Medical cannabis is one of those industries with language that can be terribly confusing. Much of the confusion lies in the fact that commonly accepted terms are not necessarily universal from one part of the country to the next. Take the term ‘certification’. Do you know how it applies to medical cannabis?
Harvard Health Publishing refers to certification as the process through which a patient has access to state-legal medical cannabis. They say that doctors cannot prescribe medical cannabis like they would a prescription painkiller or an antibiotic. So instead, they certify patients as being eligible to obtain and use cannabis medicinally.
Recommending Is the Same Thing
Certification is more or less a doctor attesting to the fact that a patient suffers from a qualifying condition and that medical cannabis is an appropriate way to treat said condition. Depending on how state medical cannabis programs are set up, certification can be achieved digitally or on paper. Most states use digital systems.
Utah has deployed what state regulators refer to as the electronic verification system (EVS). This is a digital system through which both medical providers and patients participate in the medical cannabis program. It is more or less a centralized database containing all of the necessary information required under state law.
However, the term ‘certification’ is not the preferred term in the Beehive State. Instead, medical providers ‘recommend’ medical cannabis to their patients. Same thing, different term. Doctors are still required to conduct medical evaluations. They still attest to a patient having a qualified condition. They verify that medical cannabis is an appropriate treatment.
They Do Not Prescribe
Regardless of the term a given state chooses to describe the doctor’s role in medical cannabis, states are careful to make sure that ‘prescribe’ and its derivatives are not used. This is the one universal truth in medical cannabis. It is that way by design.
Remember that cannabis is still illegal under federal law. Therefore, it is also illegal for doctors to prescribe it. No doctor can legally whip out a prescription pad, write an order for medical cannabis, and send it off with the patient to the local drug store. That is not how it works.
Some states, like Utah, license specialized pharmacies to dispense nothing but medical cannabis products. Beehive Farmacy in Salt Lake City is one such operation. The company has a second location in Brigham City. Neither location accepts written prescriptions. Instead, patients must have valid medical cannabis cards before they can purchase.
Patients Ultimately Self-Medicate
One of the challenges of certification and recommendation is that patients do not necessarily receive strict instructions about delivery method and dosage. They are left to self-medicate in whatever way seems best to them. On the one hand, this could be good. On the other hand, it could turn out very bad.
Until doctors are allowed to legally prescribe medical cannabis, it doesn’t make any sense for them to attempt to offer concrete instructions for dosage and delivery. Such instructions are better left to a pharmacist, a trained professional who understands pharmacology in relation to the human endocannabinoid system.
At any rate, you now know that a doctor’s certification is little more than a recommendation to use medical cannabis. A doctor choosing to certify a patient agrees that the person has a qualifying medical condition that can and should be treated with cannabis. Other states might use other terms, but they all mean pretty much the same thing. And as long as doctors cannot prescribe medical cannabis, the terms now in play will continue to be used.
