Health Department offering free courses on medical cannabis for healthcare providers

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state Department of Health is offering free courses to a limited number of licensed healthcare providers on the clinical application of medical cannabis.

This comes after the governor signed a new law giving more leeway for physicians sand some nurses to decide which patients could benefit from the drug.

Twenty-five years after Hawaii legalized medical marijuana, the state says 30,000 patients are currently registered to buy the drug from one of 24 regulated dispensary locations statewide.

“Cannabis is medicine. And the FDA recognizes that,” said epidemiologist Linh-Ve Le of the DOH Office of Medical Cannabis Control and Regulation.

Le said providers need to know how cannabis could interact with other drugs, along with the risks, benefits, and possible adverse reactions.

“At some point, all healthcare providers in Hawaii will be seeing patients who are using medical cannabis, or if they’re not using medical cannabis or register with us, they might be self-medicating,” she said.

Many people are self-medicating. A recent Health Department survey found more than 13% of Hawaii’s population used cannabis in the last 30 days. That’s more than six times the number of registered medical marijuana users.

“They’re getting illicit, illegal black market marijuana, which is a lot cheaper than medical marijuana, and it has a higher potency concentration,” said Gary Yabuta, the head of the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.

Federal law considers any marijuana product to be a controlled substance.

“Not only is medical marijuana or illegal marijuana -- any kind of marijuana is not only addictive, but there’s some health hazards to be warned about,” Yabuta said.

The DOH of the top three reasons for seeking marijuana therapy, more than half cited pain. Others sought relief from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe nausea.

“You can find a lot of studies and you’d also find it in clients that you work with that have depression or anxiety disorders, that they tend to do a lot better with medical cannabis use,” said clinical psychologist Richard Ries.

The new law signed by Gov. Josh Green last month allowed medical professionals, including certain nurses, to recommend marijuana for any condition where “the benefit would likely outweigh the health risks.”

“Cannabis can really affect the body differently, and we want our health care professionals to understand what those effects are,” said Le.

“This should be looked at like a medicine, and like all medicines, it can very useful if monitored and applied in a way that is sensible,” said Ries. “But it’s not great for just everybody.”

The DOH said the for-credit courses are being offered free to the first 200 registrants. More information can be found here.