Advocates for the legalization of medical and retail marijuana are quick to point out all the possible benefits that a community might see from such a venture. These include increased jobs, increased tax revenue, possible medical benefits and they adve…
We learn about it in school as a formula. There is a checklist that we are given, and we ask our patients these eight questions and then calculate whether or not they have depression. It’s so simple. Anyone can do it! I never once thought that I would …
Marijuana has been used for reported medical purposes for thousands of years when the plant had THC content of 0.5 to 3%. The most common reported medical use is for pain. Several states and the District of Columbia have some form of legalized marijuan…
The day is etched in my memory. The knock at the door. Two detectives and one police officer. I knew the news was bad. We sat at our dinner table, and the dreaded words came: “Your daughter is dead.” “How?” I asked. “She hung herself during the night.”…
An excerpt from The Medical Marijuana Guide: Cannabis and Your Health. Despite the fact that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services applied for a patent on cannabinoids as neuroprotectants and antioxidants in 1999 and was granted that patent …
I sat knee-to-knee with a nurse practitioner at a school-based clinic in rural Ohio. Choking back tears, she described a patient she couldn’t get out of her head: a middle-school girl, accompanied by her mother and a social worker. Just days prior, the…
An excerpt from Please Don’t Die. While I was still writing this book, a local doctor killed himself. This was a younger psychiatrist with a successful practice, leaving three children after shooting himself in the head. What do you imagine his…
An excerpt from The Science of Near-Death Experiences. Near-death experiences are an ancient and very common phenomenon that spans from ancient philosophy, religion, and healing to the most modern clinical practice of medicine. Modern advances in medic…
With over 22 million page views for the year, thank you for making 2018 such a success. KevinMD continues to be the web’s leading platform that highlights the voice of the many who intersect with our health care system, but are rarely heard elsew…
America in 2018: 307 mass shootings in 311 days. Recently, a veteran with presumed PTSD shot up Borderline Bar & Grill. His Facebook declaration: I hope people call me insane… (laughing emojis).. wouldn’t that just be a big ball of irony? Yeah.. I’…
