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Cannabis: Reimagining Personalized Medicine

By Erick Ponce - Cannabis Industry Promotion Group - GPIC
President

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By Erick Ponce | President - Wed, 08/31/2022 - 15:00

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The collective power of cannabis, that promise of being able to change the world, save lives and reshape the health and wellness industries, has been one of the main engines that has driven the narrative of this sector. Undoubtedly, there is a large cannabis community around the world; we owe much of the legalization and awareness efforts to this social order that inspires the plant.

It is necessary, however, to clarify that this communal power of the plant is based on personal therapeutic experience and individual well-being. The relationship we have with cannabis is of an absolutely intimate and particular nature.

It is enough to talk to patients, consumers, or with anyone who has had contact with the plant. Each one will tell us their unique experience, which, however, can be contextualized in general: the healing power of cannabis.

It is in this dichotomy where we can begin to glimpse a series of problems. In particular, the commodification of the market: with the wide variety of cannabis products available on the market (licit or illicit), it is sometimes impossible to know which of these to use or what dose and route of administration to use, depending on the desired effect.

While this does not present a serious issue in responsible adult use (misrepresented as recreational use), the effect of black and gray markets on quality and safety notwithstanding, many will say that the same experimentation of trying different combinations and doses is part of the rewarding experience of cannabis. That is not so for the therapeutic and medicinal use of the plant. Patients should not and do not want to experiment with their medication.

It is here that I dare to say that cannabis is not for everyone but for everybody. The difference lies in the fact that we must approach it with the same medical-scientific rigor that permeates the rest of the health sciences. That requires a vision centered on the patient, not on the drug.

Equipped with new, increasingly precise tools and technologies, as well as greater knowledge about the cannabis plant, health professionals can select a therapy or treatment based on the patient's profile and idiosyncrasy.

Personalized medicine is the adaptation of medical-therapeutic treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient. The approach is based on the scientific method, as well as the mantra we have and should follow in cannabis-based medicine: start low, go slow.

Personalization, then, of cannabinoid-based medicine cannot only minimize side effects, ensuring a more tangible and measurable result, but can also help contain costs compared to a trial-and-error approach to the treatment of illnesses.

Cannabis has found a great companion on this path of personalized therapy: compounding medicine. This type of medicine takes into consideration the specific characteristics of each patient, such as age, gender, weight, illnesses and, in some cases, even their genomics, to compose a comprehensive treatment plan, generating formulations adjusted to the doses and presentations required by the patient, treating the disease individually and not generically.

Compounding is, therefore, the designing and formulation of medicine according to the individual needs of each patient based on the prescription of the physician, effectively battling the one size fits all approach of big pharma with a personalized prescription for each individual.

It’s hard not to overstate compounding’s rising prominence in the medical cannabis landscape: it requires a greater mastery of the medical specialty, while covering a wider range of indications and prescriptions; it promotes first-hand communication and direct feedback between physicians, the pharmacists and, of course, the patients.

This practice, duly recognized by national and international health authorities and institutions, is the perfect candidate not only for the medical practice based on cannabinoids but also, together with the social movement behind the cannabis plant, it is possible to combat the status quo, avoiding commercialization monopolies and guaranteeing the accessibility and quality of medicines for patients.

There is a reason that several companies are adopting this type of practice in medicine as a go-to-market strategy in various countries around the world. From Canada to Argentina, Spain and Germany, and mainly Mexico, where the only actual access to cannabinoid-based medicine is through compounding, or medicina magistral, we are seeing a new trend to approach our relationship with the patient and their treatments.

Personalized medicine has the potential to change our way of thinking, knowing, identifying and managing the possible arguments against using medical cannabis, such as interactions, side effects and treatment suitability. It seeks to remedy the deficiencies created by commercial drugs, which recommend generic doses for the entire population grouped into a single category: “adults and children over 12 years of age.”

Long gone will be the days when a pharmaceutical sales representative, incentivized by commissions, will be responsible for what a patient may or may not use for medication. At least with cannabis, health and patient care should be approached based on the necessity and not the opportunity.

We are unique, just like everyone else.

Photo by:   Erick Ponce

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