This is supposed to be my medicine

Sorry I know this is a long and stupid rant that won't change anything but I'm upset. Didn't know what to tag this.

I've been in the program for about 3 years. I suffer with multiple chronic illnesses that cause pain, BP/HR issues, and other symptoms. Cannabis is my only pain reliever and can help to level my BP and HR when my meds don't.

Occasionally I like to walk in and ask for a recommendation at the dispensary. Not often just when I'm flaring and need something fast. I hate that almost every time I ask for a recommendation from a budtender they clearly have no idea what to recommend and are bullshitting me.

I literally had a budtender ask me what a terpene is... Once I asked for a hybrid leaning indica bc I can't tolerate sativa leaning hybrids or straight sativas due to my heart. After I smoked I knew something was wrong because my heart rate was 150 laying down. It stayed like that for 4 hours and if I stood up it went to 180. I looked up the COA and sure enough it's was a sativa. Now I check every product.

Like I get it. I really do. I was a budtender myself and Ik you don't really get payed enough to gaf. Or even trained well. Plus most that work in the industry see it more as rec only even if we are med. The thing is I recognized that not everyone fakes some diagnosis to get their card. Some people actually really use this for medicine. It should honestly be the doctors responsibility to educate patients but because they don't it kind of has to fall on the budtenders..

When I started as a budtender I had already done years of research on cannabis, terpenes, and other cannabinoids for my own symptom management as well as my patients in home health.

At the dispensary I worked at we actually had quite a few terminal, pediatric, chronic pain, and cancer patients. Because my store was slow I would often take that time to literally sit down with patients and find a regimen with the proper THC %, terpenes, and mix of cannabinoids. I know this is an unrealistic expectation with our current program and don't expect anyone to do this but I really tried to help.

A lot of budtenders really don't understand how and what to recommend. Granny with arthritis doesn't need 30% flower and potent RSO off the bat when she's never touched THC in her life. Ya kno? I have had coworkers recommend things that wouldn't help or even exacerbate a patients symptoms because instead of saying they aren't sure what to recommend they just give them whatever. They could easily ask a coworker or look at a few terps that could help with that patient's symptoms but nope..

Again I know we aren't medical professionals but I feel at the bare minimum every budtender should have to do a basic course on cannabis.

Two things that really bothered me seeing were CBD and CBN recommendations. Everyone thinks these are harmless cannabinoids but CBD inhibits the bodies abilty to metabolize certain medications and can cause moderate to severe complications. CBN lowers blood pressure and can cause moderate to severe interactions with sedatives, beta blockers, and other medications.

My solution to this would not be to ask every medication a patient is on and play doctor but at the very least give them a heads up that CBD and CBN can interact with many prescription medications and they should check interactions before buying.

I want the program to actually be medical that encompasses patient care. But it's not and it won't be so realistically I just have to accept that.

sigh thanks for reading my useless rant