Medical Marijuana Patient Services

A message from the Founder – Laurie Vollen, M.D., MPH

The Times They Are a-Changin’
(Bob Dylan, 1964)

As we move into a new era, with the advent of recreational marijuana in the state of California slated for 2018, Naturally Healing MD looks forward to this change as an opportunity to refocus on its real passion: helping patients develop a safe and effective medicinal marijuana practice. And I look forward to working with patients who come to Naturally Healing MD, not because they have to, but because they want to.

Since 1996, California’s Proposition 215 required medical marijuana patients to obtain a physician recommendation in order to get access to authorized medical marijuana dispensaries. Beginning in 2018, a new piece of legislation, Proposition 64, passed in 2016, will provide marijuana access to all adults (age 21 or older) through so-called “recreational” dispensaries, slated to open sometime in 2018.

With the implementation of Proposition 64 and the opening of recreational Marijuana dispensaries, many users will skip the doctors visit and head straight to the dispensary.

Truth be told, I was never thrilled with my role in the old Proposition 215 framework. Most patients came to see me for the sole purpose of qualifying for legal access under California Proposition 215, not for what I think they most needed: expert guidance on using marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Over the years, I have tried to address the need for medical guidance within the confines of Proposition 215, where patients typically see a physician briefly once per year. But infrequent visits for a primarily administrative purpose limited the impact Naturally Healing MD could have on helping patients effectively use cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Now, in anticipation of the change, we are beginning to align our services with our underlying passion to provide guidance. New services are now being offered, geared toward both “Cannabis-Naive” patients, like the First Time Package, and veteran users, like the Micro-Dosing Methods and Cannabis Chemovars classes. And for those who wish to maintain their medical marijuana status under Proposition 215, we will continue to issue physician recommendations!

This is the Big Bang Era of Marijuana – rapid expansion of business, product, and marketplace – with an overwhelming emphasis on recreating or “getting high.” Finding a path to effective medicinal marijuana has always been challenging and may become even more so in the future. Naturally Healing MD is dedicated to helping patients on that path by providing the support they need to learn to use medicinal marijuana effectively.