More Florida Doctors Get Approved to Recommend Medical Marijuana

Over 600 doctors have now taken the required certification courses to recommend medical marijuana in Florida. Some, however, are waiting for federal prohibition to end before issuing recommendations. The course to become certified takes eight hours.

Some of the newly certified doctors have questions about what step is next, according to Orlando Sentinel. The rules for medical marijuana in Florida are still a little hazy for some doctors, so there is a group of physicians simply waiting on clarification of the rules. An internal specialist finds determining the right dosage to be a little challenging.

Dr. Raphael Bones said, “The problem is the lack of research because cannabis was illegal for so long.”

The highest concentration of available doctors for medical marijuana recommendations is in South Florida. The Miami-Dade area has the highest concentration.

Dr. Bones has turned patients away that do not have the symptoms they claim that were seeking medical marijuana recommendations.

The concern over increased teen use remains an issue. At least one addiction specialist does not think that teen use/abuse will be a problem as his patients seeking medical marijuana are adults.

Addiction treatment specialist Zllan Zubkin said, “Almost every patient I’ve seen for medical cannabis – many of them have neurological disorders, cancer, movement disorders – have never smoked marijuana. I don’t think addiction with medical cannabis is going to be a major problem.”