Víctor Ortúzar: “Medicinal cannabis is saving people” Medicine | LIFE

From the age of 15 I had already decided. it would be doctor. He remembers his good grades in Biology or that time when on average he visited the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases. He witnessed the number of patients in need of help, the long lines for care, the crowded rooms. Of administrator parents and a medical uncle, these scenes far from making him out, propelled him and reaffirmed his desire to help, to dress in white.

In their second or third year of medical school, with their friend, now a partner, they studied for an exam and found the endocannabinoid system. A new world where cannabis was a therapeutic alternative. The scientific article they found led them to another, and so began a row of events that today culminate in Anandamide, a word that comes from Sanskrit and that in a close translation would be happiness, bliss. Medical center that began its operations this year and that in his words is the first specialized in anti-cannabis drugs in Peru.

The surgeon Víctor Ortúzar knows and experiences up close the positive effects of medicinal cannabis. Her mother suffers from fibromyalgia and uses this medicine to lessen her neck pain. “And with really good effects,” he tells me.

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-The law regulating the medicinal use of cannabis has recently been enacted.

Today medical cannabis is a reality. There are many possibilities to dose and use it with all the schemes of the law. The three largest pharmacies and Peruvian pharmacies already have this product in their repertoire, and we have been coming since February of this year – when we started activities at the medical center – to care for patients.

-What can be treated?

It has many therapeutic potentials. However, its use has already been proven, with very good results, in four major pathologies. The first is epilepsy with seizures that does not respond to at least three lines of medication; this type of treatment-refractory epilepsy has a medical indication to use medicinal cannabis; in EsSalud, medical cannabis is already being medicated for a first patient. The following pathologies are: chronic pain, especially a neuropathic type, ie there has been nerve damage that causes pain; then there is muscle spasticity, associated with what is multiple sclerosis; and finally in cancer patients, all the adverse effects associated with chemotherapy.

-In the case of cancer patients, how does this cannabis help them?

It helps increase appetite. Usually, chemotherapy is associated with nausea and vomiting, then cannabis comes in to support as a treatment.

-And what is the potential, how much more could this drug help?

It has been found that, for example, treating anxiety – or some mental health disorder – is great. But care must be taken, some disorders are contraindications to cannabis use, such as schizophrenia or psychosis. That is why we recommend that there be a prior medical evaluation. Another potential is to treat insomnia and as a treatment for Parkinson’s associated spasticity.

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-And how is its use advancing?

To date, there are already more than 15,000 patients registered in the national register of patients using medical cannabis. There is significant growth, a fairly large national acceptance, but there is still a long way to go in the clinical research part; for example, there is also autism spectrum disorder which, while there are many studies in other parts of the world, is not yet endorsed as a treatment per se.

-Who wants to access the treatment, what should they do? Is it expensive?

The first is that you need a medical evaluation by a physician trained in its use. If the doctor thinks it is convenient and suitable for this type of treatment, you need to register as a patient of medicinal cannabis, and from there approach a pharmacy and purchase the oil, which varies in concentrations, sizes and presentations. The cheapest is what the state produces, which is obtained at the Digemid pharmacy, of the Ministry of Health, which is between 40 and 50 soles. Then there are vials worth 250 soles or more, which are in different concentrations, different active compounds, which already depends on the medical criterion.

-In what niche can medical cannabis be installed: as an alternative medicine or even as part of conventional medicine?

Today it is no longer called alternative medicine, but integral or integrative, which includes both conventional medicine and complements it with other therapies, as well as treatment with plants, physical therapies, psychological. Integrative medicine tries to use all the tools we have at our disposal.

-Is integrative medicine the trend in the world?

I would think so. We already see it in the United States. Pharmacies there have more and more shelves of botanical therapies.

-What taboos are there about medicinal cannabis?

There are many doctors who see it as a negative thing. But many people are leaving with an improvement. The first taboo to be overcome is the concept of drugs. Any substance exogenous in the body that performs a function in the body is considered a drug, from coffee to paracetamol. Not being a drug means being misused. Recreational use must also be separated from medicinal use; they are totally different things. Many ask me, “Doctor, will I become addicted?” Without going too far, alcohol is addictive and its abstinence can kill. Cannabis does not have this type of addiction; if there is an addiction in so much soothes the pain. Medicinal cannabis is saving people, and many nationally would benefit from its proper use.

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AUTO:

– “I’m Víctor Manuel Ortúzar Seminari. I’m 26 years old. I was born in Spain, but my parents are Peruvian. I was born there because of my father’s job, he worked in finance, in a bank; he started in Lima, then he traveled to Spain and from here to Panama, in this transition I was born “.

– “I studied Medicine, I finished my degree in seven years. As soon as I finished my degree, we started working in cannabis, trying to make our way walking with my partner. I am a surgeon and I also work. at the Anglo American Clinic for a year and four months. ”

– “I have taken courses, medical cannabis graduates. With my partner we were awarded scholarships in the first international medical cannabis diploma at the Technological University of Monterrey, in Mexico. You can find us at www.anandamida.com or on networks like anandamida_cm “.

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