Supposedly by the end of this calendar year, residents of New York State, where I live, can get a doctor’s prescription for medical marijuana if they have a qualifying illness. Parkinson’s disease counts, so I’m interested. Intrigued. Incomparably, incomprehensibly inclined.
However, I can’t find the answers to these questions:
- Does anyone with PD automatically qualify, or do you have to have specific symptoms, e.g., dyskinesia (the uncontrollable, herky-jerky movements that are the sometimes side effect of Sinemet (carbidopa/levodopa))?
- What does medical marijuana actually do for someone with PD? (Maybe this is similar to Question 1.) Perhaps a better, corollary question is: What has medical marijuana done for Parkies in states where it’s already legal?
- As smokeable marijuana will not be available in New York, how is the form of marijuana that will be available (oils and tinctures, I believe) different from the stuff everyone smoked in my college fraternity while listening to Frank Zappa’s “Peaches en Regalia”?
- How much ice cream should I buy beforehand?
The research on medical marijuana is sketchy. This is partly because the plant has more than one psychoactive ingredient, and the ratio of these ingredients varies from strain to strain. It’s also because the federal government views pot strictly as an illicit recreational drug, and thus squelches legitimate clinical research to test its medicinal properties. The few studies that have been carried out, often overseas, are often inconclusive, although one meta-analysis of 34 studies concluded that “OCE [oral cannabis extract] is probably ineffective for treating levodopa-induced dyskinesias in patients with Parkinson disease.” Please note that the statement includes the word “probably,” which I bolded. There is always hope.
All we really have are anecdotes.
The New York Times recently reviewed a book about medical marijuana (Stoned: A Doctor’s Case for Medical Marijuana) written by a doctor (Dr. David Casarett)…and apparently it’s all anecdotes. Even the good doctor himself tokes up when he throws his back out. Here’s the passage from the review that mentions Parkinson’s:
In Israel, a certified “marijuana instructor” named Zach Klein has administered marijuana to dozens of demented nursing home patients with startling improvements in some, including one with Parkinson’s disease who signed his name for the first time in years.
However, the review’s final paragraph is also its bottom line:
In the end, like all the pundits before him, Dr. Casarett finds himself impressed by both marijuana’s medical possibilities and its risks, convinced by the stories he has heard that it is valuable treatment for some conditions, but calling for more research into a substance with a clear set of inconveniences of its own.
Inconveniences including, I suppose, running out of mint chocolate chip ice cream at 2:30 a.m.
So…if any of my many readers with Parkinson’s disease live in a state where medical marijuana is legal, AND if you have tried it to treat your PD, would you please write about your experience in the comments section below? You don’t have to use your real name. Sign in as…I don’t know… “J. Edgar Hoover.”
