EDMOND, Okla. – Natural Remedy MD of Oklahoma has started evaluating patients on medical marijuana licenses just a few days after the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority posted their application forms.
“Pain, I would say, is one probably of the main things. Pain, and PTSD and some other psychiatric conditions tend to be big ones,” said Dr. Amanda River, MD, MPH.
River is a full-time ER doctor. For a while, though, her main job will be at the new clinic evaluating patients for medical marijuana.
They started taking patients on Monday, and the phones haven’t stopped ringing. People are hoping to cure their ailments with medical marijuana.
“So, I discuss with different patients different strains and different THC and CBD ratios,” River said.
River said they are the first clinic to open for medical marijuana evaluations in the metro. Most of the appointments are about educating Oklahomans on medical marijuana.
“Right now, all we can really do is issue a blanket recommendation and then suggest the type that might be helpful for them,” she said.
River has a background in Oregon where medical marijuana licenses have been issued for years. There, she saw how much patients benefited.
“Folks who were on opiates and folks who were on benzodiazepine here in Oklahoma tends to be quite a lot higher than the folks I saw in Oregon. A lot of it was folks there used medical marijuana for their different medical conditions,” she said.
“I’m glad that we do have some doctors that are open minded to use this approach, and it’s only begun,” said Hector Najar, CEO of Herban Mother Cannabis Dispensary.
Najar plans to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Oklahoma. He worked at one in California.
“Medical marijuana dispensaries were very controlled environments, so they would actually buzz you into the next waiting room and then you’d wait your turn for the next available budtender,” Najar said.
It will take months, though, before a facility is fully operational.
For more information, visit omma.ok.gov/.
