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Until recently, cannabis had a pretty rough reputation. Its image change began in earnest when California legalized medical marijuana in 1996, rebranding it from a so-called hippie drug to a more respected substance taken seriously by the medical community. At the forefront of this change is Dr. Michelle Sexton, a naturopathic physician (ND), professor, and researcher who has been studying the use of cannabis in the treatment of diseases and disorders for more than a decade.
Currently, Michelle works in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of California, San Diego (she was the first physician hired by the University) and as a clinician at the UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine. Michelle has come a long way since her first introduction to gardening at her local natural food store. West Texas. Always fascinated by plants and their function as therapeutic agents, she began her career as a midwife and herbalist, after which she returned to school as a pharmacology fellow. Since then, this medical advocate has spent the past 13 years of her career researching endocannabinoids in her system and what role cannabis can play in helping people fight all kinds of illnesses and disorders. I have dedicated myself to what I do.
In her early days as a Seattle researcher, her only access to cannabis (and cannabinoid compounds such as THC, CBD, and CBN) was at the University of Mississippi, once the only institution in the United States growing cannabis. It was getting worse. Purpose of research. She served as a pioneer in Washington’s medical community by opening the state’s first cannabis testing facility in 2010. She also developed her professional operating standards, principles that are still in use today, just three years later.
Cannabis continues to be criticized in mainstream media and is restricted for recreational purposes in other states (it remains illegal federally as well). Nevertheless, Michele explains how cannabis compounds can be used to provide relief for patients with multiple sclerosis and Dravet syndrome, a seizure-inducing disease that occurs in infants and causes epilepsy, intellectual disability, and growth retardation. Research into whether this is possible has received little backlash. Within pediatrics, her research was promising enough to garner support from neurologists and medical practitioners who began using cannabinoids to treat children with Dravet syndrome and other serious illnesses.
Sexton continues to combine the knowledge he has gleaned from years of research and practice in cannabis use with his passion for treating patients in the most holistic manner possible. At UCSD, she teaches pain management, addiction, and palliative care researchers about cannabinoid medicine and how to apply it in medicine.
“My philosophical background is in treating the whole person and system, and looking at how everything fits together to form this symptom profile,” says Michelle. “You know, it’s not a question of one molecule. [or] I have one goal. ”
In addition to her many accomplishments in the still emerging research of cannabinoid medicine, Michelle also works in the larger education field. She founded Green Women’s Guide, a course on the endocannabinoid system and women’s health across all stages of life, teaching women how to use cannabis as a tool to support their reproductive health, postpartum, and wellness practices. Our mission is to do this.
If you would like to learn more about how cannabis is used as medicine and the teachings provided in Green Women’s Guide, listen to the full episode of Green Women’s Guide. plant woman With Dr. Michelle Sexton.
