Medical Marijuana and the Montana Pharmacist

July 27, 2011 11:06 AM Topics: Medical marijuana

The following excerpt is from an article originally published in the July 2011 Montana Board of Pharmacy Newsletter (PDF).

In Montana, medical marijuana is a hot issue. It was the most contentious issue put before the 2011 Montana Legislature, which passed a new law to significantly increase the regulation of the substance. At present this legislation is the subject of court hearings seeking to prevent the law from going into effect, and the law may be the subject of a referendum petition drive seeking to suspend the law, pending a vote of the people in November 2012. At present, more than 31,500 individuals hold medical marijuana cards.

Various therapeutic indications have been attributed to marijuana . . . [while marijuana] is associated with a number of adverse effects that impair the cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. While documentation of drug interactions with marijuana is limited, the available information indicates that marijuana can interact with a number of drugs including opioids, barbiturates, CNS depressants, protease inhibitors, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, sildenafil, theophylline, tricyclic antidepressants, anticholinergics, sympathomimetics, and others.

The Board notes that medical marijuana poses a unique challenge as well as an opportunity for the Montana pharmacist to promote patient care. The full newsletter article includes the Board’s advice to pharmacists for counseling their patients concerning the use of medical marijuana.