SWC Arizona

Setting the standard in care for medical marijuana in Arizona.

columbiacare

Holiday Food Drive at SWC Prescott

This holiday season, we hope you’ll join us in giving back to the community and helping those in need. We’re excited to announce this year’s SWC Prescott Holiday Food Drive, supporting the Yavapai County Food Bank. To show our appreciation for your support, we’ll give you $5 off your purchase for every 5 canned goods or nonperishable items you donate between now and 11/20. Suggested items include:
  • Thanksgiving Fixings:
    • Baked goods
    • Boxed potatoes
    • Canned vegetables
    • Coffee & tea
    • Cranberry sauce
    • Gravy (packets, can, jar)
  • Everyday needs
    • Beans (dry or canned)
    • Peanut butter & jelly
    • Stews and chili
    • Tuna & chicken (cans)
    • Canned vegetables
    • Ravioli & spaghetti (cans)
    • Pasta & rice
    • Cereal & oatmeal
    • Fruit & veggie (cans)
    • Condiments & marinades
    • Baby food
    • Gluten free foods
Thanks so much for helping us help others. We’re excited for the holiday season and we look forward to seeing you soon.

College Students Can Now Major in Medical Marijuana

medical marijuana major AZ dispensaryAs regulated medical marijuana programs continue to expand around the country, the next generation of cannabis professionals are eager to develop the skills necessary to succeed in the industry. Although a number of cannabis-focused training programs have emerged, there hasn’t been an undergraduate degree available in the medical cannabis field until now. Washington Post reports on the first-ever medical marijuana major, offered by Northern Michigan University:
The program, Medicinal Plant Chemistry, is the first program to offer a 4-year undergraduate degree focusing on marijuana, according to Brandon Canfield, the associate professor of chemistry who started the program. “When my friends hear what my major is, there are a lot of people who laugh and say, ‘wow. Cool dude. You’re going to get a degree growing marijuana,’” Roth told The Washington Post. “But it’s not an easy degree at all.” The former environmental studies major won’t be getting high in class or growing his own plants. Instead, his required courses include tough subjects such as organic chemistry, plant physiology, botany, accounting, genetics, physical geography and financial management.
Given the wide range of challenging tasks our team performs each day, we have no doubt that a well-designed curriculum in the cannabis field would be quite rigorous. Although interest in medical cannabis careers has increased dramatically in recent years, some may not realize the complexity of the skill sets necessary to operate a professional cannabis business. Advanced technology, high-level retail management, and sophisticated security protocols just scratch the surface of the multi-disciplinary expertise many positions in this field require. As state-regulated programs around the country continue to redefine best practices for patient care in the cannabis industry, demand for quality academic programs focused on cannabis is likely to increase substantially. Public support for medical marijuana is at an all-time high and it would be wise for educational institutions to expect that some of their brightest students will be eager to explore this exciting field as part of their career planning. Read More: Finding Employment in the Medical Marijuana Industry

Study Finds Many Cancer Patients Use Medical Marijuana But Want More Information

cannabis cancer AZA recently published study highlights some very interesting data about the use of medical marijuana in cancer treatment:
One of the most well-known purported uses for medical marijuana is to alleviate symptoms related to cancer treatment, and a new study finds that use of the drug among cancer patients is not uncommon. In the study, which included more than 900 cancer patients in Seattle, nearly one-quarter reported using medical marijuana in the past year. In addition, almost all the participants said they wanted to learn more about medical marijuana, according to the study, published today (Sept. 25) in the journal Cancer. [LiveScience]
On the surface, the researchers’ findings may seem intuitive. It’s well-known that many cancer patients have turned to medical marijuana for help alleviating their symptoms and cancer ranks among the most widely approved qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in states where its use is legal. Further, it comes as no surprise that patients treating a serious condition with a complex range of symptoms would be eager to learn more about any available treatment option. The study’s results, however, also point towards a couple important topics in the broader discussion surrounding medical marijuana’s role in promoting public health. First, the authors report that “Legalization significantly increased the likelihood of use in more than half of the respondents,” demonstrating the importance of regulated medical marijuana programs in making this treatment option available to patients in need. The ability to access quality-controlled products in a safe and secure environment has long been a priority for patients considering cannabis as a treatment option. Efforts to establish responsibly run medical marijuana programs will continue to expand access for these patients and it’s important for all stakeholders to understand the critical role such programs play in ensuring that anyone living with a serious illness has this option available to them. It’s also interesting to note the significant percentage of patients who stated that they’d appreciate receiving more information about medical cannabis from their doctors. The researchers stated that “Cancer patients desire but are not receiving information about cannabis use during their treatment from oncology providers.” This finding is consistent with the experiences many patients have shared with us regarding the difficulty of finding medical practitioners who are familiar with medical cannabis treatment. We’ve certainly had the pleasure of getting to know many superb physicians who’ve worked to educate their patients about cannabis, but it’s true that some practitioners have more experience in this area than others. This issue highlights the importance of expanding clinical research so that all medical practitioners have access to extensive empirical data that informs the guidance they provide to patients. Collaboration between cannabis providers and healthcare institutions can also play an important role in bridging knowledge gaps where they exist and ensuring that all patients receive comprehensive information upon which to base their treatment decisions. Columbia Care is already developing such partnerships and we believe our efforts will play an important role in advancing cannabis science to better serve patients and practitioners in the years to come.

New Yorkers with chronic pain will soon be able to treat it with medical marijuana

Published on Crain’s New York Business By

Adding chronic pain to the list of health conditions approved for cannabis treatment could help the state’s nascent industry and offer an alternative to opioids

New Yorkers suffering from chronic pain will soon be able to treat it with medical marijuana, the state Health Department announced Thursday.

Adding chronic pain to the list of health conditions approved for cannabis treatment in New York could expand the market here, as it has in several other states. But just how much the nascent industry will benefit depends on how the state defines the condition.

Officials are still working on the specific regulations, which will be published for public comment shortly, the Health Department said.

Meanwhile, both patient advocates and cannabis executives are celebrating the decision.

“We know a lot of people have been waiting for this,” said Chris Alexander, the policy coordinator for the New York Drug Policy Alliance, which has lobbied to improve patient access to cannabis.

Along with other changes the state recently announced to improve access to medical marijuana, this move indicates health officials have been listening to people’s concerns, Alexander said. “Really, it just shows that there’s still a commitment to making this thing work.”

The move may put the state’s financially shaky cannabis companies on better footing.

Vireo Health, a company that has cannabis licenses in New York and Minnesota, has yet to turn a profit in either state. But it saw its customer base triple in Minnesota when chronic-pain patients in that state became eligible to purchase the drug in August, said Dr. Kyle Kingsley, the company’s chief executive.

Kingsley said he expects the increase in patient volume in New York to be even greater because the program, which has enrolled 10,730 people since launching in January, has caught on more quickly here than in Minnesota.

Kingsley said he hopes that greater patient volume will also allow him to reduce the price of cannabis in both states, but that hasn’t been the case yet in Minnesota.

“The general rule of thumb is a company should be profitable before prices come down,” said Kingsley.

Most medical marijuana states that include chronic pain as an eligible condition both enroll more patients and see the average patient spend more on cannabis each month than the other medical marijuana states, according to an analysis by research firm Greenwave Advisors. If permitting doctors to prescribe marijuana for chronic pain has a similar impact here as it did in Colorado, New York could enroll an additional 350,000 to 450,000 cannabis patients, said Matt Karnes, managing partner of the firm. But, he added, it will likely take several years to see that growth.

“By the time everything ramps up, we’ll have a recreational market anyway,” Karnes predicted, suggesting New York and other states in the region will approve recreational use, as Massachusetts voters did in November.

Cannabis executives in New York are hoping that the move will also help promote cannabis as an alternative to opioids.

“The main reason a lot of our team of professionals and physicians stepped into this realm was to fight the war on opioids, and the inclusion of chronic pain allows us to directly fight opioids in New York,” said Kingsley.

Nicholas Vita, chief executive of the cannabis company Columbia Care, said he hopes to establish a coordinated effort between the licensed companies in New York to study the effects of marijuana on chronic pain and opioid use. Anecdotally, Vita said the company has observed that many of its customers in other states it operates in where chronic pain is listed as a qualifying condition have stopped using opioids.

A 2015 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that states where medical marijuana is legal have seen a greater reduction in opioid addiction and overdose deaths compared with states where it’s not legal.

With the addition of chronic pain, a total of 11 health conditions are now eligible for treatment with medical marijuana in New York, including HIV/AIDS, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. The state has considered adding other health conditions to the list, including muscular dystrophy, dystonia, post-traumatic stress disorder and rheumatoid arthritis, but has yet to find enough scientific evidence to do so, the state Health Department said.

Check out our new loyalty app and start earning points today!
iPhone Android