Do You Have One Of These Common Medical Marijuana Ailments?

With the many changes happening with medical and recreational marijuana, it can be hard not to be curious. Many patients are hoping to move to a more natural approach to pain relief and relief from constant sickness. It can be hard to determine whether or not medical marijuana is a good fit for your condition. We’ve put together the most common ailments that doctors prescribe medical marijuana for.

Cancer and Cancer Treatment-Related Symptoms

One of the first non-disputed ailments used to treat the symptoms of cancer and cancer treatments, the general term applies to more than 100 conditions. Each has their own characteristics, but symptoms usually include fatigue, substantial pain, fever, cough, severe weight loss. Treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery often lead to pain and a whole host of other side effects. THC has been proven to reduce nausea and vomiting and helping the patient regain their appetite.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disorder that debilitates your central nervous system and is often fatal. Symptoms include painful joints, headaches, muscles spasms and tremors, bowel issues, and painful headaches. The current course of treatment for MS can lead to heart damage and cause sufferers to be more susceptible to infections. Medical marijuana has been shown to reduce pain and seizure-like symptoms.

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder that causes patients to convulse and in some cases lose consciousness. While the cause of epilepsy is unknown, in many cases it is the result of infections, tumors, and brain damage. Side effects of traditional medications used to treat epilepsy include difficulty sleeping, changes in mood, double vision, and general unsteadiness. Some Epilepsy sufferers use medical marijuana in conjunction with traditional medications. Some find that medical marijuana helps to control their convulsion so well, they no longer have the need for traditional medication.

Major Depression and Anxiety Disorders

Just like those suffering from cancer or AIDS, depression and anxiety are medical conditions that can affect the way someone goes through everyday life. Sufferers of extreme anxiety can have intense reactions such as rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, nausea, and sweating. People with depression can feel these symptoms while also including, insomnia, feelings of apprehension or dread, restlessness, and an inability to concentrate.

Many treatments are available for both issues, though for some it had be hard to determine which one. Medical Marijuana has been shown to reduce extreme anxiety, as well as produce a calming effect, leading to someone suffering from anxiety and/or depression to continue their everyday activities. A CBD-heavy strain is usually the first course of action with medical marijuana.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a disease affecting the eyes which lead to ocular pressure, vision problems, and eventually blindness. Severe pain, vomiting, nausea, and tunnel vision are a few of the symptoms that an estimated three million sufferers endure. Traditional treatments such as surgery are used to lower the intraocular pressure.

In 2003, The American Academy of Ophthalmology stated that medical marijuana and its derivatives can lower the intraocular pressure of the eye when administered by an IV, or orally. This reduction in pressure results in a slower progression of the disease.

AIDS

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the final stage of HIV. It causes a severe breakdown of the immune system, making it very difficult for the body to combat other diseases and infections. Even though there have been significant advances in treatment options, the disease is almost always terminal. Throughout the course of the disease, patients may suffer from extreme weight loss, vomiting and nausea, excessive fatigue and weakness, chills, and fever.

Medical marijuana has been shown to increase appetite, combating what is known as “wasting syndrome,” and allowing the patient to receive nutrients through food again. Medical marijuana also reduces nausea and vomiting, and relieves pain. Many AIDS patients who use medical marijuana find they no longer need to take opioids to decrease their severe pain.

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive disease that affects a person’s ability to move. It is estimated that about one million people in the U.S. have Parkinson’s disease. Typical signs of Parkinson’s range anywhere from a subtle tremor to increased jerking or shaking movements, and can cause partial paralysis of the body. As the disease progresses, the patient may begin to suffer from dystonia, changes in speech, difficulty swallowing, hunched posture, and loss of fine and gross motor skills.

Many of the typical medications prescribed for Parkinson’s come with significant negative side-effects. Medical marijuana can offer a combination of anti-anxiety, antioxidant, and pain relief. Medical marijuana is currently available to Parkinson’s patients in 28 states.

Medical marijuana has shown to be effective for treatments of over 100 more ailments in a variety of different states. If you want to know if your ailment is covered in your medical marijuana state, contact your local dispensary for a complete list of what’s available to you.

Are you currently using medical marijuana to treat your symptoms? How has it helped you in your journey? We would love to hear from you.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on February 7, 2018.

The Top 3 Latest Online Smoking Shop Trends

Online smoking shops started mushrooming in the past ten years on account of the growing smoking products and accessories demand in the market. This paved the way for the introduction of innovative smoking paraphernalia to the public that made smoking even more trendy, stylish, and interesting, just like the ones that can be seen at LuxeProductsUSA. Hence, despite discouragements from authorities the market just continued growing. Along with this growth and the stiff competition among different online smoking shops, various marketing strategies have emerged that have paved the way for some noticeable trends to surface. These trends are becoming prevalent among top online smoking shops for their effectiveness in driving sales up.

Here are some of the most interesting trends in today’s online smoking shops:

1. Online Visibility and Reach
Successful online smoking shops use the internet not only as a platform for selling but also as a tool for marketing. Like most online businesses, online smoking shops are starting to intensify cross- platform online promotions and visibility in various channels, with more focus on social media sites. While this is not actually surprising considering the nature of the shops being an online store, many out there do not maximize the potential due to either lack of technical online marketing knowledge, or the lack of people to handle the task.

2. Shops are Becoming Transparent
With the growing interest and demand for smoking products and accessories, as well as the increasing public acceptance of these shops as legitimate stores, they are now becoming open, honest, and transparent. Gone are the days of secrecy in fear of persecution. Today’s online smoking shops are a real business with the right certifications and permits to operate. That being said, shops also need to up the game by offering as many products available as possible and in greatly improving customer service.

3. Focus on Customer Service and Retention
With online shops offering somehow the same products and accessories, customer service and retention strategies serve as the tie breaker. Today’s online shops employ people that are technically adept when it comes to any product and accessories related to smoking. This is aside from common requirements in customer service like increased response time, the familiarity of product specifications, and providing customers with options that fit their needs and preferences. Aside from these, online smoking shops are also using various strategies to retain customers including the gathering of loyal customer’s online information, engaging with them in social media, and even the use of apps specifically created for that purpose.

As the online smoking market continues to grow and improved over time due to innovative products and significant changes in customer behavior, as well as the continuing popularity of online shopping, it is expected to see a more profound evolution on how online smoking shops conducts business sales and marketing. This professionalized shift also helps the industry gain a more desirable reputation while ensuring quality and excellence is maintained in products, accessories, and more importantly, customer service.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 19, 2017.

Branding Medical vs. Recreational Marijuana

As more states are voting to legalize recreational marijuana, growers embarking on new businesses are looking into how to brand their products. Some are confused on where to begin. If you’re lucky enough to be in one of the legalized states and are thinking of opening a dispensary yourself, we have some branding tips to get you started.

The Medical Side of Branding

For those that treat medical marijuana as part of their overall wellness, the branding and advertising of such strains are just as important as those who are using recreationally. Medical marijuana patients are looking for labeled, specific information. What symptoms does this strain help treat? What are the side effects? For many, this is as clinical as picking up any other prescription, so why not treat it as such.

Advertising and branding should focus more on the results and medicinal aspects of the strain. By law, medical dispensaries have a strict code regarding language. Staying away from terms like ‘bong’ and ‘pot’ help to destigmatize the drug, as well as make well-deserving patients feel less intimidated.

The Recreational Side of Branding

While the image of recreational marijuana is beginning to turn favorable, the imagery of marijuana can sometimes give way to the old stoner stereotype. The question is, in today’s world of advertising, how do you make a marijuana ad as appealing and modern as a liquor ad?

Think about what your consumer base might look like. For some, this will be their first experience with marijuana. Without the overhead of the medical community, language and imagery can be more lax and whimsical, but you should still focus on informing the consumer on how’s and why’s of your particular strains. Turn your knowledge and expertise into a learning experience. Customers new to marijuana, and even those with some experience will appreciate your forward thinking approach, turning new customers into returning customers.

Watch The Laws Carefully

The first thing to think about are your local laws. For example, the state of Colorado has banned all edibles resembling animals, or fun shapes. While those types of edibles may be less intimidating for new consumers, your business is not worth the risk. Consult local businesses and trusted local law enforcement for a review of the do’s and don’t of your area. As always, document everything!

Are you a legal supplier, medical or recreational? What have you found most helpful when it comes to marketing your product. We’d love to hear from you!

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on August 30, 2017.

Cannabis Skincare: Just a Fad, or Here to Stay?

Every year it seems there’s a new lineup of skincare products promising to do wonders for your skin. They claim to be clinically-tested miracle solutions for various skin issues ranging from acne to eczema and even wrinkles, but they are rarely live up to the hype. So, it’s natural to be skeptical about cannabinoid products and their usefulness in improving your skin.

Marijuana topicals comprise a wide range of balms, lotions, salves, creams, and oils that have been infused with cannabis. When absorbed through the skin, they can provide targeted relief for various forms of pain and inflammation. For those concerned about any psychoactive effects or “high” often associated with marijuana, it’s important to note that although topicals contain cannabinoid elements, they are non-psychoactive.

There’s still plenty of debate around the efficacy of these products, and results may vary depending on the individual user. So, Do Cannabis Skin Care Products work? Logically, one would expect that they would. Biologically speaking, your body has something called an endocannabinoid system (ECS) when is a group of endogenous cannabinoid receptors in your brain and throughout your nervous system. This system is involved a number of physiological processes and can help regulate things like your appetite, mood, and even your level of physical pain. In other words, your ECS helps maintain homeostasis throughout your body.

Cannabis-based skincare products may be limited in their efficacy due in part to the fact that it mostly affects anatomical structures within 1 centimeter of your skin. Deeper issues such in your muscular or skeletal system may be too “deep” to be actively relieved by a topical cream or balm.

However, your skin itself is an organ—the largest organ in your body, actually. And your skin performs a lot of functions that may not readily occur to most people. Your skin cells have the ability to synthesize vitamin D, it protects your internal organs, and can help regulate body temperature. So keeping your skin healthy is key to an overall healthy body.

The antioxidants and anti-inflammatories in cannabis topicals can help combat dry skin and rashes which can lead to other long term skin problems such as persistent wrinkles. In addition, these products are often combined with other scientifically proven analgesic compounds such as menthol, capsaicin, or camphor.

So are cannabis skincare products the latest “fountain of youth” we’ve all been searching for? Well, they say that beauty is only skin deep, so if you’re trying to improve the look and feel of your skin, it might be worth a shot. Will it stick around for a while? The odds seem good, and we’ve already become accustomed to seeing hemp oil used in various shampoos, lotions, and other body care products. So it’s not difficult to envision a future in which we are all stocking up on cannabis topicals to improve our epidermis. Whether or not it will work for you in treating a pesky skin issue, you may just have to try it out for yourself, and as always, consult a physician for serious skin issues.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on August 4, 2017.

Is Your Grandma Growing Pot?

The New York Times ran one heck of a story this week covering the growing trend of grandparents getting into the medical marijuana industry.

How so? Well, it turns out (and likely to no surprise of people who work in the industry) medical marijuana tends to be very popular with seniors as a way of managing pain while cutting down on the amount of pills they have to take to manage their daily life. In fact, many of the elderly people interviewed for this story discussing how they had no idea how many people they knew were also using medical marijuana.

This can actually be a barrier for many senior citizens when it comes to adapting medical marijuana. If they’ve never used it before, they can still feel a great stigma attached to the drug that many younger people today simply don’t feel.

However, the article discusses that one of the main reasons older folks, particularly older women, are getting into actually growing pot is because it’s one of the few businesses without a bias against the elderly. If you grow great pot, people will buy it, regardless of the age of the person selling it, whereas most jobs tend to avoid hiring older workers to fill out their payrolls.

This shows a rarely talked about upside to the new industry. The fact is, when implemented properly, medical marijuana truly is an equal opportunity business across age, race, and gender. In letting the elderly take control of their own pain relief, as well as their own income and livelihoods, medical marijuana is benefitting them more than many pundits believed it would.

We highly recommend that you read the full article, as there’s no way we could do it justice in a short blog post. If you’ve been interested in getting deeper into the industry, hopefully this article convinces you to take the next step, no matter what your age is.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on May 29, 2017.

Medical Marijuana Decreases Painkiller Use in the U.S.

One of the more interesting effects that the legalization of marijuana has had is the decreased use of painkillers in states where legal pot is now an option.

This is an interesting — if not unsurprising — trend, and there are plenty of pundits trying to debate what this means. In general, this seems like a positive step in the right direction towards pain management. Medical marijuana is non-habit forming, which means that unlike many pharmacological painkillers, there is no risk of becoming addicted to it. Addiction to painkillers has become a hot button issue over the last several years as there have been more and more instances of fatal overdoses, or of people switching to hard drugs (like heroin and meth) when they can no longer get their prescription in order to achieve the same pain relief.

Obviously, that is not a good situation for anyone, so if medical marijuana is helping cut down on those tragedies, all the better. And it goes to show that when given the option, people will pick a natural way to relieve pain/other chronic conditions than a pill.

Unfortunately, this also means the battle for medical marijuana’s widespread legality and acceptance may become more difficult. While these results would naturally make it seem like we should be giving more and more people access to legal pot to treat their medical conditions, this also adds additional hurdles. Many people still have a stigma against marijuana and its medical uses, and there are major pharmaceutical players who are not eager to see profits fall from painkiller divisions. They will fight tooth and nail to keep medical marijuana’s legality from spreading.

But with these results, it’s only a matter of time before progress marches forward, as people are going to demand medical marijuana more heavily as they see their friends in other states experiencing its benefits with none of the downsides of prescription painkillers. Hopefully, that day comes sooner rather than later.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 19, 2016.

A Breath of Fresh Air: Asthma Relief Using Marijuana

Asthma is the shortness of breath and wheezing caused by spasms of the bronchial tubes, overproduction of mucus, and by swelling of the mucous membranes. A combination of genetic and environmental factors is believed to be the cause of asthma, and currently there is no cure. Avoiding triggers, such as allergens and irritants, can prevent symptoms, and there are a number of medications available such as fast acting inhalers like Albuterol, or long-term control such as Corticosteroids.

In short, it’s an irritating and occasionally life-threatening condition. Can medical marijuana help those suffering from it?

According to renowned pulmonologist and professor of medicine at the University of California Donald P. Taskin, yes it can. “Recent studies demonstrated significant, acute bronchi-dilation in healthy young men after they smoked marijuana”, he said. And other doctors have spoken as well, including Dr Tamás Freund of the Institute of Experimental Medicine of Budapest, who stated that the knowledge gleaned from this research could alter the way respiratory illnesses are treated.

Clinical research indicates that THC in both synthetic and natural forms acts as a bronchial dilator that clears blocked air passageways, causes an immediate reversal of exercise-induced asthma and hyperinflation and allows free breathing. These results may be grounds for an alternative treatment to steroids, and the Institute of Medicine and other medical authorities have recommended alternative methods of administration in order to test this. Plans for a non-combusting THC inhaler received attention for many years. Designers have failed to produce a workable prototype thus far, but are diligently continuing their research.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on August 16, 2018.