Medicann Patient Spotlight – Adam’s Journey
- Name: Adam Martel
- Condition: Pain
- Local clinic: Medicann Guernsey
Tell us about your condition.
“I am prescribed cannabis to help with pain management, sleep regulation, appetite and mainly as an alternative to opiate-based medicines, following a long-term addiction.” Have you tried traditional drugs prescribed by the doctors? “Yes over the past 25 plus years tried many ‘traditionally’ prescribed medicines from GP surgeries for mainly pain-related issues.”
How did you feel when you didn’t get the help you needed traditionally?
“To be honest after using traditional medicines for a number of years, I felt I was more addicted to them when I was 28-35 years old. The prescribing practitioner was happy to continue signing off prescriptions with no real welfare care, making them more addictable long term.” “Eventually I managed to stop using opiates in full back in 2015, after reducing prescription each month over a six-month period and decided to try and manage pain and related symptoms using natural medicines, including cannabis use (before legally available to patients within the Channel Islands). “
How did you come to learn about medicinal cannabis?
“I was aware of medical cannabis since around about 2016 when I saw some US states starting to introduce it for qualifying patients, and my interest grew from there. Since 2018 along with other islanders, we started lobbying for medical cannabis to be made available here, especially after the UK had also got on board and made it accessible to qualifying patients.”
Is being with Medicann your first experience with medicinal cannabis?
“Originally I was using a UK-based Clinic and associated pharmacy as there were no local options on the island and having consultations every 2-3 months. This was fine however, it was a little slow in the process of getting the relevant import and export licence, so the medication could be dispatched with all the correct paperwork.” What were your initial thoughts about medicinal cannabis? “Using cannabis as legal medicine has had so many benefits for me. Better pain management control, sleep pattern, appetite and generally better overall health and well-being. Now it’s part of my day-to-day life.
Looking forward to months and years ahead. I think there is more to be done from cultivators and associated partners to continue to bring good products to market, as medicine, and be able to offer great medicine at an affordable price to all.”
How did you find your experience with Medicann?
“When Medicann announced they were opening a clinic in Guernsey and patients could have face-to-face consultations, I immediately signed up. Since switching to Medicann over two years ago, the whole process of collecting prescribed medication and follow-ups has become so much easier and the choice of available medication from cultivators has also increased, providing more options for patients, and I have now been a patient for 2 years. Anyone looking into choosing cannabis as an alternative medicine (providing they are eligible), I Would recommend they get in touch with the Medicann team.”
Do you suffer from a condition like Adams’s? See if you could manage this better with medicinal cannabis and guidance from a Medicann consultant by completing our eligibility form.
