Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the WA and M Studio on the campus of
Florida A and M University. This is Mary Forum Radio,
a weekly conversation on the education and research.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Of the medical marijuana being conducted at BAMMUTI. Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm Heidi Outway, your host for these conversations on cannabis
virtual form, brought to you by the Medical Marijuana Education
and Research Initiative at Florida and M University.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
In this conversation, we're talking about the federal government's recent
decision to reclassify medical marijuana as a Schedule three drug
and what it means for Floridians who use it. So
let's talk and learn about this subject with our guests.
Doctor Mark Moore is a physician, inventor, author, and humanitarian
(00:46):
who founded Medcan, Florida's first medical marijuana doctor's office. A
Board certified physician more than twenty years of experience in anseesiology,
pain medicine, pain management, and addiction medicine, Doctor More was
among Florida's first physicians authorized to recommend medical cannabis. Our
(01:08):
other guests is doctor Shimerio Roberson, a nationally recognized health
and human services leader with extensive expertise in public health administration,
policy development, and programmatic innovation. She is the founder and
CEO of DSR Consulting and Management, a Florida based firm
committed to helping organizations achieve meaningful trans transformation. Doctor Terrell
(01:34):
Newton is an innovative pain relief physician and the medical
director at Truelief, where he focuses on advancing patient care
through personalized treatment strategies with expertise and interventional pain management, anesthesiology,
and addiction medicine. He is dedicated to helping patients find effective,
(01:54):
individualized solutions for chronic pain and rounding out our panel
is Paula Savchenko, the founding partner of Cannacoor Group and
the ps Law Group based in South Florida. She's an
attorney and consultant working on competitive licensing and regulatory compliance
in the cannabis industry. She has successfully worked on competitive
(02:17):
applications for marijuana businesses sinking licenses in Florida, Georgia, and
New York in several other states. So to everyone watching,
please share the link to this form on your social
media channels so others can learn about this topic. We
also want you to tell us what you think about
this forum. By completing the survey that'll be posted on
(02:39):
Mary's social media pages, your name will be entered into
a drawing in May twenty twenty six to win a
one hundred dollars gift card provided by one of Mary's partners. Now,
let's start this conversation on cannabis. So, on April twenty
third of twenty twenty six, state licensed medical marijuana and
(03:00):
DA approved products were moved from Schedule one to Schedule
three under federal law, while recreational marijuana remains Schedule one. Paula,
I'm going to come to you so you can talk
with us about what does this reclassification actually change for
cannabis policy and what doesn't it change?
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Thank you. Yeah, So, as you said, this is a
monumental shift for the cannabis industry, but it is not
full legalization. It's the beginning of federal integration. And so
it's really exciting that we get to be a part
of this, especially after watching how long it's taken for
us to get here. And it's really positive that the
federal government has now been able to move so quickly
(03:45):
once they decided to move forward. So what does this
really mean? What are the immediate impacts for the industry.
This is the first federal acknowledgment of medical use at scale.
This now opens the door for relief from se Section
two ADE for qualifying medical operators. Also expands research opportunities.
(04:07):
There's now a potential for interstate sorry international export and
import with DEA registration, and we also need an additional
additional regulations and framework for that, and then also potentially
interstate commerce and relief from Section two eightye. Just to
go back to that for a moment. Means that these
(04:27):
businesses can now deduct their ordinary business expenses. So the
Section two ADE basically says any business that is traffing
a Schedule one or two substance is not able to
deduct their ordinary business expenses. And so now that medical
cannabis is moved to Schedule three, any operators that are
(04:50):
meeting those requirements likely will be able to be treated
like a normal business. Now. Of course, the order does
instruct for the Treasury to give additional information to roll
this plant this out, so we're not there immediately. But
(05:11):
also really interesting is that it actually instructs to look
into whether this can apply retroactively as well, which is
what a lot of these cannabis operators have been pushing
for for a long time. So there are some requirements
on the regulatory side that are immediate as well. To
(05:32):
be able to benefit from this rescheduling event, DEA registration
is required. So yesterday around noon, the DEA registration portal
opened and there are there are actually some groups that
have already submitted their their registrations there. And so basically
(05:54):
this window is going to be open for sixty days
and any operator that submits their registration within that sixty
day period should be approved unless there's some kind of
material information missing, should be approved within the first six months.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
And so.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
You know, the recommendation is if you are an operator
that would meet the requirements there, then it's probably in
your best interest to go ahead and submit that application
because sorry registration, because there are still a lot of unknowns,
some operators have decided to hold and see if there's
going to be any more guidance about the requirements or
(06:36):
what this actually means as far as the benefits that
those groups will be getting, as well as any additional
reporting requirements, and so what does this not do, right,
Let's talk about that this does not legalize marijuana federally
right now, although it is the first step in that direction,
(07:01):
it does not provide blanket criminal protection and it does
not allow a media, interstate commerce across markets, or international trade.
This also does not apply to adult use cannabis, so
recreational and then have derived products outside of the scope. Now,
(07:23):
what does this mean from an operational and compliance reality.
As we discussed, operators will now need to comply and
receive the benefits of rescheduling. They will need to do
the DEA registration, which does mean additional agency oversight and
so there is a trade off for that right and
there's going to be additional reporting, recordkeeping, and also there's
(07:46):
quota considerations that are tied to international treaties. So what
that means is our government is only able to import
an export a certain amount of marijuana and there's already
quota requirementments set on that, and so that needs that
framework needs to be further expanded in order to allow
(08:08):
for additional international trade. And there's also a requirement around
the DEA having this purchase in resale mechanism, and it's
unclear how that is going to be implemented at this time.
So again we need additional guidance or regulations for that.
But the thought is that the because the DEA now
(08:32):
will have oversight over anyone, any operator that is going
to be submitting for registration, the DEA will not need
to actually take control of the products, but instead they
will have control over the products with by just having
(08:53):
oversight in those of those businesses. And so the biggest
open questions that we have now and are going to
be continuing to watch is how is to ade relief
actually going to be applied And we're waiting again, we're
waiting for that guidance. How are state systems going to
integrate with federal requirements? So, for example, for states like Florida,
(09:17):
where we have a requirement for vertically integrated licenses, what
are those types of states that don't have an additional
framework yet for interstate commerce or international trade? Are those
states then going to need to pass additional legislation to
be able to implement that? Is that going to be
(09:38):
up to the states, Because there are some states like Oregon,
for example, that have already passed legislation back in twenty
nineteen that they would allow for interstate commerce if once
a federal rescheduling event happened. So there will be a
lot of movement on a multi state level with new
legislation and also just watching how that's implemented. And then,
(10:01):
like we said, the International Treaty, quota limitations will need
to grow, and then how will financial institutions respond, Because
of course this is really positive, but this does not
mean that the banks are now able to bank cannabis. Well,
it doesn't mean that banks can bank cannabis, but it
(10:23):
doesn't mean that their requirements for reporting are now lower. Right,
there still have all of these requirements and so we
do still need to see some kind of legislation move
forward like safe banking and to be able to forward
these businesses to really be able to take advantage of
institutional banking and also uplisting. So there are still a
(10:47):
lot of unknowns. There is going to be a hearing
on June twenty ninth that is going to probably provide
additional information, and so of course we're all looking forward
to that and hopefully we'll have some additional guidance before then.
So hopefully that gets a good summary of what's to
come and what we're excited for.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Okay, does anyone want to respond or add to that?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Paula a fantastic summary. I think the most interesting thing
about this is how they separated out medical and let's
learn their FDA proved drugs like marinal for example, TuS
how they separated that out from recreational because as you know,
(11:35):
like the market, I mean, this is a thirty billion
dollar market right now in the United States, thirty billion
dollars worth of sales, but twenty billion, twenty two thirds
are recreational sales. So really, this this this executive order
and this restatement by the DA, it affects just one
(11:57):
third of market. Interesting of all. Second of all, the
biggest part of this, and I think why this happened
was the push from the cannabis companies because of two
to eighty e right, because that is one of is
a big detriment to the whole financial system. You know
(12:20):
that the tax implications. Any business owner knows, so if
with them in mind, is that the most important thing.
But meanwhile, when you look back, it only affects a
third of the market. And I don't know how banks
are going to get involved until companies separate completely, separate
(12:44):
the one third from the two thirds, because if you
just dump it all in the same pot no pun intended,
the banks can't touch it. I mean, I don't know,
what do you think, Terrell? What do you think? Doctor? Yeah,
And it's very fascinating and I'm really.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
Looking forward to the potential partnership. So just to clarify
for everyone, you know, THC in the form of marinold
was already Schedule three. So when it's made synthetic in
the lab, So now THAC from the plant, the same
molecule from the plant now is Schedule three, which means
that there's a moderate to low abuse potential, and also
(13:26):
taking it from Schedule one. Now we're on the federal level,
we're recognizing that there's medical value, and I think a
lot of the opportunities for research will open up because
you have different nonprofit organizations, different institutions, different universities that
they did not even want to engage with, you know,
license dispensaries because they were worried that they would lose
(13:49):
federal funding, they would lose would lose other types of funding.
So I'm really excited about you know, one, the federal
government now uniformly is recognizing that this has medical value
and then also there's a low to moderate abuse potential
and that really opens up different partnerships, working with nonprofits
more closely, because there's many nonprofits that wouldn't work, you know,
(14:10):
with cannabis, even though so many of their patients can benefit.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Take most or actually.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
Every cancer organization they have patients that can benefit because
they have patients deal with nausea, chronic pain, mental health.
By the way, may coming up is mental health awareness monk.
So it's a good time to look at how we
can apply this for our patient care. And the other
thing that I'm very excited about is this may open
(14:36):
up things for patients as far as getting reimbursed. So
when they purchase their medicine, they're more likely to come
across insurance companies that will reimburse because now it's schedule
three instead of Schedule one. When I was given the recommendations,
which I did that for a number of years in
Florida before being the medical director at TRULEVE, I would
make an effort to get it covered for patients. So
(14:57):
I would write what's called a variance in their chart
that I want this patient to have access to cannabis
as an opioid alternative. And many of the patients got
reimbursed through their workers comp through their injury insurance. But
now I think more physicians will be open to working
with patients on that to make that effort because now
it's Schedule three, we're legitimizing that nationwide that there's you know,
(15:19):
medicinal value. It's always had medicinal value, just that now
we're just recognizing on the federal level. But it's always
been that way and that's why it's been available in
so many states on the medical side. And I like
your point that you mentioned about the medical versus the
adult use, which is you know, the recreational side, and
that this is really state you know, tested and you know,
(15:40):
there's still a lot of regulation regulations, which is good
for the patients because the medicine is tested that there's
no chemicals, you know, there's no heavy metals, there's no contamination,
the moisture levels a low to prevent mold and fungal infection,
so it's a safe medication for the patients to take.
But it does not include tac from other sources, so
(16:01):
like from the street that's just grown. It doesn't allow
someone to just grow it at home. So that's an
important distinction that this is still you know, from the
I would say the regulated side, from the state regulated side,
CBD is already not scheduled, and so now with TC
being put in Schedule three, it opens up a lot
of opportunity to do more research on specific dosing, specific
(16:24):
formulations that might benefit patients.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
So it's something to definitely look forward to.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
And so I would like to weigh in. So I
was the previous Chronic Disease Director of the State of
Florida and an epidemiologist for many years for the Department
of Health, and then I served as the Deputy Secretary
for Health, in which the Office of Medical Marijuana Use resides.
And so what I will say is posts coming out
with my nonprofit in other organizations, we work very hard
(16:51):
to make sure the public is educated on what medical
marijuana is, what it isn't, what happens, And I think
this is an important conversation where the education to the
community is very important because some communities may think that
this will allow it to be legal and they can
just go out and engage in recreational use, etc. But
(17:13):
I think it's very important for us to put out
strong messages so that people can understand what this rescheduling
means and so as it relates to research. Fam you
has the authority to do education to the public about
medical marijuana and illicit use, and also has the authority
to do pedagogical research on education as it relates to
(17:35):
marijuana and so fam you for example, is potentially positioned
very well to work with organizations and work with medical
marijuana treatment centers, for example, if they choose to conduct
additional research as a landgra Ad school in a school
focused on agriculture. So I think this is a huge
(17:56):
opportunity because now researchers who have other research federal grants,
now they can apply for that schedulcy Schedule three license
so that they can then do research and they can
work with those medical marijuana treatment centers and they can
feel a little bit better about, you know, receiving the products.
I've talked too many researchers and people were very skeptical
(18:17):
before on how do they obtain those products from mmtcs,
how do they store them, et cetera. Making sure it
was very cost prohibited, for example, you know, not having
funding from the federal government to do this research. So
this may open a huge opportunity for researchers to take
advantage of this rescheduling.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
So you all touched on a couple of things that
I want to do some follow ups on. So, doctor Moore,
do you anticipate this change influencing how Florida physicians approach
recommending medical cannabis here in Florida?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Heidi, that's a great question. And when it gets down
to it, we have doctors patients in the cannabis companies.
I mean, this is kind of like a like a triumvirate.
So how will this change, this rescheduling effect every those
areas And we'll talk about doctors. And by the way,
so I have a degree in pharmacy. I went to
(19:10):
pharmacy school and I love fam you. And by the way,
you're one hundred percent right, Chamia, that fam you is
just in like such an amazing position. I've been working
with FAMU for a while now and I think it's fantastic.
I think the pharmacy school is way underrated. But but
(19:32):
you're right on that. So let's go let's go back.
So when I was in pharmacy school, I learned all
about scheduling control one, two, three, four, five, right, And
you see these different drugs and the idea of control
in the schedule. So this thing came on the seventies.
The original laws, just like all government laws, were all
(19:53):
patch work of stuff. But in the seventies that came
out with this control DA schedule one through and they said,
look the control ones are. It's all the bad stuff
you think about, like heroin. Okay, there's no use for it.
Super addicting, right, super addicting, a lot of abuse potential.
(20:13):
So and then as you go down the schedule to five,
it gets less and less and less. Now there's a
lot of things that aren't in the right place. We're
moving this marijuana from one to three. So we keep
all that in mind as the overview. How does that
affect us? How does that affect doctors? There's two kinds
(20:34):
of doctors, Heidi, there's the prescribing doctors. Well, we can't
use the word prescribing, recommending doctors, right like myself.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Well, can you call it prescribe? Well, can you call
it prescribing now that it's the schedule three or is
it still going to be recommending that? We don't know, Paul,
we don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Still complicated. It's first of all, right, at this minute,
The answer is easy. It's no, it's not prescribing yet.
Its recommend it. But but but that could change. But
that's a that's too long. Let's let's just talk about
right now this minute, doctors like me and doctor and
(21:13):
the good doctor Newton, who who is running truly by
the way, and congratulations on that position. So prescribing, recommending doctors,
and referring doctors, let's talk about referring doctors, which is
a whole lot more doctors than the recommending doctors, which
(21:34):
you could also call a certified doctors. So, uh so,
what about how does it affect me? It's not gonna
affect me at all, not at all. Why because I
was the first in the field. Doctor Newton and I
were the first in the field. We've recognized the importance
of marijuana as a medicine, not like we were the
(21:57):
first in the in the world. They've been doing this
ten thousand years, probably a million years. People have been
eating this plant. They know it's got value. All the
terpenes that we talk about. Guess what everything you cook
with is got terpenes in it, black pepper, Karofflin, Right,
(22:18):
you got a regano parsialy time everything. It's it's the
terpenes that we see in medical cannabis. So this is
really nothing, no secrets, nothing new. But in Florida, doctor
Newton and myself or some of the first doctors in
the whole state to recognize the value of medical marijuana
as a medicine. Now it hasn't changed for me. Control one.
(22:41):
Could they could say it's control zero, control five. It
doesn't matter. I'm gonna still prescribe it the same way.
I'm not gonna give more, I'm not gonna give less.
I'm a very conservative prescriber. Why because it's a serious medicine.
It's a serious medicine, and I know it as well
as doctor Newton knows it, and as well as everybody
(23:02):
here in this panel knows it. Right. What about referring physicians.
That's that's where it's going to change, the referring physicians.
When I started out, when doctor Newton started out, people
thought we were crazy. Okay, they thought they were like,
doctor Moore, you are a good doctor. What are you
(23:25):
doing giving people marijuana? And I have a background of pain,
just like doctor Newton. I actually was boarded in pain
medicine under the ABA anesthesia and the fact is I
recognized I knew it, and I had to try and
explain that. You really can't explain anything to doctors sometimes.
Speaker 7 (23:47):
Yeah, And I think the thing that most when we
have these conversations is, let's say it's a new physician
who hasn't studied the endocannabinoid system, which, by the way,
that's the cannabis in our bodies.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
The thing that blows their.
Speaker 7 (23:59):
Mind is that the patient can't overdose on this like
they can't opioids, because there's no acceptors in the brain
stem to suppress your breathing and another thing and not
combine it with other medicines. So let's say you're trying
to wean a patient off of oxy codone. You could
combine the cannabis with their lower dose of oxycodone to
help them wean off of that, and you won't have
(24:19):
this synergistic process. So like by synergistic, I mean it's
like an additive effect. So if you take a let's
say you take a muscle relaxant and a pain pill
like oxycodone or morphine, those can both suppressure breathing, the
muscle relaxant for muscle spasms and the pain and the
pain medicine the opioid. They both suppressure breathing, but they
can do it even worse if you take them both
(24:41):
at the same time. It could be deadly for a
patient with sleep apnea to take both. They're already compromised
have low oxtion at night. But with cannabis, your breathing
is preserved. It's not suppressing your breathing. I think that's
one of the most mind blowing things that physicians that
and nurses that are learning cannabis for the first time.
That really kind of broadens their perspective and say, oh wow,
(25:03):
that's a very interesting fact. And then dig deeper and
you know, when we can tell a physician, owners or pharmacists,
this is going to have a much better safety profile,
be less likely to kill the patient.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Have have less serious interactions. Everything has interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You should use that as an advertisement.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Sure, And I'm just think about well, if you think
about sleep aids, if you think about muscle relaxes and
pain medicine, so many patients have pain and insomnia, and
these medicines they accumulate in your system and they.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
All suppress your breathing. And to replace.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
Maybe all of those medicines or even you know, if
you could take half, if you could replace it by
fifty percent, that's very significant in terms of overall safety
for the patient. And I think those you know, referrals
that should come through. I'm hoping that you see more
of those referrals, especially from the primary care doctors, especially
from other pain doctors. You know, now that it's recognized
(26:01):
on the federal side. You know, maybe some doctors were
held up because it is it was scheduled one, so
they didn't want to send that, they didn't want to
have the conversation with the patient. But now they may
feel more comfortable to have those conversations and to start
seeing how they can refer.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
A patient there.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
And one other thing I want to mention there are
some doctors that's on the list of certified physicians, but
they only got on that list to learn how to
refer patients out. They need to take the course do
recommendations themselves. But they took the course to learn how
can I refer a patient out for medical cannabis? You know,
what do I need to know about the qualified conditions?
(26:40):
What do I need to know just to make sure
that I'm safe, that the patient is safe to send
that referral out and I'm hoping that we will see
more patients getting referred out. And I'm hoping that we
will see more patients asking their insurance companies, you know,
can I be reimbursed for this? Or asking their work policies,
or asking you know, you know, for their other types
(27:01):
of coverage, you know, can I get reimbursed because I'm
taking this for a medical reason. I have a doctor's
medical recommendation like doctor Moore that a doctor that's certified
and educated and well versed on this, can I get reimbursement.
So I'm hoping that there's more, you know, more patient advocacy,
self advocacy. I'm hoping that there's more caregiver advocacy getting
patients reimbursed in the future.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Well, Paula kind of touched on that when she mentioned
the two ade tax burden. Paula, there's an opportunity here
for patients to see lower lower costs and better access, right.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Yes, that's right, definitely. I mean again, there's still a
lot of unknowns, but because this is now recognized as
with medical benefits, right, the hope is that more insurance
companies are going to be willing to cover this under
under the insurance umbrella and more access. And I mean
(27:53):
this goes hand in hand with the recent movement on
the hemp side as well. Right see MESS is going
to be covering CBD products and I think that also
helps for this industry as well.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Right So, doctor Robert, Oh go ahead, Doctor Marrow, Oh no, okay,
I could.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I could wrap up that last statement and that and
that is so you know, ten years ago when I
when I opened the office, it'll be ten years in
June this year, people thought I was crazy, and no,
I really just understood understood mainly my background at pharmacy
uh and and other life experiences and uh and I'm
(28:35):
not a cannabis user. It was not something I've ever done.
It was not something I said, oh yeah, I'm going
to anyway for referring doctors. I have seen a trend
over the last ten years. And it's hard to believe
me and doctor new ten years now, ten years so
(28:56):
we ought to have an anniversary party. But I've seen
a trend, a trend where ten years ago there there
was not a doctor would touch it. I wouldn't get
a call from anybody. Was all patient driven, okay, But
then about five years ago, I started getting cancer doctor referrals,
so that and that makes sense, right of course. But
(29:17):
in the last two years, I'm starting to see family
doctor referrals, general practitioners, paying guys, everybody. So I'm starting
to get a referral base that's different than it was
going backward. Starting now, as this gets publicized, I think
that the general community doctor referral base is gonna is
(29:39):
going to be just like any other referral base. I'll
probably get busy here. It's not really ever been a
goal of mine to like to have an office that
I just you know, are so busy, I can't have lunch.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
Or something, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
But but but so we'll we'll take care of whatever happens,
you know, whatever patients. But but I think we it
will get busier. I've stayed as busy over the last
five years as I've ever been as a matter of fact,
since COVID it got busier, and it's just stayed busy, okay,
But I think this will go another step up, maybe
(30:18):
ten or twenty percent is just my guess. But what
the best thing is is that that now everyone will
have the benefit of a referral if they need it
less opiates more. Well, let's just call it natural healing.
(30:41):
But it's but really, look, it's marijuana. It is what
it is. And and and back to doctor Terrell's point,
medical versus recreational, it's the same stuff. It's marijuana. How
could they say we're gonna own me a you know,
(31:02):
only reschedule one third of this part. It's puzzling because TAC,
like doctor Newton said, was always schedule three. The difference
is and that was just TAC is a chemical, it's
synthetic in the lab. Of course, the pharmaceutic companies were
(31:22):
able to put a three on it. Just like a
movie studio doesn't want to have an R rating. They
want to They want a PG because you can get
more audience. You know. They don't want X, they want PG.
So they don't want control one, they want control three. Pharmacy,
Big Pharma did that. That's fine. But TAC is not
(31:46):
the same as marijuana. Okay, it's just not. But but
marijuana medical is the same as recreation. I am sorry,
it's the same. Okay, Like, yes, it's different, I understand truly,
Even they and and and all the you know, all
the certifications they do and all the background. So I'm
(32:08):
not I'm not trying to dismiss that, but what I'm
saying is it's the it's the planned, you know. So
so it's interesting how they've been able to separate that out.
We'll have to see what that really does for the
two ade. I think, just like everything, it's gonna just
take time. It's gonna take time. The pilot program that
(32:31):
they just started this April, which we're in April still
today for one more day. The pilot program, as Paula mentioned, uh,
very interesting, five hundred dollars uh CBD allotment. But it
turns out it's more than just CBD. It's CBD plus THC.
(32:52):
And so what they're doing is they're paying for medical
marijuana right now. The government just started. It's a pilot program.
It's limited medicare patients with cancer. But that is the
first step. I think within a year or two or
three or five, it'll just be another medicine. It'll be
(33:12):
like marinol. Right, what do you think, doctor ned, what
do you think schimaria?
Speaker 8 (33:18):
So I think no. Back to the point of you know,
recreational is the same. So I'm gonna come from a
safety standpoint. So when you look at you know, the
poison control centers and the numbers of poisonings related to
marijuana with children, I think, you know, safety is very important,
so we have to educate parents. And I think, you know,
(33:40):
having regulations on how you can package and how you
can store and these things, especially for youth, et cetera,
that's really important. And so making sure those things are
in place.
Speaker 6 (33:50):
And I also think.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
When you have an unregulated, for example, market, like you
run a risk. You don't know how people prepare, et cetera.
And so I think there are a lot of regulation
things that you have to consider. If it's unregulated, you
don't know where it came from, you don't know what
dosing it is, and so I think we just have
to think about that. But I definitely say that this
(34:14):
topic is very understudy. Right, So when you look at
different things like heart disease is the leading cause of death,
you can say it without anything. You could say cancer
second leading calls of death in Florida in the United States.
So from an epidemiological standpoint, there are nice stats on diseases.
There are nice stats on certain drugs and how they
(34:35):
relate to chronic diseases and people that are on insulin
for diabetes. But I don't think the research is there
to really document, you know, how many people with heart
disease or cancer is using you know, medical marijuana. What
are the implications where their improvements and diabetes are hypertensional?
Whatever the condition was that the certifying physician made the
(34:57):
determination for them to be eligible for marijuana. And so
I think as we have these conversations and we normalize
the data and the research behind it, then we'll be
able to have a better conversation to say, you know,
in this state, you know, population over twenty two million,
this is the percentage of people.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
That use medical marijuana.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
When we really break it down and we're able to
say that these are the number of individuals with hypertension, diabetes,
did we see improvement in control of chronic diseases and
management for example? That's when you can have that conversation
with research and so so much of the unknown is
related to the confusion. And so by moving this to
(35:36):
Schedule three, now we have a new opportunity to explore
the possibilities and we have a better platform to set
the epidemiology of what medical marijuana is as it relates
to the leading causes of death and disability in the
US and in Florida. And so I think we're in
a good position now with this rescheduling to really have
(35:57):
those data driven conversations. And a lot of times when
you have naysayers or you have people that don't believe,
they don't believe because you have a lack of data.
But when you have a data driven conversation, now you
can have a better informed scientific conversation where you have
proof in the numbers.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Well, Schedule three actually opens up marijuana for research.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Yes you talk salary, Yes I do.
Speaker 8 (36:21):
And you know, when researchers have different types of research funding,
you know, the types of things that they can handle
in what they can have is very different. And so
when the opportunity wasn't there to receive funding, for example,
from National Institute of Health or National Science Foundation on marijuana,
it's hard for researchers to research something that's not funded
(36:43):
or it can't be funded, right, And it's also very
tricky on how they obtain medical marijuana. So if they're
doing research, like you know, it wasn't easy to just
go and say, hey, I'm not a patient in the
registry hey, I want products for testing. It was real
true because again they receive other federal funds, and it
(37:03):
could have put the institution, for example, if they didn't
have the authority and wasn't directed by the legislator to
do that, they could put them in potential harms way
of having medical marijuana in their labs on their campuses.
And so this should provide better insights and a path
forward so that they can work with those medical marijuana
(37:24):
treatment centers to find that pathway to receive samples and
work directly with those mtc's to be able to do
research that's then going to inform how you educate people.
It's going to inform you how you can better manage
chronic conditions and these conditions that you can certify on.
So this changes the landscape in a good way. You know,
(37:46):
now you can have those conversations with an institutional review
board on safety, et cetera. And so it really places
us in a different position in the United States to
be able to provide inform research and for you universities
to engage with medical marijuana treatment centers to begin these
begin the conversations.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
So paul I wanted to go with you to kind
of the legal perspective. We really didn't touch on this.
So for those who are listening, can you talk about
whether criminal penalties will for possessing marijuana will change or
are they unchanged under Schedule three? Can you talk a
little bit about the legal aspects please.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Yes, definitely. And I just wanted to quickly add to
what doctor Robertson was saying. There are going to be
so many benefits for research here, and one of those
is opening up additional funding resources. Right there's already funding
for marijuana research, but now we're going to see even more,
and so it's really important for organizations and businesses to
(38:46):
pay attention to that that are interested in doing research
because now you know, it doesn't have to be as
much self funded, and so that's going to be really
positive for industry and to watch as well. And I'm
sure organizations like FAM you are already considering this and
and ahead of it, but but for others, you know,
(39:08):
it's it's important that you you guys are aware that
this is going to be another positive benefit from this.
And then as far as is there a risk of
criminal liability or are there protections from criminal liability? So
this rescheduling event right now, the immediate impact is only
(39:30):
for state medical operators, and there is a real risk
that individuals may assume that now marijuana is rescheduled across
the board and and may inadvertently expose themselves to criminal
risk right by, especially in non legal states. And so
(39:50):
again that goes back to why you know doctor Robertson
and more doctor Moore and Newton are saying the education
is so important and why we have to get out
there and educate the public not only about what does
this mean from a business perspective or what does this
mean as far as for medical youth, but what does
(40:13):
this mean for the public as a whole. And so
I really commend all of you guys for doing so
much to research the public.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
And yes, okay, well guess what. We have a question
from one of our viewers on YouTube. I want to
bring it up for you all to answer. So this
is from Carla Ashburn saying, good afternoon. Will medical marijuana
doctors need a DEA license if they do not currently
have one? Does anyone know the answer to that question?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Please? The answer is yes. I would imagine it's a
d it's Schedule three, it's it's not official. By the way,
this is not official yet, but go ahead. Would the
short answer be yes, but we all do anyway, I
mean most right.
Speaker 5 (41:07):
Well, yeah, so, so there's some great area on that
right now, right because right now, the instructions are for
the businesses that are actually plant touching, like the medical
marijuana operators that are dispensing medical marijuana to get a
DEA registration. However, as we continue to see this develop,
(41:31):
these doctors may also.
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Need to to.
Speaker 5 (41:34):
Get get DEA registration. But like doctor Moore said, most
doctors already have that type of registration that are involved
in either prescribing or administering scheduled substances.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
So here's so wearing like this gray zone because the
state law supersedes the federal law in this case, well
you have us. It's a little crazy when you think
about it. You had an illegal control one substance. States
made the laws to allow us to recommend this substance
(42:17):
and allow patients to use the substance. Then there's the
whole record. So you had this thing, and we're going
to be in this for a while because we're really
still practicing under the state law. The fact that it's
control one, two, three, four or five doesn't matter because
our state law says patient needs a condition, right, patient
(42:41):
needs a certifying doctor, patient has to fill out this
thousand page consent form all this information, so you have
to check the e force on every patient on every visit.
So all these things are not changing. Now. Could they
change the state law Florida? Possibly, but unlikely. Okay, what
(43:06):
you know, could it go recreation before they change the
state law. It's anyone's guess. And not to say I
think that's going to happen anytime soon. I just don't.
I think it's agreed that you need medical intervention for
this drug because it is a drug, it's a medication.
(43:30):
We all agree, and doctor Roberson agrees that there's another
level of this, like the effects on the community. We
need to understand this and see what's happening. If you
look at states that have gone recreational, they'll tell you
that their statistics, community epidemiology numbers tell them heck, there's
(43:50):
a lot more car accidents, there's a lot more fate,
there's a lot more fatal car accidents in states that
approve recreational marijuana. You cannot argue with that data. Okay,
that in itself would be enough for some really super
ultra conservative people to say, look, we shouldn't allow recreation
(44:12):
at all. Right, but I say this to highlight the
fact that this is an important drug and it needs
medical oversight.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
Yeah, so I would have to imagine that any Floridian
We have what several hundred thousand Floridians who have a
medical marijuana card in Florida.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
And that a million.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
Yeah, they're listening to this conversation and they're like, what
should I be expecting with my medical marijuana? Is it
going to change my access? Will I have to change positions?
Or will I expect more? What could they potentially expect
now that this rescheduling has happened, and I know there's
(44:55):
more to come on it, But for those who are
listening today, what could they expect potentially.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Doctor Newton, what do you think? Nothing? I don't think
they'll will any change at all.
Speaker 7 (45:07):
Well, I think gradually over time of what they can
expect is to see, you know, more opportunities to engage
in research, whether that be those research studies being observational
where a patient is taking their medicine, that is filling
out surveys, and what is the point of those surveys
is to find out what is the best dosing, what's
(45:30):
the best formulation for your specific conditions. There's diseases that's
associated with a low amount of cannabis in your body,
a deficiency of your endocannabinoid system, that's migraines, fibromaloga ibs
as well, and maybe a patient with back pain from fibromalogia,
their dosing in formulation might be different from somebody with
(45:50):
back pain from muscle spasms or back pain from a discrimation.
And so I think the opportunities to participate in that
type of research, I think that's one thing that patients
may see, and then they might see more petitions on
getting reimbursed by their insurance company or or their auto
insurance company, so long as there's a medical, you know,
(46:13):
reason and medical documentation of the necessity for it. Medical
necessity is important in everything we recommend, whether that's medical cannabis, talinol,
or auburprofin.
Speaker 6 (46:23):
We always want to document medical necessity.
Speaker 7 (46:25):
Now I think it may gradually become even more easy
to document that medical necessity because we'll you know, hopefully
see more universities, you know, giving out more bodies of research.
Speaker 6 (46:35):
There a couple a couple of my favorite studies.
Speaker 7 (46:38):
One showed an increased survival time among cancer patients among
in stage cancer patients with cannabis with as little as
four to five milligrams of TAC a day or those
in stage patients. Another one of my favorite studies is
on cannabis as a replacement not just for opioids, but
benzodese pines as well, and sedative and non sedative hypnotics.
(47:02):
That's things like ambient and winesta.
Speaker 6 (47:04):
And what we were talking about before is harm reduction.
Speaker 7 (47:06):
Us living in a retirement state, you know, twenty percent
or more sixty five and older, we have a lot
of patients that's in polypharmacy. And I'm not saying polypharmacy
is always wrong, but polypharmacy is not a safe practice.
Speaker 6 (47:20):
And so if we can help overcome those things.
Speaker 7 (47:22):
You know, even if patients are just filling out surveys
and they're observing what they're getting, then there's another level of
research study that's called a randomized control trial where the
patient doesn't know what they're taking, either they're taking cannabis
or placebo, and that could be cannabis in different forms,
whether that's CBDTC or a combination of both, and then
the doctors don't know what the patient is getting. So
(47:44):
I think all those levels of research, from surveys to
randomized control trials that are blinded, I think all those
opportunities will gradually come up and patients will see more opportunities,
you know, to engage, engage in that, and hopefully they'll
get more support from.
Speaker 6 (47:59):
The characters as well.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
You're correct, I didn't mean to say that nothing's gonna happen.
What I meant and what I am saying, is that
nothing's gonna happen Initially. Patients don't have to get anxious,
they don't have to and ask questions stress what's going
on because they are I've had some calls already like
oh my god, what's happening. But my point is there's
(48:23):
really nothing's gonna happen in the short term, like we're
not going to see the results of the research that
has to go on the results of the dose studies.
By the way, there's a lot of beautiful things that
will come out of this, just like doctor Betton said,
but in the short term, and I mean short term
like this next year, I don't think we'll notice from
(48:44):
the patient side. They won't see, they won't understand what's
really happening behind the scenes. But yes, there'll be more
money coming in through research. There'll definitely be a lot
more studies. I hope epidemiology gets, you know, good funding
in this because that's for me, that's super important. Patient's important.
Speaker 6 (49:06):
I didn't want to mention a couple of things.
Speaker 7 (49:08):
You know, next month is arthritis awareness, next month is
mental health awareness, and then the following month is PTSD awareness,
and then the following month after that is Minority Mental
health Awareness. So I think we should also look at
these opportunities for these events coming up each month. Okay,
these organizations that haven't been integrating cannabis, how can they
start integrating it, because now they may be more open
(49:29):
to these conversations. There's a big event here in Florida,
the Florida Medical Cannabis Conference of next book. This is
probably the biggest physician event on the East Coast. I'm
counting year Long, which is in Orlando next month, and
I'm looking forward to collaborating with some of the colleagues,
some of our colleagues to find out, Okay, what is
your opinion. You know, what are you going to do
(49:49):
differently now that you didn't do last year? You know,
what are you planning on as far as collaborating, as
far as applying for research grants. Sure, there's more things
that's going to come up. There more opportunities that fam
you as well. They're already engaged in several research projects
in multiple departments. I'm looking forward to connecting with them
(50:11):
as well. They'll have some representatives of their program there
to connect and kind of see, you know, where can
we collaborate, Where can we partner? What are other physicians
and other practices. What are they going to do that's
different now, just as far as supporting their patients, supporting
the caregivers.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Yeah, well, I can imagine that this will be the
first of several conversations that we're going to be having
on this topic, because literally we're seven days since the
announcement at this recording time, we're seven days from the announcement,
and I want to thank you all for being on
this conversation on cannabis, brought to you by the Medical
Marijuana Education and Research Initiative at Florida and M University.
(50:51):
Thank you to everyone watching this program. Tell us what
you think about this form by completing the survey posted
in the comment boxes on Mary's Facebook YouTube pages. If
you complete the survey, your name will be entered into
a drawing in May twenty twenty six to win a
one hundred dollars gift car provided by one of Mary's partners.
Stay connected with Fam You Mary to access educational information
(51:15):
and resources about legal, medical, medical cannabis use and the
consequences of illegal marijuana use in Florida. You can follow
them on social media or visit the fam You Merry website.
We also want to encourage you to go to the
Florida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana Use website
to learn how to obtain a legal medical marijuana card
(51:37):
in the state of Florida. Thanks everyone. The views and
opinions of our invited guests are not necessarily the views
and opinions of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University or the
Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative.
From the WA and M Studio on the campus of
Florida A and M University. This is Mary Forum Radio,
a weekly conversation on the education and research.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Of the medical marijuana being conducted at BAMMUTI. Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm Heidi Outway, your host for these conversations on cannabis
virtual form, brought to you by the Medical Marijuana Education
and Research Initiative at Florida and M University.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
In this conversation, we're talking about the federal government's recent
decision to reclassify medical marijuana as a Schedule three drug
and what it means for Floridians who use it. So
let's talk and learn about this subject with our guests.
Doctor Mark Moore is a physician, inventor, author, and humanitarian
(00:46):
who founded Medcan, Florida's first medical marijuana doctor's office. A
Board certified physician more than twenty years of experience in anseesiology,
pain medicine, pain management, and addiction medicine, Doctor More was
among Florida's first physicians authorized to recommend medical cannabis. Our
(01:08):
other guests is doctor Shimerio Roberson, a nationally recognized health
and human services leader with extensive expertise in public health administration,
policy development, and programmatic innovation. She is the founder and
CEO of DSR Consulting and Management, a Florida based firm
committed to helping organizations achieve meaningful trans transformation. Doctor Terrell
(01:34):
Newton is an innovative pain relief physician and the medical
director at Truelief, where he focuses on advancing patient care
through personalized treatment strategies with expertise and interventional pain management, anesthesiology,
and addiction medicine. He is dedicated to helping patients find effective,
(01:54):
individualized solutions for chronic pain and rounding out our panel
is Paula Savchenko, the founding partner of Cannacoor Group and
the ps Law Group based in South Florida. She's an
attorney and consultant working on competitive licensing and regulatory compliance
in the cannabis industry. She has successfully worked on competitive
(02:17):
applications for marijuana businesses sinking licenses in Florida, Georgia, and
New York in several other states. So to everyone watching,
please share the link to this form on your social
media channels so others can learn about this topic. We
also want you to tell us what you think about
this forum. By completing the survey that'll be posted on
(02:39):
Mary's social media pages, your name will be entered into
a drawing in May twenty twenty six to win a
one hundred dollars gift card provided by one of Mary's partners. Now,
let's start this conversation on cannabis. So, on April twenty
third of twenty twenty six, state licensed medical marijuana and
(03:00):
DA approved products were moved from Schedule one to Schedule
three under federal law, while recreational marijuana remains Schedule one. Paula,
I'm going to come to you so you can talk
with us about what does this reclassification actually change for
cannabis policy and what doesn't it change?
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Thank you. Yeah, So, as you said, this is a
monumental shift for the cannabis industry, but it is not
full legalization. It's the beginning of federal integration. And so
it's really exciting that we get to be a part
of this, especially after watching how long it's taken for
us to get here. And it's really positive that the
federal government has now been able to move so quickly
(03:45):
once they decided to move forward. So what does this
really mean? What are the immediate impacts for the industry.
This is the first federal acknowledgment of medical use at scale.
This now opens the door for relief from se Section
two ADE for qualifying medical operators. Also expands research opportunities.
(04:07):
There's now a potential for interstate sorry international export and
import with DEA registration, and we also need an additional
additional regulations and framework for that, and then also potentially
interstate commerce and relief from Section two eightye. Just to
go back to that for a moment. Means that these
(04:27):
businesses can now deduct their ordinary business expenses. So the
Section two ADE basically says any business that is traffing
a Schedule one or two substance is not able to
deduct their ordinary business expenses. And so now that medical
cannabis is moved to Schedule three, any operators that are
(04:50):
meeting those requirements likely will be able to be treated
like a normal business. Now. Of course, the order does
instruct for the Treasury to give additional information to roll
this plant this out, so we're not there immediately. But
(05:11):
also really interesting is that it actually instructs to look
into whether this can apply retroactively as well, which is
what a lot of these cannabis operators have been pushing
for for a long time. So there are some requirements
on the regulatory side that are immediate as well. To
(05:32):
be able to benefit from this rescheduling event, DEA registration
is required. So yesterday around noon, the DEA registration portal
opened and there are there are actually some groups that
have already submitted their their registrations there. And so basically
(05:54):
this window is going to be open for sixty days
and any operator that submits their registration within that sixty
day period should be approved unless there's some kind of
material information missing, should be approved within the first six months.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
And so.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
You know, the recommendation is if you are an operator
that would meet the requirements there, then it's probably in
your best interest to go ahead and submit that application
because sorry registration, because there are still a lot of unknowns,
some operators have decided to hold and see if there's
going to be any more guidance about the requirements or
(06:36):
what this actually means as far as the benefits that
those groups will be getting, as well as any additional
reporting requirements, and so what does this not do, right,
Let's talk about that this does not legalize marijuana federally
right now, although it is the first step in that direction,
(07:01):
it does not provide blanket criminal protection and it does
not allow a media, interstate commerce across markets, or international trade.
This also does not apply to adult use cannabis, so
recreational and then have derived products outside of the scope. Now,
(07:23):
what does this mean from an operational and compliance reality.
As we discussed, operators will now need to comply and
receive the benefits of rescheduling. They will need to do
the DEA registration, which does mean additional agency oversight and
so there is a trade off for that right and
there's going to be additional reporting, recordkeeping, and also there's
(07:46):
quota considerations that are tied to international treaties. So what
that means is our government is only able to import
an export a certain amount of marijuana and there's already
quota requirementments set on that, and so that needs that
framework needs to be further expanded in order to allow
(08:08):
for additional international trade. And there's also a requirement around
the DEA having this purchase in resale mechanism, and it's
unclear how that is going to be implemented at this time.
So again we need additional guidance or regulations for that.
But the thought is that the because the DEA now
(08:32):
will have oversight over anyone, any operator that is going
to be submitting for registration, the DEA will not need
to actually take control of the products, but instead they
will have control over the products with by just having
(08:53):
oversight in those of those businesses. And so the biggest
open questions that we have now and are going to
be continuing to watch is how is to ade relief
actually going to be applied And we're waiting again, we're
waiting for that guidance. How are state systems going to
integrate with federal requirements? So, for example, for states like Florida,
(09:17):
where we have a requirement for vertically integrated licenses, what
are those types of states that don't have an additional
framework yet for interstate commerce or international trade? Are those
states then going to need to pass additional legislation to
be able to implement that? Is that going to be
(09:38):
up to the states, Because there are some states like Oregon,
for example, that have already passed legislation back in twenty
nineteen that they would allow for interstate commerce if once
a federal rescheduling event happened. So there will be a
lot of movement on a multi state level with new
legislation and also just watching how that's implemented. And then,
(10:01):
like we said, the International Treaty, quota limitations will need
to grow, and then how will financial institutions respond, Because
of course this is really positive, but this does not
mean that the banks are now able to bank cannabis. Well,
it doesn't mean that banks can bank cannabis, but it
(10:23):
doesn't mean that their requirements for reporting are now lower. Right,
there still have all of these requirements and so we
do still need to see some kind of legislation move
forward like safe banking and to be able to forward
these businesses to really be able to take advantage of
institutional banking and also uplisting. So there are still a
(10:47):
lot of unknowns. There is going to be a hearing
on June twenty ninth that is going to probably provide
additional information, and so of course we're all looking forward
to that and hopefully we'll have some additional guidance before then.
So hopefully that gets a good summary of what's to
come and what we're excited for.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Okay, does anyone want to respond or add to that?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Paula a fantastic summary. I think the most interesting thing
about this is how they separated out medical and let's
learn their FDA proved drugs like marinal for example, TuS
how they separated that out from recreational because as you know,
(11:35):
like the market, I mean, this is a thirty billion
dollar market right now in the United States, thirty billion
dollars worth of sales, but twenty billion, twenty two thirds
are recreational sales. So really, this this this executive order
and this restatement by the DA, it affects just one
(11:57):
third of market. Interesting of all. Second of all, the
biggest part of this, and I think why this happened
was the push from the cannabis companies because of two
to eighty e right, because that is one of is
a big detriment to the whole financial system. You know
(12:20):
that the tax implications. Any business owner knows, so if
with them in mind, is that the most important thing.
But meanwhile, when you look back, it only affects a
third of the market. And I don't know how banks
are going to get involved until companies separate completely, separate
(12:44):
the one third from the two thirds, because if you
just dump it all in the same pot no pun intended,
the banks can't touch it. I mean, I don't know,
what do you think, Terrell? What do you think? Doctor? Yeah,
And it's very fascinating and I'm really.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
Looking forward to the potential partnership. So just to clarify
for everyone, you know, THC in the form of marinold
was already Schedule three. So when it's made synthetic in
the lab, So now THAC from the plant, the same
molecule from the plant now is Schedule three, which means
that there's a moderate to low abuse potential, and also
(13:26):
taking it from Schedule one. Now we're on the federal level,
we're recognizing that there's medical value, and I think a
lot of the opportunities for research will open up because
you have different nonprofit organizations, different institutions, different universities that
they did not even want to engage with, you know,
license dispensaries because they were worried that they would lose
(13:49):
federal funding, they would lose would lose other types of funding.
So I'm really excited about you know, one, the federal
government now uniformly is recognizing that this has medical value
and then also there's a low to moderate abuse potential
and that really opens up different partnerships, working with nonprofits
more closely, because there's many nonprofits that wouldn't work, you know,
(14:10):
with cannabis, even though so many of their patients can benefit.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Take most or actually.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
Every cancer organization they have patients that can benefit because
they have patients deal with nausea, chronic pain, mental health.
By the way, may coming up is mental health awareness monk.
So it's a good time to look at how we
can apply this for our patient care. And the other
thing that I'm very excited about is this may open
(14:36):
up things for patients as far as getting reimbursed. So
when they purchase their medicine, they're more likely to come
across insurance companies that will reimburse because now it's schedule
three instead of Schedule one. When I was given the recommendations,
which I did that for a number of years in
Florida before being the medical director at TRULEVE, I would
make an effort to get it covered for patients. So
(14:57):
I would write what's called a variance in their chart
that I want this patient to have access to cannabis
as an opioid alternative. And many of the patients got
reimbursed through their workers comp through their injury insurance. But
now I think more physicians will be open to working
with patients on that to make that effort because now
it's Schedule three, we're legitimizing that nationwide that there's you know,
(15:19):
medicinal value. It's always had medicinal value, just that now
we're just recognizing on the federal level. But it's always
been that way and that's why it's been available in
so many states on the medical side. And I like
your point that you mentioned about the medical versus the
adult use, which is you know, the recreational side, and
that this is really state you know, tested and you know,
(15:40):
there's still a lot of regulation regulations, which is good
for the patients because the medicine is tested that there's
no chemicals, you know, there's no heavy metals, there's no contamination,
the moisture levels a low to prevent mold and fungal infection,
so it's a safe medication for the patients to take.
But it does not include tac from other sources, so
(16:01):
like from the street that's just grown. It doesn't allow
someone to just grow it at home. So that's an
important distinction that this is still you know, from the
I would say the regulated side, from the state regulated side,
CBD is already not scheduled, and so now with TC
being put in Schedule three, it opens up a lot
of opportunity to do more research on specific dosing, specific
(16:24):
formulations that might benefit patients.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
So it's something to definitely look forward to.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
And so I would like to weigh in. So I
was the previous Chronic Disease Director of the State of
Florida and an epidemiologist for many years for the Department
of Health, and then I served as the Deputy Secretary
for Health, in which the Office of Medical Marijuana Use resides.
And so what I will say is posts coming out
with my nonprofit in other organizations, we work very hard
(16:51):
to make sure the public is educated on what medical
marijuana is, what it isn't, what happens, And I think
this is an important conversation where the education to the
community is very important because some communities may think that
this will allow it to be legal and they can
just go out and engage in recreational use, etc. But
(17:13):
I think it's very important for us to put out
strong messages so that people can understand what this rescheduling
means and so as it relates to research. Fam you
has the authority to do education to the public about
medical marijuana and illicit use, and also has the authority
to do pedagogical research on education as it relates to
(17:35):
marijuana and so fam you for example, is potentially positioned
very well to work with organizations and work with medical
marijuana treatment centers, for example, if they choose to conduct
additional research as a landgra Ad school in a school
focused on agriculture. So I think this is a huge
(17:56):
opportunity because now researchers who have other research federal grants,
now they can apply for that schedulcy Schedule three license
so that they can then do research and they can
work with those medical marijuana treatment centers and they can
feel a little bit better about, you know, receiving the products.
I've talked too many researchers and people were very skeptical
(18:17):
before on how do they obtain those products from mmtcs,
how do they store them, et cetera. Making sure it
was very cost prohibited, for example, you know, not having
funding from the federal government to do this research. So
this may open a huge opportunity for researchers to take
advantage of this rescheduling.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
So you all touched on a couple of things that
I want to do some follow ups on. So, doctor Moore,
do you anticipate this change influencing how Florida physicians approach
recommending medical cannabis here in Florida?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Heidi, that's a great question. And when it gets down
to it, we have doctors patients in the cannabis companies.
I mean, this is kind of like a like a triumvirate.
So how will this change, this rescheduling effect every those
areas And we'll talk about doctors. And by the way,
so I have a degree in pharmacy. I went to
(19:10):
pharmacy school and I love fam you. And by the way,
you're one hundred percent right, Chamia, that fam you is
just in like such an amazing position. I've been working
with FAMU for a while now and I think it's fantastic.
I think the pharmacy school is way underrated. But but
(19:32):
you're right on that. So let's go let's go back.
So when I was in pharmacy school, I learned all
about scheduling control one, two, three, four, five, right, And
you see these different drugs and the idea of control
in the schedule. So this thing came on the seventies.
The original laws, just like all government laws, were all
(19:53):
patch work of stuff. But in the seventies that came
out with this control DA schedule one through and they said,
look the control ones are. It's all the bad stuff
you think about, like heroin. Okay, there's no use for it.
Super addicting, right, super addicting, a lot of abuse potential.
(20:13):
So and then as you go down the schedule to five,
it gets less and less and less. Now there's a
lot of things that aren't in the right place. We're
moving this marijuana from one to three. So we keep
all that in mind as the overview. How does that
affect us? How does that affect doctors? There's two kinds
(20:34):
of doctors, Heidi, there's the prescribing doctors. Well, we can't
use the word prescribing, recommending doctors, right like myself.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Well, can you call it prescribe? Well, can you call
it prescribing now that it's the schedule three or is
it still going to be recommending that? We don't know, Paul,
we don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Still complicated. It's first of all, right, at this minute,
The answer is easy. It's no, it's not prescribing yet.
Its recommend it. But but but that could change. But
that's a that's too long. Let's let's just talk about
right now this minute, doctors like me and doctor and
(21:13):
the good doctor Newton, who who is running truly by
the way, and congratulations on that position. So prescribing, recommending doctors,
and referring doctors, let's talk about referring doctors, which is
a whole lot more doctors than the recommending doctors, which
(21:34):
you could also call a certified doctors. So, uh so,
what about how does it affect me? It's not gonna
affect me at all, not at all. Why because I
was the first in the field. Doctor Newton and I
were the first in the field. We've recognized the importance
of marijuana as a medicine, not like we were the
(21:57):
first in the in the world. They've been doing this
ten thousand years, probably a million years. People have been
eating this plant. They know it's got value. All the
terpenes that we talk about. Guess what everything you cook
with is got terpenes in it, black pepper, Karofflin, Right,
(22:18):
you got a regano parsialy time everything. It's it's the
terpenes that we see in medical cannabis. So this is
really nothing, no secrets, nothing new. But in Florida, doctor
Newton and myself or some of the first doctors in
the whole state to recognize the value of medical marijuana
as a medicine. Now it hasn't changed for me. Control one.
(22:41):
Could they could say it's control zero, control five. It
doesn't matter. I'm gonna still prescribe it the same way.
I'm not gonna give more, I'm not gonna give less.
I'm a very conservative prescriber. Why because it's a serious medicine.
It's a serious medicine, and I know it as well
as doctor Newton knows it, and as well as everybody
(23:02):
here in this panel knows it. Right. What about referring physicians.
That's that's where it's going to change, the referring physicians.
When I started out, when doctor Newton started out, people
thought we were crazy. Okay, they thought they were like,
doctor Moore, you are a good doctor. What are you
(23:25):
doing giving people marijuana? And I have a background of pain,
just like doctor Newton. I actually was boarded in pain
medicine under the ABA anesthesia and the fact is I
recognized I knew it, and I had to try and
explain that. You really can't explain anything to doctors sometimes.
Speaker 7 (23:47):
Yeah, And I think the thing that most when we
have these conversations is, let's say it's a new physician
who hasn't studied the endocannabinoid system, which, by the way,
that's the cannabis in our bodies.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
The thing that blows their.
Speaker 7 (23:59):
Mind is that the patient can't overdose on this like
they can't opioids, because there's no acceptors in the brain
stem to suppress your breathing and another thing and not
combine it with other medicines. So let's say you're trying
to wean a patient off of oxy codone. You could
combine the cannabis with their lower dose of oxycodone to
help them wean off of that, and you won't have
(24:19):
this synergistic process. So like by synergistic, I mean it's
like an additive effect. So if you take a let's
say you take a muscle relaxant and a pain pill
like oxycodone or morphine, those can both suppressure breathing, the
muscle relaxant for muscle spasms and the pain and the
pain medicine the opioid. They both suppressure breathing, but they
can do it even worse if you take them both
(24:41):
at the same time. It could be deadly for a
patient with sleep apnea to take both. They're already compromised
have low oxtion at night. But with cannabis, your breathing
is preserved. It's not suppressing your breathing. I think that's
one of the most mind blowing things that physicians that
and nurses that are learning cannabis for the first time.
That really kind of broadens their perspective and say, oh wow,
(25:03):
that's a very interesting fact. And then dig deeper and
you know, when we can tell a physician, owners or pharmacists,
this is going to have a much better safety profile,
be less likely to kill the patient.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Have have less serious interactions. Everything has interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You should use that as an advertisement.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Sure, And I'm just think about well, if you think
about sleep aids, if you think about muscle relaxes and
pain medicine, so many patients have pain and insomnia, and
these medicines they accumulate in your system and they.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
All suppress your breathing. And to replace.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
Maybe all of those medicines or even you know, if
you could take half, if you could replace it by
fifty percent, that's very significant in terms of overall safety
for the patient. And I think those you know, referrals
that should come through. I'm hoping that you see more
of those referrals, especially from the primary care doctors, especially
from other pain doctors. You know, now that it's recognized
(26:01):
on the federal side. You know, maybe some doctors were
held up because it is it was scheduled one, so
they didn't want to send that, they didn't want to
have the conversation with the patient. But now they may
feel more comfortable to have those conversations and to start
seeing how they can refer.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
A patient there.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
And one other thing I want to mention there are
some doctors that's on the list of certified physicians, but
they only got on that list to learn how to
refer patients out. They need to take the course do
recommendations themselves. But they took the course to learn how
can I refer a patient out for medical cannabis? You know,
what do I need to know about the qualified conditions?
(26:40):
What do I need to know just to make sure
that I'm safe, that the patient is safe to send
that referral out and I'm hoping that we will see
more patients getting referred out. And I'm hoping that we
will see more patients asking their insurance companies, you know,
can I be reimbursed for this? Or asking their work policies,
or asking you know, you know, for their other types
(27:01):
of coverage, you know, can I get reimbursed because I'm
taking this for a medical reason. I have a doctor's
medical recommendation like doctor Moore that a doctor that's certified
and educated and well versed on this, can I get reimbursement.
So I'm hoping that there's more, you know, more patient advocacy,
self advocacy. I'm hoping that there's more caregiver advocacy getting
patients reimbursed in the future.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Well, Paula kind of touched on that when she mentioned
the two ade tax burden. Paula, there's an opportunity here
for patients to see lower lower costs and better access, right.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Yes, that's right, definitely. I mean again, there's still a
lot of unknowns, but because this is now recognized as
with medical benefits, right, the hope is that more insurance
companies are going to be willing to cover this under
under the insurance umbrella and more access. And I mean
(27:53):
this goes hand in hand with the recent movement on
the hemp side as well. Right see MESS is going
to be covering CBD products and I think that also
helps for this industry as well.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Right So, doctor Robert, Oh go ahead, Doctor Marrow, Oh no, okay,
I could.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I could wrap up that last statement and that and
that is so you know, ten years ago when I
when I opened the office, it'll be ten years in
June this year, people thought I was crazy, and no,
I really just understood understood mainly my background at pharmacy
uh and and other life experiences and uh and I'm
(28:35):
not a cannabis user. It was not something I've ever done.
It was not something I said, oh yeah, I'm going
to anyway for referring doctors. I have seen a trend
over the last ten years. And it's hard to believe
me and doctor new ten years now, ten years so
(28:56):
we ought to have an anniversary party. But I've seen
a trend, a trend where ten years ago there there
was not a doctor would touch it. I wouldn't get
a call from anybody. Was all patient driven, okay, But
then about five years ago, I started getting cancer doctor referrals,
so that and that makes sense, right of course. But
(29:17):
in the last two years, I'm starting to see family
doctor referrals, general practitioners, paying guys, everybody. So I'm starting
to get a referral base that's different than it was
going backward. Starting now, as this gets publicized, I think
that the general community doctor referral base is gonna is
(29:39):
going to be just like any other referral base. I'll
probably get busy here. It's not really ever been a
goal of mine to like to have an office that
I just you know, are so busy, I can't have lunch.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
Or something, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
But but but so we'll we'll take care of whatever happens,
you know, whatever patients. But but I think we it
will get busier. I've stayed as busy over the last
five years as I've ever been as a matter of fact,
since COVID it got busier, and it's just stayed busy, okay,
But I think this will go another step up, maybe
(30:18):
ten or twenty percent is just my guess. But what
the best thing is is that that now everyone will
have the benefit of a referral if they need it
less opiates more. Well, let's just call it natural healing.
(30:41):
But it's but really, look, it's marijuana. It is what
it is. And and and back to doctor Terrell's point,
medical versus recreational, it's the same stuff. It's marijuana. How
could they say we're gonna own me a you know,
(31:02):
only reschedule one third of this part. It's puzzling because TAC,
like doctor Newton said, was always schedule three. The difference
is and that was just TAC is a chemical, it's
synthetic in the lab. Of course, the pharmaceutic companies were
(31:22):
able to put a three on it. Just like a
movie studio doesn't want to have an R rating. They
want to They want a PG because you can get
more audience. You know. They don't want X, they want PG.
So they don't want control one, they want control three. Pharmacy,
Big Pharma did that. That's fine. But TAC is not
(31:46):
the same as marijuana. Okay, it's just not. But but
marijuana medical is the same as recreation. I am sorry,
it's the same. Okay, Like, yes, it's different, I understand truly,
Even they and and and all the you know, all
the certifications they do and all the background. So I'm
(32:08):
not I'm not trying to dismiss that, but what I'm
saying is it's the it's the planned, you know. So
so it's interesting how they've been able to separate that out.
We'll have to see what that really does for the
two ade. I think, just like everything, it's gonna just
take time. It's gonna take time. The pilot program that
(32:31):
they just started this April, which we're in April still
today for one more day. The pilot program, as Paula mentioned, uh,
very interesting, five hundred dollars uh CBD allotment. But it
turns out it's more than just CBD. It's CBD plus THC.
(32:52):
And so what they're doing is they're paying for medical
marijuana right now. The government just started. It's a pilot program.
It's limited medicare patients with cancer. But that is the
first step. I think within a year or two or
three or five, it'll just be another medicine. It'll be
(33:12):
like marinol. Right, what do you think, doctor ned, what
do you think schimaria?
Speaker 8 (33:18):
So I think no. Back to the point of you know,
recreational is the same. So I'm gonna come from a
safety standpoint. So when you look at you know, the
poison control centers and the numbers of poisonings related to
marijuana with children, I think, you know, safety is very important,
so we have to educate parents. And I think, you know,
(33:40):
having regulations on how you can package and how you
can store and these things, especially for youth, et cetera,
that's really important. And so making sure those things are
in place.
Speaker 6 (33:50):
And I also think.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
When you have an unregulated, for example, market, like you
run a risk. You don't know how people prepare, et cetera.
And so I think there are a lot of regulation
things that you have to consider. If it's unregulated, you
don't know where it came from, you don't know what
dosing it is, and so I think we just have
to think about that. But I definitely say that this
(34:14):
topic is very understudy. Right, So when you look at
different things like heart disease is the leading cause of death,
you can say it without anything. You could say cancer
second leading calls of death in Florida in the United States.
So from an epidemiological standpoint, there are nice stats on diseases.
There are nice stats on certain drugs and how they
(34:35):
relate to chronic diseases and people that are on insulin
for diabetes. But I don't think the research is there
to really document, you know, how many people with heart
disease or cancer is using you know, medical marijuana. What
are the implications where their improvements and diabetes are hypertensional?
Whatever the condition was that the certifying physician made the
(34:57):
determination for them to be eligible for marijuana. And so
I think as we have these conversations and we normalize
the data and the research behind it, then we'll be
able to have a better conversation to say, you know,
in this state, you know, population over twenty two million,
this is the percentage of people.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
That use medical marijuana.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
When we really break it down and we're able to
say that these are the number of individuals with hypertension, diabetes,
did we see improvement in control of chronic diseases and
management for example? That's when you can have that conversation
with research and so so much of the unknown is
related to the confusion. And so by moving this to
(35:36):
Schedule three, now we have a new opportunity to explore
the possibilities and we have a better platform to set
the epidemiology of what medical marijuana is as it relates
to the leading causes of death and disability in the
US and in Florida. And so I think we're in
a good position now with this rescheduling to really have
(35:57):
those data driven conversations. And a lot of times when
you have naysayers or you have people that don't believe,
they don't believe because you have a lack of data.
But when you have a data driven conversation, now you
can have a better informed scientific conversation where you have
proof in the numbers.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Well, Schedule three actually opens up marijuana for research.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Yes you talk salary, Yes I do.
Speaker 8 (36:21):
And you know, when researchers have different types of research funding,
you know, the types of things that they can handle
in what they can have is very different. And so
when the opportunity wasn't there to receive funding, for example,
from National Institute of Health or National Science Foundation on marijuana,
it's hard for researchers to research something that's not funded
(36:43):
or it can't be funded, right, And it's also very
tricky on how they obtain medical marijuana. So if they're
doing research, like you know, it wasn't easy to just
go and say, hey, I'm not a patient in the
registry hey, I want products for testing. It was real
true because again they receive other federal funds, and it
(37:03):
could have put the institution, for example, if they didn't
have the authority and wasn't directed by the legislator to
do that, they could put them in potential harms way
of having medical marijuana in their labs on their campuses.
And so this should provide better insights and a path
forward so that they can work with those medical marijuana
(37:24):
treatment centers to find that pathway to receive samples and
work directly with those mtc's to be able to do
research that's then going to inform how you educate people.
It's going to inform you how you can better manage
chronic conditions and these conditions that you can certify on.
So this changes the landscape in a good way. You know,
(37:46):
now you can have those conversations with an institutional review
board on safety, et cetera. And so it really places
us in a different position in the United States to
be able to provide inform research and for you universities
to engage with medical marijuana treatment centers to begin these
begin the conversations.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
So paul I wanted to go with you to kind
of the legal perspective. We really didn't touch on this.
So for those who are listening, can you talk about
whether criminal penalties will for possessing marijuana will change or
are they unchanged under Schedule three? Can you talk a
little bit about the legal aspects please.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Yes, definitely. And I just wanted to quickly add to
what doctor Robertson was saying. There are going to be
so many benefits for research here, and one of those
is opening up additional funding resources. Right there's already funding
for marijuana research, but now we're going to see even more,
and so it's really important for organizations and businesses to
(38:46):
pay attention to that that are interested in doing research
because now you know, it doesn't have to be as
much self funded, and so that's going to be really
positive for industry and to watch as well. And I'm
sure organizations like FAM you are already considering this and
and ahead of it, but but for others, you know,
(39:08):
it's it's important that you you guys are aware that
this is going to be another positive benefit from this.
And then as far as is there a risk of
criminal liability or are there protections from criminal liability? So
this rescheduling event right now, the immediate impact is only
(39:30):
for state medical operators, and there is a real risk
that individuals may assume that now marijuana is rescheduled across
the board and and may inadvertently expose themselves to criminal
risk right by, especially in non legal states. And so
(39:50):
again that goes back to why you know doctor Robertson
and more doctor Moore and Newton are saying the education
is so important and why we have to get out
there and educate the public not only about what does
this mean from a business perspective or what does this
mean as far as for medical youth, but what does
(40:13):
this mean for the public as a whole. And so
I really commend all of you guys for doing so
much to research the public.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
And yes, okay, well guess what. We have a question
from one of our viewers on YouTube. I want to
bring it up for you all to answer. So this
is from Carla Ashburn saying, good afternoon. Will medical marijuana
doctors need a DEA license if they do not currently
have one? Does anyone know the answer to that question?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Please? The answer is yes. I would imagine it's a
d it's Schedule three, it's it's not official. By the way,
this is not official yet, but go ahead. Would the
short answer be yes, but we all do anyway, I
mean most right.
Speaker 5 (41:07):
Well, yeah, so, so there's some great area on that
right now, right because right now, the instructions are for
the businesses that are actually plant touching, like the medical
marijuana operators that are dispensing medical marijuana to get a
DEA registration. However, as we continue to see this develop,
(41:31):
these doctors may also.
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Need to to.
Speaker 5 (41:34):
Get get DEA registration. But like doctor Moore said, most
doctors already have that type of registration that are involved
in either prescribing or administering scheduled substances.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
So here's so wearing like this gray zone because the
state law supersedes the federal law in this case, well
you have us. It's a little crazy when you think
about it. You had an illegal control one substance. States
made the laws to allow us to recommend this substance
(42:17):
and allow patients to use the substance. Then there's the
whole record. So you had this thing, and we're going
to be in this for a while because we're really
still practicing under the state law. The fact that it's
control one, two, three, four or five doesn't matter because
our state law says patient needs a condition, right, patient
(42:41):
needs a certifying doctor, patient has to fill out this
thousand page consent form all this information, so you have
to check the e force on every patient on every visit.
So all these things are not changing. Now. Could they
change the state law Florida? Possibly, but unlikely. Okay, what
(43:06):
you know, could it go recreation before they change the
state law. It's anyone's guess. And not to say I
think that's going to happen anytime soon. I just don't.
I think it's agreed that you need medical intervention for
this drug because it is a drug, it's a medication.
(43:30):
We all agree, and doctor Roberson agrees that there's another
level of this, like the effects on the community. We
need to understand this and see what's happening. If you
look at states that have gone recreational, they'll tell you
that their statistics, community epidemiology numbers tell them heck, there's
(43:50):
a lot more car accidents, there's a lot more fate,
there's a lot more fatal car accidents in states that
approve recreational marijuana. You cannot argue with that data. Okay,
that in itself would be enough for some really super
ultra conservative people to say, look, we shouldn't allow recreation
(44:12):
at all. Right, but I say this to highlight the
fact that this is an important drug and it needs
medical oversight.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
Yeah, so I would have to imagine that any Floridian
We have what several hundred thousand Floridians who have a
medical marijuana card in Florida.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
And that a million.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
Yeah, they're listening to this conversation and they're like, what
should I be expecting with my medical marijuana? Is it
going to change my access? Will I have to change positions?
Or will I expect more? What could they potentially expect
now that this rescheduling has happened, and I know there's
(44:55):
more to come on it, But for those who are
listening today, what could they expect potentially.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Doctor Newton, what do you think? Nothing? I don't think
they'll will any change at all.
Speaker 7 (45:07):
Well, I think gradually over time of what they can
expect is to see, you know, more opportunities to engage
in research, whether that be those research studies being observational
where a patient is taking their medicine, that is filling
out surveys, and what is the point of those surveys
is to find out what is the best dosing, what's
(45:30):
the best formulation for your specific conditions. There's diseases that's
associated with a low amount of cannabis in your body,
a deficiency of your endocannabinoid system, that's migraines, fibromaloga ibs
as well, and maybe a patient with back pain from fibromalogia,
their dosing in formulation might be different from somebody with
(45:50):
back pain from muscle spasms or back pain from a discrimation.
And so I think the opportunities to participate in that
type of research, I think that's one thing that patients
may see, and then they might see more petitions on
getting reimbursed by their insurance company or or their auto
insurance company, so long as there's a medical, you know,
(46:13):
reason and medical documentation of the necessity for it. Medical
necessity is important in everything we recommend, whether that's medical cannabis, talinol,
or auburprofin.
Speaker 6 (46:23):
We always want to document medical necessity.
Speaker 7 (46:25):
Now I think it may gradually become even more easy
to document that medical necessity because we'll you know, hopefully
see more universities, you know, giving out more bodies of research.
Speaker 6 (46:35):
There a couple a couple of my favorite studies.
Speaker 7 (46:38):
One showed an increased survival time among cancer patients among
in stage cancer patients with cannabis with as little as
four to five milligrams of TAC a day or those
in stage patients. Another one of my favorite studies is
on cannabis as a replacement not just for opioids, but
benzodese pines as well, and sedative and non sedative hypnotics.
(47:02):
That's things like ambient and winesta.
Speaker 6 (47:04):
And what we were talking about before is harm reduction.
Speaker 7 (47:06):
Us living in a retirement state, you know, twenty percent
or more sixty five and older, we have a lot
of patients that's in polypharmacy. And I'm not saying polypharmacy
is always wrong, but polypharmacy is not a safe practice.
Speaker 6 (47:20):
And so if we can help overcome those things.
Speaker 7 (47:22):
You know, even if patients are just filling out surveys
and they're observing what they're getting, then there's another level of
research study that's called a randomized control trial where the
patient doesn't know what they're taking, either they're taking cannabis
or placebo, and that could be cannabis in different forms,
whether that's CBDTC or a combination of both, and then
the doctors don't know what the patient is getting. So
(47:44):
I think all those levels of research, from surveys to
randomized control trials that are blinded, I think all those
opportunities will gradually come up and patients will see more opportunities,
you know, to engage, engage in that, and hopefully they'll
get more support from.
Speaker 6 (47:59):
The characters as well.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
You're correct, I didn't mean to say that nothing's gonna happen.
What I meant and what I am saying, is that
nothing's gonna happen Initially. Patients don't have to get anxious,
they don't have to and ask questions stress what's going
on because they are I've had some calls already like
oh my god, what's happening. But my point is there's
(48:23):
really nothing's gonna happen in the short term, like we're
not going to see the results of the research that
has to go on the results of the dose studies.
By the way, there's a lot of beautiful things that
will come out of this, just like doctor Betton said,
but in the short term, and I mean short term
like this next year, I don't think we'll notice from
(48:44):
the patient side. They won't see, they won't understand what's
really happening behind the scenes. But yes, there'll be more
money coming in through research. There'll definitely be a lot
more studies. I hope epidemiology gets, you know, good funding
in this because that's for me, that's super important. Patient's important.
Speaker 6 (49:06):
I didn't want to mention a couple of things.
Speaker 7 (49:08):
You know, next month is arthritis awareness, next month is
mental health awareness, and then the following month is PTSD awareness,
and then the following month after that is Minority Mental
health Awareness. So I think we should also look at
these opportunities for these events coming up each month. Okay,
these organizations that haven't been integrating cannabis, how can they
start integrating it, because now they may be more open
(49:29):
to these conversations. There's a big event here in Florida,
the Florida Medical Cannabis Conference of next book. This is
probably the biggest physician event on the East Coast. I'm
counting year Long, which is in Orlando next month, and
I'm looking forward to collaborating with some of the colleagues,
some of our colleagues to find out, Okay, what is
your opinion. You know, what are you going to do
(49:49):
differently now that you didn't do last year? You know,
what are you planning on as far as collaborating, as
far as applying for research grants. Sure, there's more things
that's going to come up. There more opportunities that fam
you as well. They're already engaged in several research projects
in multiple departments. I'm looking forward to connecting with them
(50:11):
as well. They'll have some representatives of their program there
to connect and kind of see, you know, where can
we collaborate, Where can we partner? What are other physicians
and other practices. What are they going to do that's
different now, just as far as supporting their patients, supporting
the caregivers.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Yeah, well, I can imagine that this will be the
first of several conversations that we're going to be having
on this topic, because literally we're seven days since the
announcement at this recording time, we're seven days from the announcement,
and I want to thank you all for being on
this conversation on cannabis, brought to you by the Medical
Marijuana Education and Research Initiative at Florida and M University.
(50:51):
Thank you to everyone watching this program. Tell us what
you think about this form by completing the survey posted
in the comment boxes on Mary's Facebook YouTube pages. If
you complete the survey, your name will be entered into
a drawing in May twenty twenty six to win a
one hundred dollars gift car provided by one of Mary's partners.
Stay connected with Fam You Mary to access educational information
(51:15):
and resources about legal, medical, medical cannabis use and the
consequences of illegal marijuana use in Florida. You can follow
them on social media or visit the fam You Merry website.
We also want to encourage you to go to the
Florida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana Use website
to learn how to obtain a legal medical marijuana card
(51:37):
in the state of Florida. Thanks everyone. The views and
opinions of our invited guests are not necessarily the views
and opinions of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University or the
Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative.
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