What happens when a patient receives a terminal diagnosis or a young person is about to be attacked because he is a prisoner of his mind and no medicine can save him? Many people in Peru who have not seen a way out of their anxiety have found quality of life in medical cannabis.
Despite this, Peruvian patients still face a lack of massive access to cannabis in pharmacies in all its forms, as almost four years after a historic law was enacted that allowed a single state to use it so far, it is allowed to use it. sell it.
In addition, the law approved in 2017 allows the plant to be planted, but the General Directorate of Medicines, Supplies and Drugs to date “does not give approvals,” said the president of Cannabis Gotas de Esperanza, Francesca. EFE Brivio.
Hope for serious cases
It is a summer morning in San Juan de Lurigancho, a district of over 1.2 million inhabitants in eastern Lima, and Jorge Padilla, 71, sits in the living room of his house, accompanied by his wife and son, with a good face and fitness
However, two years ago, Padilla was diagnosed with brain cancer after realizing that he was losing his sight in one eye and had trouble walking.
“My father had a prognosis (for life) only six months, the tumor they detected was grade 4, the most aggressive, a super difficult tumor,” his son, Jorge Padilla, told EFE .
A few miles away in the northern Carabayllo neighborhood, Roger Quispe’s 31-year-old family was worried because their youngest child had developed a schizoid personality, in addition to the epilepsy he had suffered since he was 7 years old. .
“He was very serious, he was already schizophrenic, he even grabbed a knife, because he thought I was following him and I had to stop him. All this made me desperate,” his mother, Betty Gamarra, told EFE .
Like many relatives seeking help for their loved ones, Padilla’s son and Quispe’s mother have contacted Brivio, whose organization advises on the use of cannabis for medicinal and therapeutic purposes.
Brivio himself became addicted to cannabis a few years ago, after being diagnosed with mastocytosis, a blood disorder that caused about 60 symptoms and a series of medical treatments, which he gradually stopped.
QUALITY OF LIFE FOR PATIENTS
The change was radical for these people, who benefited from the legalization of cannabis for medicinal and therapeutic use, after a broad campaign of civil associations.
This is the case of Roger, who has been feeling much better since he started taking cannabis oil, has reduced the pills he takes daily and has seen his seizures decrease.
“Since I’ve been taking these drugs, I feel better because at first I was suspicious of people, that I was looking at myself or seeing myself, wanting to suspect something … since I took the oil, I’ve improved,” he said. he. .
His mother added that “the seizure greatly reduced him and especially the psychosis he had.”
Padilla, in turn, has started treatment with cannabis oil in parallel with chemotherapy and feels “normal”, so he says he has overcome the impact of therapy and “discouraging pills”.
“I felt that cannabis was normalizing me, I alleviated those discomforts. I was going to take my tours of the park in the morning, but right now I stopped going out because of the pandemic,” he said.
ON THE MARGIN OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
Max Alzamora, one of the founding doctors of Gotas de Esperanza, told Efe that he began treating his patients a year before the law regulating the medical use of cannabis in Peru was approved, even knowing that they “risk so much much the patient the doctors “who used it.
Despite the adoption of the law, under pressure from organizations such as Brivio, the regulation that implemented it was approved in 2019, but so far only one state pharmacy sells the product in Lima.
“What is currently sold is only in Lima and only the oil is sold (but) leaves the flowers, which in my treatment is important,” said Brivio.
Alzamora warned, in turn, that “you can enter social networks and find cannabis, but it does not mean that it is a good product, because there is no way to control it.”
In this regard, in addition to revealing that planting permits have not yet been granted, Brivio said that the treatment is not covered by health insurance, despite the fact that the regulation authorizes it.
DIFFICULT ACCESS TO CANABI
At least two components of the plant, THC and CBD, have been extensively studied and, in the first, the analgesic, anti-nausea and antitumor effect has been demonstrated, Alzamora added.
“CBD is the non-euphoric component, which has an anticonvulsant, anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic, antidepressant action, improves fine motor coordination, balance and a high dose could condition sleep,” said the specialist.
The doctor uses both components in different concentrations, from all parts of the plant, to treat his patients according to their diagnosis and can also be administered in oil, vaporizer, ointments or vaginal eggs, among other ways.
Alzamora added that “all this time” they “worked in the dark, but showing a considerable improvement in the quality of life of patients.”
This medical office is one year old since it was officially opened in Lima and, in that period, treated over 1200 patients who presented 127 different diagnoses.