#Herb & Hospice: How Medical Marijuana Is Helping End-Of-Life Care

While medical and recreational cannabis are currently legal in 33 U.S. states and the nation’s capital, it still remains illegal at the federal level, fostering fears of punishment for professionals within the medical establishment who may want to prescribe cannabis as a medication. Cannabis’ federal illegality not only deters discussions between doctors and patients seeking relief for various ailments, but it also greatly limits scientific research that could help assist medical experts seeking to determine cannabis’ efficacy as a treatment for certain disorders. Hospice patients and those receiving end-of-life care — a group who could arguably greatly benefit from medicinal cannabis use — are often times uninformed about the plant’s therapeutic properties, because their doctors, nurses, and other medical staffers are often hesitant to speak with patients about the advantages and risks of consuming cannabis.

“As an administrator, I can tell you it’s not that we’re not allowed to talk about the use of cannabis, but there’s a fear that the federal funding [Medicare and Social Security] could be pulled, so we just don’t know what we can and can’t talk about. But as a nurse, I feel it’s our duty to advocate for any healing measure for the patient,” says Lance Pool, the main Registered Nurse at Stoneybrook Assisted Living in Corvallis, Oregon. “I’d fear losing my job if I spoke about it… many places I’ve worked would terminate you on the spot if you spoke about cannabis use.”

Armed with a desire to create change in their fields, Lance and his wife Cydney, who is a death doula (someone who assists individuals and their families in the dying process by offering physical, mental, and emotional support, similar to a birth doula), created Treewise Holistic Nursing Services, a company designed to meet the needs of elderly patients and those seeking end-of-life care with the help of cannabis as medicine. “Some of my friends who are administrators in nursing homes and assisted living [facilities] said what they really needed was an outside consultant who they could refer people who have questions about cannabis to… so that’s how Treewise got started,” says Pool. “There are a lot of elderly folks who have questions, and we’re there to answer them as an outside source.”

Treewise offers private consultation to senior citizens who are curious about or need help using cannabis for various ailments. “State regulation requires that the facilities provide for the ‘holistic’ needs of their residents… There are several ways that facilities can [do that with cannabis medications]: they can assign a "caregiver" to visit the dispensary for their residents, [or] the dispensary can "deliver" to the facility. We are licensed as a patient and [a] grower, so we can provide any of these services,” explains Pool. Although they do not sell cannabis to patients, they assist in administering it, advising, and coordinating care and communication between patients and their caregivers. “We are new to Oregon, so we are building a client base and growing our own medicine,” says Pool. “It is nice to be in a legal state where our professional licenses are relatively safe. Federal prohibition has never held us back — we are doing exactly what we want to do and always have, but federal prohibition is holding our elders back from the ‘holistic’ benefits of nature’s medicine.”

Jennifer Rosenthal Iverson, an attorney specializing in medical marijuana in Monterey, California, explains why assisted living facilities may be apprehensive to get on board with medical marijuana despite it being legal at the state level since 1996: “In California, any entity receiving federal funding is concerned because [cannabis] it's still a Schedule I narcotic. The fear or notion that the federal government will come after an assisted living place is very far off, but if someone is receiving federal subsidies, it would be a concern.” Many hospice companies run into the same dilemmas as nursing facilities — patients who are anxious, in pain, and lacking an appetite who could potentially benefit from cannabis as medicine — and an inability to speak about cannabis for fear of reprimand or loss of federal Medicare and Social Security funding.

Merry Jane