You May Want to Rethink the Use of Medical Marijuana

Are you suffering from a condition that lends the option to use marijuana for medical treatment? As helpful as it may be, there may be a new reason to think twice about using the substance. While there are now a dozen states that offer the substance for medical use, patients have recently been denied organ transplants because of their previous use of the drug, even though it may have been legally obtained and approved for treatment.

Timothy Garan, a 56-year-old musician, was removed from an organ recipient list because of his use of and dependency on marijuana, as well as other medical conditions. Some feel marijuana use could potentially prevent the organ transplant from being a success. His family physician had been prescribing the drug for pain relief, to help with his appetite, and as a sleep aid. Ganan is suffering from Hepatitis C which destroys a patient's liver. There is no guarantee that a new liver would not eventually be infected with Hepatitis.

It seems that when a transplant committee is determining who to place on the transplant list there are very high standards. One of those is to consider the patient's likeliness of alcohol or drug use, along with a host of other factors such as if the patient has other health problems. Alcohol can contribute to many liver problems, while drug use could potentially hinder the transplant recipient's recovery.

A hospital transplant committee must consider the whole picture in determining the best choice for a recipient. In this case, they didn't only consider the fact that Garan had grown dependent on the drug, but had to consider his other medical conditions.

Given the combination of these two factors, in addition to his failing liver, his chances of a successful surgery were questioned, and therefore the liver may not have been used for the best benefits.

The nation's transplant system is run by The United Network for Organ Sharing, but they leave it up to the individual hospitals to determine the parameters around transplant candidates for their hospitals. Since marijuana has now been legalized by twelve states for medical use, but is still illegal by federal law, hospital committees have new hurdles to think through when setting their standards for the organ donation system. They must decide parameters around the situation of someone having used marijuana prescribed by a doctor and whether this will count against them when being chosen for transplant surgery.

Transplant recipients usually have to take medications to suppress their immune systems to help prevent infections. Marijuana seems to affect the immune system and could potentially make someone more likely to develop infections, one of the main causes of death in transplant recipients. Patients suffering from liver failure may retain marijuana for a longer time because of the failing state of their liver. The liver is a filter that removes substances from the body. When someone has a failing liver this could potentially lead to the drug staying in the body for days. Marijuana is a natural substance and has several side effects, such as sleepiness, and effects memory. Due to the drug being a natural substance it could potentially carry germs such as aspergillosis, a fungus that has the potential to cause pneumonia.

There have been situations where some hospitals' organ donation committee has rejected applications where there are signs of substance abuse regardless of the reason. However, there are some that would allow six months of non-use and then will allow a patient to reapply. Currently there are about 98,000 patients on the organ transplant waiting list and only 6,000 receive transplants annually.

Hospitals feel that if someone were using a substance drug, even if marijuana is one of the least addictive drugs, it may be difficult for patients to no longer use the substance after transplant surgery. Use of the substance after surgery may harm the new organ and affect the way that a patient's body reacts to the transplant. While it is hard for patients who are being denied transplants due to their past or present use of drugs, hospital committees have a hard task to determine the best scenario for an organ. They must consider all aspects of situations and choose the best candidate for each organ.