Excited to Learn and Share with Fellow Cannabis Enthusiasts

[drcaplan]

Hello everyone,

I'm Dr. Benjamin Caplan, MD, and I’m thrilled to join this vibrant community of marijuana growers. As a board-certified Family Physician and a leading voice in Cannabis Medicine, I have dedicated over 20 years to the field, passionately advocating for and applying evidence-based care to more than 300,000 medical cannabis patients . Today, I am excited to share my journey, expertise, and resources with all of you.

Background and Education

- Academic journey: Williams College
- Medical training at Tufts University and Boston Medical Center
- Committed to integrating traditional medicine with cannabis therapy

Professional Experience

- Chief Medical Officer at CED Clinic and EO Care, Inc.
- Over 20 years of experience in Medicine
- Applied evidence-based care to a huge number of sequential (longitudinal) medical cannabis patients

Contributions and Achievements

- Curated the world’s largest cannabis research library
- Built a free AI chatbot librarian to translate this large cannabis research library
- Published in premier journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine
- Served as Principal Investigator in multiple cannabis research studies
- Currently host Doctor Approved Cannabis Substack with 120k readers

Publication

- Author of "The Doctor-Approved Cannabis Handbook" currently being distributed by Random House
- Comprehensive guide on clinical cannabis care
- Reflects extensive experience and latest research
- Well-received internationally

Connecting with the Community

- Excited to engage with growers, enthusiasts, and professionals
- Believes in collaboration and shared knowledge to advance the field
- Here to offer insights, answer questions, and learn from your experiences

Resources and Engagement

- My book: "The Doctor-Approved Cannabis Handbook" (audiobook + paperback) is available at most libraries for free, and everywhere books are sold.
- I have clinical and professional websites for more resources and information - DM if you want them!

Thank you for welcoming me into this community. I look forward to contributing to our collective knowledge and supporting each of you on your cannabis-growing journey.

Warm regards,

Dr. Benjamin Caplan, MD

 

[RosterMan]

Do you use MJ, and are you a Grower?

 

[RosterMan]

Hey Doc What is your thoughts on smoking cannabis and the effects on one's heart?

 

[drcaplan]

Both use and grow - although I am, ironically, a terrible grower. Just no time to give plants their proper love!

My mission is to share evidence-based knowledge about cannabis, both mine and others'. I have a YT channel, for example, where I share 5 totally free How-To-Grow Seminars. The more growers, and the more we can all learn together, I think the better off humanity will be!

 

[drcaplan]

Hey Doc What is your thoughts on smoking cannabis and the effects on one's heart?

If you'll forgive retyping my thoughts - because I tend to talk (and type) too much... I published a whole blog on the topic of cannabis & heart health: https://cedclinic.com/cannabis-cardiovascular-risk-impact/

The TL;DR is basically that the debate on "Cannabis Cardiovascular Risk" is complex and often oversimplified by media. While THC may impact cardiovascular health, other cannabis components like CBD might offer benefits. Balanced reporting is crucial to reflect the nuanced scientific findings. Sensationalist journalism can mislead readers, emphasizing the need for rigorous, comprehensive studies and informed discussions. Understanding the role of nitric oxide in vascular health is key to grasping cannabis's true impact on the heart.

hope that helps!

 

[RosterMan]

Welcome, about time a doctor thought the way we do here about Mother Natures Miricle cure.
Glad to have you aboard the Passion. Look forward to your further communications .

 

[drcaplan]

Thanks! I grew up (and was trained) to be quite the studious square, but it was my patients who taught me the value of cannabis and it was thanks to them that I turned my whole career around - so folks who have experience ad talk to their doctors really CAN make a difference - consider the thousands of people my book and newsletter now reach - all of that wouldn't have been possible if my patients hadn't been open and honest with me!

 

[RosterMan]

My Doc is so Uptight about everything, if I told him I consume any type of cannabis he would most likely say it is bad and for me to stop. If I said no he would not be my doc any longer. He has a 2 yr waiting list to see him.

 

[Oscarzuma]

In Ohio, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals control almost all health-care. Virtually all md's are affiliated with one or the other. Neither will permit their doctors having anything to do with cannabis due to the federal prohibition. Is there any hope for the medical establishment adopting a sane approach to marijuana in my lifetime?

 

[drcaplan]

My Doc is so Uptight about everything, if I told him I consume any type of cannabis he would most likely say it is bad and for me to stop. If I said no he would not be my doc any longer. He has a 2 yr waiting list to see him.

ug- I'm sorry to hear that, although I know this is all too common. Docs (including me!) weren't taught anything about it in medical school, and when anyone does discover the truth (that the endocannabinoid system is the most widespread communication system in the body), it's just insane that this isn't a mainstream component of all medical care. Imagine - when this gets up the chain... there is a LOT of blood on the hands of professionals that ate the Bologna sandwich that we were all fed growing up.

That's one of the strong points of my book - to show the public about the benefits, and also to reach out to doctors, to give them a way to support patients, because most healthcare providers are not ready to help patients with cannabis - they themselves don't have knowledge or experience either.

 

[Jan Borrego]

Welcome

 

[drcaplan]

In Ohio, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals control almost all health-care. Virtually all md's are affiliated with one or the other. Neither will permit their doctors having anything to do with cannabis due to the federal prohibition. Is there any hope for the medical establishment adopting a sane approach to marijuana in my lifetime?

Actually, this is a common misunderstanding. There is nothing about being a doctor that prevents any MDs from engaging with cannabis. To the contrary, there is an ethical obligation to support patients with the safest, most effective treatments available - AND an ethical obligation to learn what "new" treatments (or ancient in this case) might be available too. Doctors, from my point of view, have been shirking their ethical duties.

There may be agreements that doctors sign with their employers that compel them NOT to engage with cannabis - that's reasonable, but those policies should/must be changing soon, as states legalize and become less ignorant of cannabis.

There are also some nursing rules that forbid doctors from engaging with cannabis. Nursing licenses, for example, prevent them from administering substances that are schedule 1 substances. Because they can't touch it, then doctors might be able to recommend it, but the nurses wouldn't be able to give it. Something to that effect, if that makes sense.

Short version - I've dedicated my career to improving sensible education and knowledge about cannabis. So far, I have a growing platform, and I'm reaching more and more people with a sane approach to cannabis. I'm not a cannabis cheerleader, I'm certainly not in the pocket of any big corporations or whatever - I'm just a studious nerd who sees the truth about plant medicine. I believe in evidence-based Medicine, and I'm open-minded to read the published benefits as well as the published concerns about cannabis. Sadly, most healthcare providers merely look for the harms (and they rarely question how well those studies were done).

 

[Oscarzuma]

There may be agreements that doctors sign with their employers that compel them NOT to engage with cannabis

Ah, but there's the rub. The leading medical chains (and they've swallowed up virtually all of the private practices in Ohio) won't publicly have anything to do with cannabis currently. We're leaving the dark ages, but exceedingly slowly. It's like if medicine is fun, it must be bad for you. I have great docs, but they are handcuffed in respect to this.

 

[greenmobster440]

Welcome aboard, interesting thread.

 

[Jan Borrego]

Welcome

 

[Thomas81]

Welcome to the passion.

 

[Flower]

Welcome to MP, I hope you hang around.
I am curious to see what your brings to this site.

 

[KGBSkunky]

If you'll forgive retyping my thoughts - because I tend to talk (and type) too much... I published a whole blog on the topic of cannabis & heart health: https://cedclinic.com/cannabis-cardiovascular-risk-impact/

The TL;DR is basically that the debate on "Cannabis Cardiovascular Risk" is complex and often oversimplified by media. While THC may impact cardiovascular health, other cannabis components like CBD might offer benefits. Balanced reporting is crucial to reflect the nuanced scientific findings. Sensationalist journalism can mislead readers, emphasizing the need for rigorous, comprehensive studies and informed discussions. Understanding the role of nitric oxide in vascular health is key to grasping cannabis's true impact on the heart.

hope that helps!

It’s not really about cannabis it’s more about plaque buildup. Anyone with plaque buildup has a greater chance of a heart attack or stroke using cannabis because when you get high your blood vessels shrink slightly. To me that would imply a possible dislocation of plaque which could trigger a cardiovascular or stroke situation.

 

[RosterMan]

So Doctor Tell us the truth of what you know about the Covid Lie.