It’s a tough call, but based on the science, there appears to be a clear answer. Keep in mind that there are dozens of factors to account for, including how the substances affect your heart, brain, and behavior, and how likely you are to get hooked. Time is important, while some effects are noticeable immediately, others only begin to crop up after months or years of use. The comparison is slightly unfair for another reason is while scientists have been researching the effects of alcohol for decades, the science of cannabis is a lot murkier because of its mostly illegal status.

In 2014, a ton of people died from alcohol-induced causes in the United States and that does not count drinking-related accidents or homicides. If those deaths were included, the number would be closer to 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, no deaths from marijuana overdoses have been reported, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A new study of more than 70,000 Americans, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that healthy marijuana users were not more likely to die earlier than healthy people who did not use cannabis.Unlike alcohol, which slows your heart rate, marijuana speeds it up, which could negatively affect the heart in the short term. Still, the largest-ever report on cannabis from the National Academies of Sciences, released in January and read by most many. In other states they found insufficient evidence to support or refute the idea that cannabis may increase the overall risk of a heart attack. On the other hand, low to moderate drinking about one drink a day has been linked with a lower risk of heart attack and stroke compared with non use. A director at Alcohol Research, told The Guardian that those findings should be taken with a grain of salt since any protective effects tend to be canceled out by even occasional bouts of heavier drinking.

In November, a group of the nation’s top cancer doctors issued a statement asking people to drink less. They cited strong evidence that drinking alcohol as little as a glass of wine or beer a day increases the risk of developing both pre and postmenopausal breast cancer. The US Department of Health lists alcohol as a known human carcinogen. Research highlighted by the National Cancer Institute suggests that the more alcohol you drink particularly the more you drink regularly the higher your risk of developing cancer. For some research initially suggested a link between smoking and lung cancer, but that has been debunked aside from its many proven benefits. The January report found that cannabis was not connected to any increased risk of the lung cancers or head and neck cancers tied to smoking cigarettes.

A research note published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that, when adjusting for other factors, having a detectable amount of THC (the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis) in your blood did not increase the risk of being involved in a car crash. Having a blood-alcohol level of at least .05, on the other hand, increased that risk. Still, combining the two appears to have the worst results. The risk from driving under the influence of both alcohol and cannabis is greater than the risk of driving under the influence of either alone,” the authors of a review written in the American Journal of Addiction. 

→Related: Laws For Medical in the State of Florida

It’s impossible to say whether drinking alcohol or using marijuana causes violence, but several studies suggest a link between alcohol and violent behavior.According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, alcohol is a factor of all violent crimes, and a study of college students found that the rates of mental and physical abuse were higher on days when couples drank. On the other hand, no such relationship appears to exist for cannabis. A recent study looking at cannabis use and intimate partner violence in the first decade of marriage found that marijuana users were significantly less likely to commit violence against a partner than those who did not use the drug.

Both marijuana and alcohol temporarily impair your memory, and alcohol can cause blackouts by rendering the brain incapable of forming memories. The most severe long-term effects are seen in heavy, chronic, or binge users who begin using in their teens. Studies have found that these effects can persist for several weeks after stopping use so Florida medical marijuana doctors say, as well as many other physicians nationwide. There may also be a link between daily weed use and poorer verbal memory in adults who start smoking at a young age. Chronic drinkers display reductions in memory, attention, and planning, as well as impaired emotional processes and social cognition and these can persist even after years of abstinence say a writer for NHSOF MD.

→Related: Qualify For A Medical Marijuana Card in:

Orlando, Tampa, Kissimmee, Sarasota and more coming soon!

The post Alcohol or Marijuana? Which Is The Healthier Option? appeared first on NHSOF MD.

As medical marijuana is increasingly accepted in clinical wellness option, states have begun to make it legal. However, in many states, patients continue to have difficulty in obtaining medical marijuana to meet chronic health needs. Florida is a state that supports the widespread use of medical marijuana under  the practice of a licensed Florida marijuana doctors. This decision offers residents a natural alternative to alleviate chronic pain and other health problems. How was medical marijuana legalized in Florida?Until recently, Florida residents with a chronic illness or disorder have not been able to access medical marijuana. Both patients and health professionals have asked the state of Florida to consider the benefits of treatment. Under certain medical conditions, medical marijuana  can be used as a holistic therapy to provide comfort and relief from unpleasant symptoms. The process of obtaining Florida marijuana cards. The application and procurement process for Florida marijuana cards in Florida has not changed significantly since it became legal. Florida allows permanent and seasonal residents access to the MMJ program. This provision only applies to Florida and is not available in many other states where medical marijuana is legal.

You can find Orlando marijuana doctors and Orlando Florida dispensaries in your area such as MUV, Trulieve, Fluent, Curaleaf, Surterra Wellness and more coming soon. Give nhsof.com a call today to get started. Florida season residents (snowbirds) spent 4-6 months in the Sunshine State. The average age of these seasonal tourists is at least 60 years. Regardless of whether  they travel from states that have legalized medical marijuana or not, seniors have the option of obtaining a certificate of Florida marijuana card. You can now enjoy the convenience of the online Florida medical assessment and certification process. How can patients be certified for Florida marijuana cards? There are five steps for Florida residents that do not currently require a personal visit to a certified doctor.

Step 1: Orlando Florida Medical Marijuana Qualification

Florida patients must have pre-diagnosed and qualified medical conditions to be certified. A written request is required to meet legal health requirements. This should require a formal diagnosis from the patient’s primary health care provider or family physician.Adults over the age of 18 can get a medical marijuana certificate in Florida. Patients with incurable health and prognosis can also be qualified with the consent of the legal guardian and caregiver. A medical record is required to review qualified medical conditions.Florida residents (permanent or snow birds) must also provide proof of residence. These can be municipal or government bill that include the name and address of the interviewing patient. A photo ID issued by the government is also required.

Step 2: In Person Exam With A Orlando Marijuana Doctor

All measures are taken to protect the confidentiality of patient information. You don’t have to go to the dispensary  or the doctor’s office, the doctor can evaluate it online. There is a HIPAA-compliant video conferencing system in place between the patient and a registered Florida marijuana doctor.Do you have a health problem that makes it difficult to drive? Some time ago, Florida residents had to drive to the local doctor’s office or dispensary  before the introduction of  online assessment and certification. Online assessment was introduced to accommodate people with reduced mobility and inability to transport themselves.

Patients can get an online assessment with a Florida medical marijuana doctor through the secure telehealth platform (re-certifications only). You can find a marijuana doctor who will perform a medical examination and ask some questions. This online session confirms that the patient is eligible for Florida marijuana card. When you qualify for a Florida marijuana card, your doctor will record your name and related information in the Florida Marijuana Use Registry. The Florida Department of Health records allow all patients to conveniently renew their Florida marijuana card online.

Step 3: Prepare for a Orlando marijuana doctor’s visit

Many Florida doctors are happy to recommend marijuana  medication for chronic or incurable diseases. But not all of them. Patients looking for natural alternatives to relieve painful or annoying symptoms are not sure where to start. First responders who are not registered with the Florida State Marijuana Use Registry are unable to evaluate or certify patients with a medical Florida marijuana cards.Where should patients look in Florida if their doctor wants to be evaluated and certified in medical Florida marijuana cards?  NHSOF MD is a the leader in Florida marijuana doctors and card services. Instead of searching multiple sites, marijuana doctors provided a centralized resource for Florida residents. Medical practices offering online medical marijuana certification services and dispensaries.

Step 4: Submit your medical card orders

Submitting an application is the most tedious and longest of all the process to take. The card is processed based on the number of applicants. On average, patients with a qualified medical condition waits about ten working days for processing to be complete.The presentation will be reviewed to ensure that all of your records are in order and meet the legal criteria. If you have a problem ordering Florida marijuana card in the state of Florida, you may need to re-apply. This requires an additional fee for the certified Florida marijuana doctor for the new assessment and application process.

To expedite the use of the Florida Marijuana Card, it is important to check the accuracy of your data before diagnosing. Talk to your doctor about your health problems and whether you think medical marijuana may be helpful. Please note that only a qualified Florida marijuana  doctor in Florida can perform an assessment as part of the Florida marijuana card verification process.

Florida patients receiving cancer chemotherapy may notice that the food has an unpleasant taste and smell. This is a common side effect and can lead to unwanted weight loss and suppression of the immune system if nutritional needs are not met. Certain types of medical marijuana again stimulate a healthy appetite.

Step 5: Florida State Approval

Once you have successfully submitted all the required information needed, the state will approve your marijuana card. You will receive an email notification once your application has been approved. All you need to do to confirm your order is to placed at a licensed Florida marijuana clinic while waiting for your card to arrive. The cost and fees for a Florida medical card can be anywhere between $200 and $ 300. There is also a registration fee of $ 75 to apply. Full-face color passport  are required. Remember to renew your medical marijuana card annually and pay the medical consultation and registration fee again. You must complete the renewal process 45 days before the expiration date. Qualifying Conditions For Florida residents with chronic illnesses that affect quality of life can try therapeutic marijuana to therapeutically alleviate a variety of symptoms. In severe chronic conditions, prescription medications can cause side effects that can complicate your condition or lifestyle. If a Florida patient is diagnosed with a qualified illness, you can get legal access to medical marijuana. Recognized conditions include:

• Anxiety
• Cancer
• Chronic muscle
• Chronic Pain (anywhere)
• Cramps/Spasms
• Depression
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Glaucoma
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Epilepsy/Seizures
• Crohn’s disease / IBS
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS / Lou Gehrig’s disease)
• Parkinson’s disease
• HIV/AIDS

Patients who suffer from chronic non-malignant pain are recommended to use medical marijuana has evidence shows it works. Having an underlying chronic (more than one) condition is also eligible for a Florida Marijuana Card. Florida residents must be diagnosed by the primary care physician, not the evaluating physician, in order to receive a medical marijuana card. You may also be eligible if your incurable disease is diagnosed by a doctor who is not the physician issuing the certificate.

NHSOF MD – ORLANDO

8803 Futures Dr.
Orlando, FL 32819

(407) 627-0990

What if you lose your Florida Medical Marijuana Card?

Important steps must be taken if a Florida marijuana card is lost or stolen. You must print and complete the “change, replacement , or surrender ” claim form. The form is available on the Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU) department of the Florida health network. The OMMU change, replacement, or surrender form can also be used to update address information or identify a new caregiver to help. The form will be sent to the Florida OMMU with a $15 check for administrative processing. You must provide your social security number on the form. This information will be treated confidentially in accordance with HIPAA regulations. What to do if your medical marijuana card is stolen in Florida? Although a medical certificate is required for a medical marijuana prescription, many cardholders are victims of marijuana card theft. Because the MMJ is statutory at state level but not statutory at the federal level, patients are often worried about reporting the stolen card to law enforcement.If there is nothing of legal concern in your home, you should immediately report the stolen Florida marijuana card to the authorities and find a licensed marijuana doctor location in Orlando Florida area.

Where can I buy legal marijuana in Florida?

You can purchase marijuana products at any licensed medical marijuana pharmacy in Florida. such as: MUV, Trulieve, Fluent, Curaleaf, Surterra Wellness and more coming soon. There are more than 400 licensed Florida dispensary locations. They are easy to find. However, if you don’t live near a physical location, you can find out which national pharmacy offers free shipping like most of them. The Florida Medical Marijuana Doctors and Medical Marijuana Physicians list can help you narrow down your choices and find the right medical marijuana card doctor staff to meet your health needs. With the information above on getting a medical marijuana card, you now have an idea of ​​where to start. It can be a long process, but if you ask others who use it extensively, avoiding the pain is worth every step. Contact us or request an appointment online to get started. You can also check out our NHSOF MD blog page for more information.

The post Find A Medical Marijuana Card Near You in Orlando Florida appeared first on NHSOF MD.

29 states have legalized medical marijuana – that number is 43 states if we count laws with very limited access.

Even the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse lists medical uses for cannabis.

But even though researchers have identified some fascinating potential benefits of medical marijuana so far, it’s something that’s still hard to study, making conclusive results tough to come by. The schedule I classification means it’s hard for researchers to get their hands on pot grown to the exacting standards that are necessary for medical research, even in states where it’s legal. Plus, no researcher can even try to make an FDA-approved cannabis product while it has that DEA classification, which removes some motivation to study the plant.

More research would identify health benefits more clearly and would also help clarify potential dangers such as with any psychoactive substance, there are risks associated with abuse, including dependency and emotional issues. And many doctors want to understand marijuana’s effects better before deciding whether to recommend it or not.

There’s a fair amount of evidence that marijuana does no harm to the lungs, unless you also smoke tobacco, and one study published in Journal of the American Medical Association found that marijuana not only doesn’t impair lung function, it may even increase lung capacity.

Researchers looking for risk factors of heart disease tested the lung function of 5,115 young adults over the course of 20 years. Tobacco smokers lost lung function over time, but pot users actually showed an increase in lung capacity.

It’s possible that the increased lung capacity may be due to taking a deep breaths while inhaling the drug and not from a therapeutic chemical in the drug.

Those smokers only toked up a few times a month, but a more recent survey of people who smoked pot daily for up to 20 years found no evidence that smoking pot harmed their lungs.

With that caveat about research in mind, here are the medical benefits of marijuana.

Marijuana use can prevent epileptic seizures in rats, a 2003 study showed.

A professor gave marijuana extract and synthetic marijuana to epileptic rats. The drugs rid the rats of the seizures for about 10 hours. Cannabinoids like the active ingredients in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (also known as THC), control seizures by binding to the brain cells responsible for controlling excitability and regulating relaxation.

The findings were published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

During the research for his documentary interviewed the Figi family, who treats their daughter using a medical marijuana strain high in cannabidiol and low in THC.

There are at least two major active chemicals in marijuana that researchers think have medicinal applications (there are up to 79 known active compounds). Those two are cannabidiol (CBD) — which seems to impact the brain mostly without a high— and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — which has pain relieving (and other) properties.

The Figi family’s daughter, Charlotte, has Dravet Syndrome, which causes seizures and severe developmental delays.

According to the film, the drug has decreased her seizures from 300 a week to just one every seven days. Forty other children in the state are using the same strain of marijuana (which is high in CBD and low in THC) to treat their seizures — and it seems to be working.

The doctors who recommended this treatment say that the cannabidiol in the plant interacts with the brain cells to quiet the excessive activity in the brain that causes these seizures.

As Gutpa notes, a Florida hospital that specializes in the disorder, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Drug Enforcement agency don’t endorse marijuana as a treatment for Dravet or other seizure disorders.

CBD may also help prevent cancer from spreading, researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported in 2007.

Cannabidiol stops cancer by turning off a gene called Id-1, the study, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, found. Cancer cells make more copies of this gene than non-cancerous cells, and it helps them spread through the body.

The researchers studied breast cancer cells in the lab that had high expression levels of Id-1 and treated them with cannabidiol. After treatment the cells had decreased Id-1 expression and were less aggressive spreaders. But beware: these are studies on cancer cells in the lab, not on cancer patients. 

Other very preliminary studies on aggressive brain tumors in mice or cell cultures have shown that THC and CBD can slow or shrink tumors at the right dose, which is a great reason to do more research into figuring out that dose.

One 2014 study found that marijuana can significantly show the growth of the type of brain tumor associated with 80% of malignant brain cancer in people.

Medical marijuana users claim the drug helps relieve pain and suppress nausea — the two main reasons it’s often used to relieve the side effects of chemotherapy.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School suggested that that some of the drug’s benefits may actually be from reduced anxiety, which would improve the smoker’s mood and act as a sedative in low doses.

Published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, found that THC, the active chemical in marijuana, slows the formation of amyloid plaques by blocking the enzyme in the brain that makes them. These plaques seem to be what kill brain cells and potentially cause Alzheimer’s.

A synthetic mixture of CBD and THC seem to preserve memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Another study suggested that in population-based studies, a THC-based prescription drug called dronabinol was able to reduce behavioral disturbances in dementia patients.

There are now over 175,000 patients in the Florida medical marijuana registry with many many more coming.

Yet marijuana’s official designation in the US as a Schedule 1 drug— something with “no currently accepted medical use” — means it has been pretty tough to study.

Despite that, a growing body of research and numerous anecdotal reports link cannabis with several health benefits, including pain relief and the potential to help with certain forms of epilepsy. In addition, researchers say there are many other ways marijuana might affect health that they want to better understand.

Along with several other recent studies, a massive report released last year by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine helps sum up exactly what we know— and what we don’t — about the science of weed.

One of weed’s active ingredients, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, interacts with the brain’s reward system, the part primed to respond to things that make us feel good, like eating and sex.

When overexcited by drugs, the reward system creates feelings of euphoria. This is also why some studies have suggested that excessive marijuana use can be a problem for some people — the more often you trigger that euphoria, the less you may feel during other rewarding experiences. If you or someone close to your is interested in the benefits of medical cannabis, please visit a Florida medical marijuana doctors location near you today.

Within a few minutes of inhaling marijuana, your heart rate can increase by between 20 and 50 beats a minute. This can last anywhere from 20 minutes to three hours, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The report found insufficient evidence to support or refute the idea that cannabis might increase the overall risk of a heart attack. The same report, however, also found some limited evidence that smoking could be a trigger for a heart attack.

In August, a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology appeared to suggest that marijuana smokers face a threefold higher risk of dying from high blood pressure than people who have never smoked — but the study came with an important caveat: it defined a “marijuana user” as anyone who’d ever tried the drug.

Research suggests this is a poor assumption — and one that could have interfered with the study’s results. According to a recent survey, about 52% of Americans have tried cannabis at some point, yet only 14% used the drug at least once a month.

Other studies have also come to the opposite conclusion of the present study. According to the Mayo Clinic, using cannabis could result in decreased— not increased — blood pressure.

So while there’s probably a link between smoking marijuana and high blood pressure, there’s not enough research yet to say that one leads to the other.

Pot contains cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical that is not responsible for getting you high but is thought to be responsible for many of marijuana’s therapeutic effects. Those benefits can include pain relief or potential treatment for certain kinds of childhood epilepsy.

The new report also found conclusive or substantial evidence — the most definitive levels — that cannabis can be an effective treatment for chronic pain, which could have to do with both CBD and THC. Pain is also “by far the most common” reason people request medical marijuana, according to the report.

One of the ways scientists think marijuana may help with pain is by reducing inflammation, a component of illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis.

A preliminary 2005 study of 58 patients with RA, roughly half of whom were given a placebo and roughly half of whom were given a cannabis-based medicine called Sativex, found “statistically significant improvements in pain on movement, pain at rest, quality of sleep” for patients on Sativex.

Other studies testing other cannabinoid products and inhaled marijuana have shown similar pain-relieving effects, according to the report.

Some people with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis could also benefit from marijuana use, studies suggest.

A 2014 paper, for example, describes two studies of people with chronic Crohn’s. Half were given the drug and half got a placebo. That study showed a decrease in symptoms in 10 of 11 subjects using cannabis, compared with just four of 10 on the placebo. But when the researchers did a follow-up study using low-dose CBD, they saw no effect in the patients.

Researchers say that, for now, we need more research before we’ll know whether cannabis can help with these diseases.

Marijuana may throw off your balance, as it influences activity in the cerebellum and basal ganglia, two brain areas that help regulate balance, coordination, reaction time, and posture.

Feeling as if time is sped up or slowed down is one of the most commonly reported effects of using marijuana. A 2012 paper sought to draw some solid conclusions from studies on those anecdotal reports, but it was unable to do so.

“Even though 70% of time estimation studies report overestimation, the findings of time production and time reproduction studies remain inconclusive,” the paper said.

In a 1998 study that used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to focus on the brains of volunteers on THC, the authors noted that many had altered blood flow to the cerebellum, which most likely plays a role in our sense of time.

Limitations on what sort of marijuana research is allowed make it particularly difficult to study this sort of effect.

Since weed makes blood vessels expand, it can give you red eyes.

A case of the munchies is no figment of the imagination — both casual and heavy marijuana users tend to overeat when they smoke.

Marijuana may effectively flip a circuit in the brain that is normally responsible for quelling the appetite, triggering us to eat instead, according to a recent study of mice.

It all comes down to a special group of cells in the brain that are normally activated after we have eaten a big meal to tell us we’ve had enough. The psychoactive ingredient in weed appears to activate just one component of those appetite-suppressing cells, making us feel hungry rather than satisfied.

Marijuana can mess with your memory by changing the way your brain processes information, but scientists still aren’t sure exactly how this happens. Still, several studies suggest that weed interferes with short-term memory, and researchers tend to see more of these effects in inexperienced or infrequent users than in heavy, frequent users.

Unsurprisingly, these effects are most evident in the acute sense — immediately after use, when people are high.

Scientists can’t say for sure whether marijuana causes depression or depressed people are simply more likely to smoke. But one study from the Netherlands suggests that smoking weed could raise the risk of depression for young people who already have a special serotonin gene that could make them more vulnerable to depression.

Those findings are bolstered by the report, which found moderate evidence that cannabis use was linked to a small increased risk of depression.

The report also found substantial evidence of an increased risk among frequent marijuana users of developing schizophrenia — something that studies have shown is a particular concern for people at risk for schizophrenia in the first place.

Researchers think it’s possible that CBD might be a useful treatment for anxiety disorders, and that’s something that several institutions are currently trying to study.

The recent report suggested that evidence of a link between marijuana and an increased risk of most anxiety disorders was limited.

However, the authors wrote that there is moderate evidence that regular marijuana use is connected to an increased risk of social anxiety. As in other cases, it’s hard to know whether marijuana use causes that increase or people use marijuana because of an increased risk of social anxiety.

The THC content of marijuana across the US has tripled since 1995, according to a large recent study in which researchers reviewed close to 39,000 samples of cannabis. While THC levels hovered around 4%, on average, in 1995, they skyrocketed to roughly 12% in 2014.

Meanwhile, the CBD content in marijuana — the part that’s responsible for many of the drug’s therapeutic effects— has dropped, the researchers found, shifting the ratio of THC to CBD from 14:1 in 1995 to about 80:1 in 2014.

Still, tracking THC potency over time can be tricky. The older a weed sample gets, the more its THC appears to degrade. How it is stored matters too. These two barriers could be interfering somewhat with the metrics on pot’s potency.

In a recent study, scientists used MRI brain scans to get a better picture of the brains of adults who have smoked weed at least four times a week for years.

Compared to people who rarely or never used the drug, the long-term users tended to have a smaller orbitofrontal cortex, a brain region critical for processing emotions and making decisions. But they also had stronger cross-brain connections, which scientists think smokers may develop to compensate.

Still, the study doesn’t show that smoking pot caused certain regions of the brain to shrink; other studies suggest that having a smaller orbitofrontal cortex in the first place could make someone more likely to start smoking.

Most researchers agree that the people most susceptible to brain changes are those who begin using marijuana regularly during adolescence.

Some athletes, especially in certain endurance and adventure sports can boost their athletic performance. This may be because of anti-inflammatory or pain-relieving effects that make it easier to push through a long workout or recover from one.

At the same time, there are ways that marijuana could impair athletic performance, since it affects coordination and motivation, and dulls the body’s natural recovery process.

Without more research, it’s hard to know how marijuana affects athletic performance.

The post Many Proven Benefits Coming From Medical Marijuana appeared first on NHSOF MD.