Here's what I posted in another forum regarding a presentation on MM by an MD:

Question: where would you find a Parkinson’s support group that has an MD keynote speaker talking about medical marijuana for PD? Answer: why Santa Cruz, California of course!

So I attended the meeting a few weeks ago. And it was very interesting. I have experimented occasionally with medical marijuana for my Parkinson’s symptoms but not with any scientific discipline and so no surprise that I haven’t seen any interesting and meaningful results to date.

Here’s what I learned from the presentation. First to get some background do a Google search for ”Sanjay weed 2”. The YouTube video is the CNN documentary with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and talking about the latest research in medical marijuana. There are some interesting stories and it’s worth watching for the 40 minute show.

Secondly, the preferred term is medical cannabis, to differentiate from the word marijuana which sort of implies recreational getting high! So here are some of the things I learned:

1.The best delivery method is a tincture - this is the lowest cost and most efficient way using a few drops under the tongue via a dropper bottle.


2.No surprise - different people have different results. It works for some and not for others.


3.You may have to experiment with a treatment for at least three months to see results.


4.Different doses have different effects and so again some experimentation is needed.


5.Two key ingredients in cannabis are CBD and THC - Google these to find out more. CBD has the medicinal properties and THC gets you high. So for many of us we do not want the latter.


6.It was found that a low dose of CBD could reduce symptoms but a higher dose could exacerbate symptoms. And I believe the presenter said the best ratio of CBD to THC is 2:1, unlike the strain mentioned in Sanjay’s documentary called “Charlotte’s Web” which I think is mostly all CBD, and is used on children with seizures.


7.There are a number of interesting studies from places like Israel and clearly more research is needed. I think one study showed that cannabis could be neuroprotective -however I think this was with mice!


8.Finally it helps to live in a state like California where medical cannabis is legal with a doctor’s prescription


So the bottom line. Before this presentation I thought I just needed to get some pot and it would help my PD symptoms. Now I realize there are variables such as dosage, mixture of CBD to THC and giving the drug time to show effects and results. Clearly a lot more research is needed and perhaps I need to do some more experimentation.

Brian