...

 
Cannvas.Me
Sign Up For Free
  • Post Time Posted June 12, 2018
The roots of medical cannabis as an industry
 
While cannabis has been used for thousands of years as a therapeutic agent, its commercial viability has only taken shape in the last century. Contemporary treatment is now characterized by a plethora of products in a variety of concentrations, traditional cannabis therapy revolved around one product: tinctures.
 
At the beginning of the 20th Century, tinctures were found in apothecaries the world over. These cannabis extracts were used by healthcare professionals and patients to help treat a variety of condition and symptoms. Until prohibition in the early-to-mid 1900s, the tincture industry was robust and proved to be first chapter in the textbook on medical cannabis as a commodity.1
 
Despite the fact that nearly half of all American states still don’t allow cannabis to be used for medical use, others have for decades set a precedent on the issue. As one of the first jurisdictions to implement laws protecting the rights of cannabis patients to medicate, California has long been held as an example of what can be accomplished when sensible drug policies are employed. Since 1996, 31 other American states have followed suit and legalized medical cannabis.2
 
In Canada, medical cannabis access has been characterized by progression. Legal since 2001, battles for constitutional rights have been fought on the backs of cannabis patients since 1996, when Terrance Parker appealed to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to dispute trafficking charges after he was caught growing cannabis to control his epileptic seizures.3
 
Over the near 20 years since that case, high courts have again and again sided with Canadian patients, allowing medical cannabis regulations to evolve. In Canada, there is currently one of the most robust medical cannabis frameworks at work. There, the current system sees patients permitted to purchase cannabis from a licensed producer, grow their own medicine, or have someone designated to grow it for them.
 
 
Across the world, there are dozens of medical cannabis models that have taken shape since the late 90s and early 2000s. In South America and Europe, a patchwork of policies defines the landscape. There are few Asian countries that allow medical cannabis, though, somewhat conspicuously in the midst of a bloody war on drugs, the Philippines has moved to allow the plant to be used for therapeutic purposes.4
 
As a country with one of the most revolutionary drug policies, the Netherlands continues to be held as an example of a government that has embraced medical cannabis. In addition to allowing its consumption, the Dutch government makes five strains available to patients to treat a range of ailments and conditions.5
 
In all of the above examples, medical cannabis has morphed from a beguiled cultural pastime, to a welcome treatment option. The industry that’s formed around the cannabis plant would have been hard to imagine 50 years ago. Where draconian drug policies once determined the commercial status quo around medical cannabis, an entire industry is now beginning to dictate the terms of advancement, innovation, and progress.

References:
  1. “Herbal tinctures 101.” https://www.bulkherbstore.com/blog/herbal-tinctures-101/
  2. “Medical marijuana in the U.S. – statistics and facts.” https://www.statista.com/topics/3064/medical-marijuana-in-the-us/
  3. “The legal history and cultural experience of cannabis.” http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/cannabis-vol5/the-legal-history-and-cultural-experience-of-cannabis
  4. “Understanding the new Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations.” https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/drugs-health-products/understanding-new-accessto-cannabis-for-medical-purposes-regulations.html
  5. “Will medical cannabis escape the carnage of Philippines president Duterte’s drug war?” https://prohbtd.com/will-medical-cannabis-escape-the-carnage-of-philippines-president- dutertes-drug-war
  6. “The Dutch medical cannabis program.” http://www.ncsm.nl/english/the-dutch-medicinal-cannabis-program

This article is now marked as read.

Go back to Course
Was this article helpful?

Review this article to help us continue creating and sharing relevant content.

Please note it may take up to two business days for reviews to be validated and published.

Reviews

Review this article to help us continue creating and sharing relevant content.

Write Review

Would you like to
make this review public?
 

How cannabis is helping Canadians with epilepsy

Cannabis worked for six-year-old Kate Pogson when no other medication helped her. As someone with epilepsy, she suffered hour-long seizures once every two days before her family discovered the value of CBD-heavy cannabis oil, says her father Barry in...

 

Demystifying the Proper Use of Cannabis Oil

Cannabis oil has become a ubiquitous buzz term. In the years since cannabis has transformed from a culture on the fringes of society to an industry at its heart, the term has formed an umbrella under which a number of different, and often disparate,...

 

Placing Medical Cannabis Under The Microscope - Part 2 Of 2

Robust is one way to define the current breadth of research that involves the cannabis and its chemical parts. Across the planet – namely in states and countries where medical cannabis is permitted – scientists are becoming increasingly invested in d...

 

Is Medical Cannabis a Cure-All?

Like any prescribed medication, the therapeutic indications of cannabis are limited and have the potential for adverse effects if used improperly or abused.

 

Treating conditions with medical cannabis

As medical cannabis has gained acceptance as a viable treatment option over the past two decades, so too has the list of symptoms the plant has been shown to help grown. No longer is the plant merely used to treat chronic pain or extreme conditions l...

 

Understanding cannabis flowers and oils

As a flurry of new products have flooded the budding cannabis market in recent years, so too have those developments come to represent a wealth of hope for medical patients, or anyone looking for an alternative therapy. Where, traditionally, cannabis...

 

What are cannabinoids?

In the simplest of terms, cannabinoids are the chemical compounds that lend cannabis its medical and recreational characteristics. These chemicals interact with the body’s cells when consumed to produce a range of therapeutic effects. Found in the pl...

 

Can CBD help count sheep?

Insomnia, sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome are but a few of the ills that fall under the category of sleep condition. Though not quick to receive much attention from the healthcare community, the threat associated with sleep conditions – from...

 

Cannabis as Helpful Medication for Athletes Recovering From Injury

Cyclist Floyd Landis relied on opioid-based painkillers for years, both before and after he was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory for taking synthetic testosterone. He soon realized smoking cannabis could help him kick his opioid habit, and...

 

How to talk to your family about medical cannabis

The decision to adopt cannabis as a treatment option is, like most significant changes in life, very personal. Whether you’ve decided to incorporate medical cannabis into your routine to treat chronic pain, sleep issues, cancer symptoms or social a...

 

Medical Cannabis and Crohn's and Colitis

Concrete scientific evidence that cannabis can aid or alleviate symptoms associated with specific conditions is still inconclusive for many ailments. But there are a number of areas of research that physicians, clinicians and patients can turn to for...

Please disable your ad blocker to avoid issues using social plugins on Cannvas.Me. Thanks.
Close