Cannabis Nurses Magazine – Lab Testing and Safety Edition (English Edition)

In this issue, Cannabis Nurses Magazine March/April 2016 focuses on: Cannabis Safety. Having a clear understanding of what to look for when it comes to safety standards in cannabis products is pertinent to a patient’s health and healing as they are being guided through the many tasks and challenges in learning that medical cannabis can bring. First, we hear from Chief Science Officer of DigiPath Labs, Dr. Cindy Orser, who was seen lecturing at The 2016 Emerald Lab Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada and she and her team are known for creating a replicable testing environment with validated protocols to ensure cannabis and cannabis-based products are safe for patients. Standardized testing is a viable and a necessary process to ensure patients and recreational users are kept safe from the multitude of factors and obstacles that can damage or destroy the integrity of medical cannabis and in even some cases create further issues to a sick and immune-compromised patient. Therefore, testing is pertinent to ensure safety of cannabis products and that national standards of testing are created across the nation- currently they are unequal. Nurse Heather Manus then leads us to a discussion about being “More than Just a Nurse” and how important it is for us to speak up for our patients. It is Nurses who are able to create change in medicine. We are the voice for patients. Patients who use Cannabinoid Therapeutics are more than “just a cannabis patient,” and nurses who care for these patients are more than “just a nurse”. We are Cannabis Nurses: Caring, Compassionate, and Intelligent Nurses. We deeply understand that EVERY Patient Deserves a Nurse. We also cover the importance of making sure you have your patients “Just Ask”. Teaching your patients to ask the dispensary and/or retail seller what is in their products- have them provide a list of ingredients- to examine prior to consumption, to assure proper dosing, proper strain selection, and that the products are tested properly and safe for consumption. It is your right to know what goes into your body and it is up to you to advocate for your patients and assure that products are safe to consume. When I look at cannabis production and testing across the nation - it being unequal- I wonder how we got into this mess. Many times when I am faced with adversity in nursing I look to my mentor, Florence Nightingale. I stop and examine and look closely at what she would do if she were here practicing nursing in today’s time in the world of cannabis prohibition. What lessons in nursing did she leave us to use as we walk the roadmap for our future generations? Nightingale’s experiences in nursing demonstrated to her the value of advocating for nurses and patients. She embraced an egalitarian value system and utilized leadership techniques to create change in nursing. She believed all nurses are leaders by virtue of assuming the role of a nurse. Nursing has never been simple, nor is serving as a patient advocate. However, nursing has embraced advocacy as a professional construct. Advocacy includes a complex interaction between nurses, patients, professional colleagues, and the public. It is our duty to assure that ALL patient’s needs are met even if it goes against societal stigmas, rules and regulations that prohibit us from its use. It is our duty as medical providers – especially nurses- to get involved and be the voice for patients to create true change for whole healing. And, by doing so we will ultimately keep them safe.