With our current system, there are many confusions with the current division of recreational and medicinal Cannabis products being sold.
Why should a non-psychoactive pain cream be sold and taxed as a recreational drug?
Why do Cannabis-specific doctors only write medical Cannabis recommendations without any other prescriptions?
Cannabis is currently approved for patients in Colorado suffering from cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Cachexia, persistent muscle spasms, seizures, severe nausea and severe pain; however, Medical Marijuana Registry Program has denied conditions including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and diabetes among others. For the patients whose condition did not make the list or was denied, these patients are finding the relief Cannabis provides in the recreational market. Furthermore, with the lack of medical professionals trained in Cannabis medicine, many patients find recommended dosages, use schedules, and treatment options to be confusing and unregulated.
For the patients without a qualifying medical condition, they are not completely out of luck since many patients can find the same products as they would in the medical stores. For example, transdermal patches, pain creams, and pill form cannabinoids are all common within recreational stores; however, they will be subject to the higher recreational tax (~15-25% in Colorado). In addition to these more medicinal forms of Cannabis, there are more of the traditional recreational products as well, including candies, pre-rolled joints, and vaporizer pens. Most products are limited to less than 100mg of THC in a single package and less than 10mg in a single serving; however, some of the topical and transdermal products and dosages may exceed this limit.
If you do suffer from a condition that was approved for medical marijuana, the main benefits you will notice are the more medical focused staff (generally), a lower price and tax rate for products, and higher dosages of edible products as well. While many products sold in recreational stores would be considered by many to be only recreational such as a lollipop, those same products will also be sold in the medical stores as well for patients that may find the sublingual absorption using a lollipop may work best. Although many products are available in both medical and recreational shops, medical stores may lack some the diversity of products, which can be detrimental to a patient attempting to find the best product to treat their condition. Additionally, medical concentrates and infused products were not required to be tested before November 1st, 2017 in Colorado, which has led to less consistent and reliable products in the medical market than the recreational.
For patients in the states without legalized medical or recreational Cannabis, low-to-no THC products have been developed, which have been shown to provide numerous benefits. These products are derived from cultivars of Cannabis referred to as Hemp, which is defined in Colorado as a Cannabis Plant “containing a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of no more than three-tenths of one percent (0.3%) on a dry weight basis.” This means that a plant can have high concentrations of any of the other 109 identified cannabinoids, as long as the THC concentration is below 0.3% by dry weight, which leads to a large variation in products produced in this market. Furthermore, with no oversight on the products produced from hemp, some companies have begun selling products, including tinctures, patches or pills that contain high concentrations of CBD.
In conclusion, it is a gray line between the recreational and medical use of Cannabis since it has a lot to do with the user’s intentions, and subjective benefits he or she may feel from using Cannabis products. The limited range of conditions that qualify a patient for medicinal Cannabis can create a barrier for patients to access medicine and cause greater healthcare cost if they are forced to pay the higher tax rate. Without a method to help doctors incorporate Cannabis into healthcare, it will continue to be seen as a supplemental medicine and lack the regulation and standardization needed to be as widely used as it is today. Furthermore, the demand for medicine that can be used in any state without legal repercussions has driven the CBD-rich hemp market to exponentially grow, without the oversight that is needed to provide transdermal compounds and tinctures safely to the general public.
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