid
infections, decreases the amount of timebeing sick, fewer hospitalizations, and quicker
recovery using cannabis NIH study three fouryears ago. You got get your neumacccle
vaccination or you won't get numa calcolpneumonia because pneumonia put stresses in your heart

(17:32):
and the most common costs are peopledying in the look people because people because
the people dying is referratory failure inthe ICU at the end, get your
tetdis to dibia toxins, get yourvaccinations, and clearly, clearly you must
get adequate sleep because sleep is themost important part of wellness. Cannabis will

(17:56):
help us with all steep and anxietyand depression, all the things that exacerbate
heart disease. And so you iswhat you eat. Doctor Robinson could be
one point. You got to lookat your cholesterol level. You're maintain adequate
weight, a normal weight, checkyour blood pressure, your diabetes, your
hypertension, all the risk factors ofaudio act dicies have to be controlled.

(18:21):
Keep your weight in the control,exercise, reduce stress. You know not
can really I think suggests at themental health component. So mental health is
so important for your overall health.So making sure you're seeing a psychologist and
some of the resources I describe,even if you don't have insurance, at

(18:41):
those federally qualified healthcare centers, theycan link you to resources for mental health
so that you can make sure thatyou're healthy mentally. If you're not healthy
mentally, you can adhere to yourmedication. You can't control stress, and
you know stress is linked to Creactive proteins which elicit an inflammatory response in

(19:03):
your body, and when things areinflamed in your body, it can drive
its to heart disease. So itis very important. Sleep is one of
the most important things to control anychronic disease. But making sure that you
have a healthy mind, that youseek resources for families, for parents,
for caregivers for children. Mental healthis important for the heart throughout the life

(19:26):
span, from the time that achild is a baby up into you know,
later stages in life. Having mentalhealth under control is important to make
sure you have a healthy heart.And one of the other things when talking
about heart health, you know,the social determinants of health. Where people
live, where they work, wherethey play, social engagement, faith based

(19:48):
organizations, all of the community encompasswhat it takes for a person to be
healthy and ultimately for them to havea healthy heart. Oh that was good.
So we're close to the end ofthe show and this was such a
rich conversation. But before we go, I want to give you all the
opportunity to share any closing thoughts thatyou'd like to share with our audience and

(20:11):
doctor Jamar. I'll start with youany closing thoughts about cannabis use and heart
health. The first thing that wehave to understand is that the limited studies
on heart disease is because cannabis remainson Schedule one. It needs to be
remained off, removed from Schedule onein order that we can study it properly.
Number two, health is depending byour spiritual, physical, emotional,

(20:33):
and mental wellness. It's all ofit, all of it mental. You
know, in the African American communityand other you know, underrepresented communities,
people say, if you go tosee a psychologist or a psychiatrist, you're
not strong collinive therapy. If we'regoing to make any progress, we have

(20:56):
to understand its spiritual, physical,emotional, and mental wellness, and we
need to use this medicine along withall the other things, eating right,
exercising. But you know, I'mjust concerned about cannabis being you know,
being recreation. There's been about theforty thousand people that are still in jail
for cannabis possession in this country.That's not forgot about that. But clearly

(21:18):
Schedule one me moving it from Scheduleone will allow the research to show us
the benefits of cannabis and treating heartdisease. Because there's no debate that cannabis
can lower the LDL helps us withour mental wellness, spiritual, emotional,
and physical wellness. Doctor Roberson closingthoughts absolutely so this month in February's Heart

(21:40):
Health mont But heart health is anissue that we should look at throughout the
year, and the things that Iwant you to remember about this conversation is
being physically active, eating good fruitsand vegetable, good diets, lean protein,
making sure your mental health is together, making sure that you take that
time for self care for mental health, to make sure you have networks of

(22:03):
support systems will ultimately help your hearthealth. It is important you know,
as we go forth and as wedeal with the ways of life, that
we keep our heart healthy. Andit is important that we tell our family
members, so it's not just aboutus. It is important to tell our
family members, our communities, ourcoworkers, all of these things that we're

(22:26):
learning. And more importantly, itis important to make sure with cannabis and
heart health that you are consulting yourhealth care provider if you have heart disease,
are at risk for heart disease,and you'll relaying this information to your
qualified physician to make sure that ifanything changes with your health. You let

(22:47):
your qualifying physician know, you letyour primary health care provider know, and
making sure that you keep up withyour medications and you talk to your pharmacists
as well. That is a keysituation that you do and I want to
leave with the Family You Mary programis an amazing resource for education throughout communities
and Florida and is also at theforefront front of education. So while it

(23:11):
is a Schedule one drug and youcan't do some biomedical research on marijuana,
there's a lot of research to bedone on perceptions. Research to be done
on cole morbiditis, how people arefeeling and acting if they have medical marijuana
cards, what's going on in thatarea. There's still a lot of perception

(23:33):
research, what populations can benefit fromdifferent education types that we are embarking on.
So Family Mary is at the forefrontof making sure that medical marijuana treatment
centers and medical cannabis and understanding unlawfuluse is at the forefront of Florida.
Thank you both for being guested onthis Conversations on Cannabis virtual form brought from

(23:55):
you by the Medical Marijuana Education andResearch Initiative at Florida and Versity. Thank
you to everyone watching this program tellus what you think about the form by
completing the survey that will be postedin the comment boxes on YouTube and Facebook
after this live program. If youcomplete the survey, your name will be
entered into a drawing on March seventh, twenty twenty four, to win a

(24:18):
one hundred dollars gift card provided byone of Mary's partners. We also want
to encourage you to go to theFlorida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana
Use website to learn how to obtaina legal medical marijuana card in the state
of Florida. And we also encourageyou to go to Florida and M University's
Merry website to learn more about thisinitiative as educational programs and additional information about

(24:42):
cannabis youth in Florida. Thanks everyone. The views and opinions of our invited
guests are not necessarily the views andopinions of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University or
the Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative.