The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Doctor seeing results of medical marijuana
Willoughby Hills physician passionate about qualifying patients for medical marijuana.
Her respect for the Hippocratic oath— to “first do no harm” — is what drew Dr. BJ Sidari to become certified to recommend the use of medical cannabis.
Until three years ago, the doctor of osteopathic medicine was among those opposed to the use of marijuana to treat medical issues.
It was approved by Ohio voters in June 2016 and the law too effect on Sept. 8 that year.
“But even at the Mayo Clinic and after 27 years of practicing medicine, I hadn’t seen results as phenomenal as medical cannabis provides,” she said.
Dr. Sidari, who practices in Willoughby Hills, first witnessed those results on a 35-year-old roofer who had broken 40 bones after falling three stories to a concrete surface.
“He was in a medically induced coma for a month to heal but still had chronic severe pain and was being treated with 14 opiates before he began a regime of medical marijuana,” she recalled. “After 90 days of consuming edible marijuana, he was pain-free, off the opiates and able to go back to work.”
She began to investigate other case studies and completed a two-hour program of study to learn more about cannabis, aka marijuana.
The educational program she took, from Bellefontaine-based Cannabis Expertise (CannabisExpertise.com), was among three Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program approved and now requires before physicians can be certified to recommend the drug.
Every state in which medical marijuana has been approved has different rules and lists different medical conditions for qualifying.
“Cannabis has been used for thousands of years and has even been found in ancient Egyptian tombs,” she said. “Until 1937, when it was outlawed in this country, it had a prominent medical history in the United States.”
Seeing patients in her Moral Medical Justification practice in Willoughby Hills is now her full-time job. The patient fee is $200.
She believes the opposition to medical marijuana is based in the well-funded insurance and pharmaceutical industries — both of which could stand to lose business if patients resolve medical issues with cannabis.
“If every physician would take one of the three twohour educational courses required to be certified, there would be no doubt of the efficacy of recommending it for patients,” she said.
Before Sidari became certified, she learned that the Veterans Administration, Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals had prohibited their thousands of staff doctors from recommending medical marijuana. The general explanation offered for the restrictions was that marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug and therefore is federally illegal despite the fact that voters in 32 states have approved its use.
Lake Health, meanwhile, permits its physicians to make their own decision about becoming certified to recommend.
According to several articles on medical marijuana, insiders say that stance may be softening since the Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of a cannabis-derived medication for treating symptoms of certain forms of epilepsy. The medicine, Epidiolex, soon will be available in the United States from its British manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals.
In addition, the Dec. 5
passage of the U.S Farm Bill 2018 includes legalizing the cultivation of hemp, a strain of the cannabis plant that contains miniscule amounts of THC, the chemical which provides the “high.”
In the two years she’s been certified as a medical marijuana practitioner, Dr. Sidari has seen more than 1,000 patients and has witnessed what some may conclude are medical miracles.
She says she has seen people in a huge age range who suffer from conditions such as seizures, Parkinson’s disease, post traumatic stress disorder, Crohn’s disease and cancer experience a significant lessening of their symptoms with as little as two months of medical cannabis treatment.
“Many people tell me they’ve never felt better once they substitute cannabis for their prescription drugs,” she said.
Sidari is one of 300 Ohio physicians who has qualified to recommend medical cannabis to adult patients with one or more of 21 medical conditions specified by the State Medical Board of Ohio Board of Pharmacy, according to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control website, MedicalMarijuana. Ohio.gov. Despite the restrictions by hospital systems, the number of doctors participating increases each month, according to the site, which also lists all the dispensaries.
There are thousands of studies and verified case histories, Sidari said, that confirm the efficacy of the cannabis plant as medicine.
Many people who come to her already believe that marijuana helps them, she said.
For instance, Sidari spoke of a teenager with severe Tourette’s syndrome. A friend offered him marijuana and, after consuming it, the young man said his condition improved significantly and almost instantly. Tourette’s is a neurological disorder that is typified by repetitive movements and uncontrolled cursing.
“He would strike his face and swear over and over,” she said. “He had to be home-schooled and could not be taken out.” Now he’s in college and playing on the football team, she said.
In Ohio, Tourette’s syndrome is one of the conditions that allow a patient to seek medical marijuana.
Sidari said the teenager’s mother came to her to learn more and ultimately got a recommendation for her son.
“She was in tears to discover there was an answer,” Sidari said.
Sidari generally recommends cannabis by writing a recommendation for a 90-day supply that can be renewed up to three times. Sidari requires a follow-up appointment after 90 days.
“I usually spend at least an hour on an examination,” she said. “The patient must bring me medical records, but they can also bring family members along.”
Some of the appointment time is dedicated to educating patients and their families about medical marijuana, how it can be legally consumed and where to get it. Only one dispensary is open in Ohio, but soon 70 more will open, Sidari said. They’ll be grouped across the state according to population density, she explained.
“(Marijuana) can’t be smoked but must be vaped or consumed as an edible,” she said.
The rules — devised by Ohio’s Pharmacy Board, Medical Board and Department of Commerce — are strict.
And because each state has separate regulations, they can be confusing. For instance, Michigan dispensaries have reciprocity and will accept Ohio’s medical marijuana physician recommendations. But it is illegal to transport all forms of marijuana across state lines. So those who leave Ohio to get their cannabis must bring it back at their own risk.
Ohio requires separate entities for the cultivation, processing, testing and dispensing of medical marijuana.
“Ohio has a seed-to-sale protocol,” Sidari said. “(The process has) been time-consuming, but it will protect Ohioans in the long term.”
Those rules, requirements and the timetable for testing the marijuana and the opening dispensaries for distribution can be seen at MedicalMarijuana. Ohio.gov.
“Ohio has a seed-to-sale protocol. (The process has) been timeconsuming, but it will protect Ohioans in the long term.”
— Dr. BJ Sidari