The debate about the possible use of medical marijuana as a pain reliever has raged on for years. Several states allow doctors to prescribe marijuana, and Colorado and Washington have legalized the drug for recreational purposes.
A new tech startup advocates quantifiable ways to market medical marijuana to doctors, the health care industry and perhaps lawmakers. PotBotics, started by David Goldstein, hopes to combine real-time data with medical feedback to give doctors a better way to monitor a patient's reaction to marijuana use.
PotBotics' signature product is the PotBot, a tool that helps recommend courses of treatment for medical marijuana patients. PotBotics asserts that patients need to find the best possible cannabis among nearly 5,000 cannabis strains. PotBot takes into account scientific data, customer reviews and a store's inventory to help patients find the best marijuana.
BrainBot represents PotBotics' second major product. This device analyzes brain waves using an electroencephalogram that shows doctors how the patient's brain responds to medical marijuana treatments. The patient puts on the helmet and uses the prescription, and doctors view exactly what happens in a real-time environment. PotBotics suggests doctors can recommend different types of marijuana based on the responses from the patient's brain if the first strain or dosage does not work.
Goldstein's passion for his tech startup comes from a personal story. His grandmother was a cancer patient who had knee surgery. Medical marijuana offered her relief from pain after opioid drugs reduced the quality of her life. Goldstein has a marketing background, while his father helped quantify the cognition abilities of Alzheimer's patients at New York University. The two have combined their talents to make a fledgling company that hopes to further the cause of marijuana by using scientific data.
PotBotics hopes to bridge the gap between the medical community and pot suppliers. Pot growers cannot give medical advice, yet doctors may not be experts on how to cultivate the plant. When a physician tells a dispensary that a certain strain is in demand, marijuana growers can adapt and grow the right kind of plant based on a patient's needs.
PotBotics' products come online just as a study released in March 2015 shows that teenagers who use marijuana regularly suffer long-term memory problems. Researchers followed 97 participants, some of whom used marijuana regularly while others do not use the drug whatsoever. Participants who smoked marijuana regularly did worse on intelligence and cognition tests, even two years after stopping. The drug also creates resistance within the brain, meaning that users need more of the substance over time to achieve the same effects.
Doctors must weigh possible detrimental effects of medical marijuana alongside its benefits as a pain reliever. This is why real-time data becomes so important. If PotBotics shows its products help patients by delivering precise doses of cannabis to the brain, the market should grow rapidly for Goldstein's company.
Photo courtesy of Paul at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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