Dr Yernush Naidoo,  better known at his Umhlanga practice as Dr Y Wellness, has encouraged doctors unfamiliar with cannabis to find out more as there was a growing demand in South Africa for medical cannabis treatments.

He urged practitioners not be scared of engaging with SAHPRA to register patients under Section 21 of the Medicines Act which allows high THC cannabis (Schedule 6) and CBD (Schedule 0) to be prescribed for certain health conditions.

He told doctors and other health professionals during a Cheeba Medical Cannabis Webinar on 4 March 2024 that mainstream doctors should position themselves to meet this demand by first understanding the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

“Think of it as a traffic officer directing energy across the body” he said. The ECS regulates many body functions, including pain management, mood, memory and appetite. It consist of endocannabinoids, cannabinoid receptors and enzymes that breakdown the compounds to ensure a state of natural balance, or stasis.

He said once doctors understood how cannabinoids affected different parts of the body it would give them a grounding to enter the medical cannabis space.

Dr Naidoo said the onus rested on doctors to ensure they had the services of a registered pharmacist or legitimate medical cannabis service provider to ensure fulfilment of prescriptions which are offered on a six month basis once the patient is registered with SAHPRA.

He said a thorough assessment of prospective cannabis patients was required to ensure they did not have a history of psychotic episodes or were trying to acquire cannabis for recreational purposes.

Dr Naidoo warned that there were a lot of illicit operators in the cannabis market and that doctors had to be careful they weren’t being manipulated into mass prescriptions.

“I know of a case where prescriptions were being used to buy cannabis for resale on the black market” he said, warning that doctors should not be “led astray by the illicit market “where there were many “get-rich quick” schemes on offer.

He said that misusing Section 21 would lead to censure from SAHPRA and being struck off the medical register.

Nonetheless, he said SAHPRA allowed a fair latitude with the 10 conditions it recognized for treatment using cannabis prescribed via Section 21. These are:

1. Pain

2. Anxiety

3. Social anxiety

4. Insomnia

5. Epilepsy

6. Nausea/vomiting

7. HIV-related wasting

8. Muscular sclerosis

9. Fybromyalgia

10. PTSD

    
    

Dr Naidoo said the majority of patients he dealt with wanted cannabis to use n pain management. He said that anxiety, especially social anxiety, was another big driver in demand.

Check out the Dr Y’s You Tube Webinar with Cheeba here