Portland MS Society Hosts First MMJ Symposium

The MS Society of Portland hosted its first medical cannabis symposium on April 6, 2014 at the Roseland Theater. This afternoon’s event was sponsored by the National Cannabis Coalition along with a variety of canna-businesses that have emerged to help potential patients navigate through Oregon’s medical cannabis program.

The symposium was well-attended, especially for a sunny Sunday afternoon. Candice Hayes, the Executive Director of the MS Society, started off the event with a disclaimer that I was not really surprised to hear.

“The MSSP is providing this event as an educational symposium. The views and information given are not endorsed or necessarily represent the views of MSSP, its staff or Board of Directors. Each speaker is solely responsible for the accuracy of their presentation. See your medical professionals for medical advice.”

The first two speakers were patients, Brian and Paula. Both are parents who struggled to address their symptoms with a variety of pills and prescription medications before turning to cannabis. Brian used cannabis to wean himself off pills after spending a year in bed and sleeping twenty hours a day. He was back to work in just two weeks, and many symptoms were alleviated just from the switch to cannabis.

Both patients talked about the importance of rest, diet and exercise as part of their regimens to treat their MS. At this point, Brian uses these and cannabis without additional prescription medication to treat his MS. Paula keeps her cannabis with her other medications and finds that she sleeps well and has a good appetite since she has added cannabis to her care.

While both talked about the importance of being open and honest about their treatment choices with family, they also described the stigma they have experienced. Paula struggles more, as she comes from a very conservative family. She says that the worst thing about using cannabis is that stigma. Brian says, “Being able to play on the floor with my children is priceless.”

Some of the remaining presenters had businesses to promote and tailored their presentations to tout how their product or dispensary caters to MS patients by offering high CBD options, edibles and more. They all hope to appeal to a broader audience by making cannabis more appealing as a treatment option.

Dr. Kenneth Welker of Oregon Optimal Health was enthusiastic and energetic with his presentation. He claims that, prior to his recent discovery of how cannabis works, he would not expect it to have much effect. He decided to educate himself and shares his new found knowledge with excitement and vigor. I missed the part where he told us what made him decide to research cannabis, but I am glad he did regardless of the reason. He has completely changed his thinking about cannabis and now believes that, “By age forty, we should all be using cannabinoids to balance our endo-cannabinoid systems.”

The speakers who followed were attorneys who help canna-businesses run the gamut of laws and regulations required to make a business legit. Geoff Sugarman is a political consultant and owner of New Economy Consulting who helped write the medical marijuana law and the law that became the state’s new dispensary rules.

Amy Margolis has been representing cannabis cases for thirteen years. Her focus has been to keep growers safe and out of jail. She is also part of the dispensary rules committee for Oregon. Michael Mangen is involved with the business end of the industry. He helps with tax issues and other business issues that Oregon’s new dispensaries will face.

Overall, there was good information available at this event. Most of the sponsors had information tables available in the lobby.

A newly licensed dispensary, Rosebud Wellness had staff on hand to talk about what they offer. I chatted with Sean, who was very excited that they had been approved. He reported that they filed online and that the process was painstaking. He also said that it took a month for them to hear back from the state after they applied, and it was the longest month he had ever experienced. They are clearly proud to have made it through the process and proud to be able to provide for patients in Portland.

That was the overall vibe of the afternoon – support for patients without the stigma.