End migraine stigma, allow cannabis in Ohio
For the nearly 39 million Americans who suffer from debilitating migraines, stigma is nothing new.
Despite the fact that they struggle with a chronic neurological disease that is the sixth-most disabling illness in the world and is more common than asthma, diabetes and epilepsy combined, migraine patients often are marginalized.
Even in Ohio, a forward-thinking state that has a medical cannabis program, migraine is not included in the Medical Marijuana Control Program’s qualifying conditions list despite strong evidence that cannabis is an effective migraine treatment. Ohio should explicitly allow medical cannabis to be prescribed to treat migraine.
Migraines are an extremely subjective disease. Their underlying causes are still unknown, making them historically difficult to diagnose and address. Unlike other chronic conditions, no blood test can prove an individual suffers from migraines, and some wrongly believe that migraines are simply “just a headache.” But migraines are very much a serious, debilitating neurological disease that affects people differently.
Some patients experience episodic attacks, while others have chronic migraines that can last up to 72 hours. Attacks can be triggered by stress or inadequate sleep; but conversely, others experience headaches if they get too much sleep. Other patients can be sensitive to light, hormonal variations, changes in atmospheric pressure, certain foods or a combination of some – or all – of the above.
Given that migraines are such a personal experience, neurologists recommend that patients keep track of symptoms and triggers in a journal or on a mobile tracking app. Collecting this data helps identify particular triggers and detect patterns of migraine attacks. Patients can then make lifestyle changes to prevent headaches or render them less severe. Real-world data also helps doctors decide which treatment might be the most effective when it comes to managing pain.
Recent studies show that cannabis can be an effective migraine treatment if taken before the onset of an attack, and it also can reduce the pain and intensity if taken during a headache. A survey by the tracking app Migraine Buddy found that 82% of migraine sufferers who tried cannabis said it helped ease their suffering.
Of the 33 states and the District of Columbia that have legalized cannabis for medicinal use, only five have expressly approved its use to treat migraines. Ohio is not one of them.
Ohio lists a number of specific medical conditions that cannabis can be prescribed for, including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, PTSD and epilepsy. And though Ohio regulations do allow doctors to prescribe medical cannabis for pain that “is either chronic and severe or intractable,” migraine is not explicitly listed in the way that many other chronic and debilitating diseases are.
This ambiguity only serves to further stigmatize and dismiss migraine users of cannabis by not expressly acknowledging the severe and debilitating nature of the disease, especially when you consider that 9 in 10 migraine sufferers report they can’t work or function normally during an attack. Migraines are responsible for more than 157 million lost workdays and more than 1.2 million emergency room visits annually.
Ohio health officials, as well as those in other states, should explicitly include migraine as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis use to give patients a safe and effective treatment option and help remove the stigma from one of the worlds’ most debilitating yet misunderstood afflictions.
Francois Cadiou is a migraine sufferer and the founder and CEO of Healint, a leading provider of health care technology and developer of migraine tracking app Migraine Buddy.