'It's Another Tool To Help People': Florida Doctor Opens Family Cannabis Clinic

For more than 20 years, Dr. David Berger hoped to see the day when he could legally prescribe medical cannabis to those who needed it.

When products finally became available this summerfollowing Floridas 2014 passing of the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, the long-time holistic pediatrician wasted no time obtaining the states required certification for prescribing cannabis.

Last month, that decades-long wait came to an end when Berger officially opened Tampa's firstFamily Medical Cannabis Clinic out of his Wholistic Pediatrics and Family Care facility.

In just six weeks, Berger has already welcomed 75 patients in search ofmedical cannabis treatment.

[Medical cannabis] is just something Ive always felt strongly about, said Berger, who opened Wholistic Pediatrics and Family Care 11 years ago. For me, its just another tool to help people."

This has always been the bottom line for Berger, who started using holistic therapies during his pediatric residency at Tampa General Hospital. As far as he knows, there are no other pediatricians at least in the Tampa Bay area certified to prescribe medical cannabis.

He understands that cannabis as medicine for children is a sensitive issue, of course, but as far as hes concerned, the benefits far outweigh the risks.

With everything we know about cannabis, certainly compared to most of the medications out therethe risk aspect of it is so low, said Berger. The way I look at it is even if there's a questionable benefit to it, if the risk is low, then it's worth it.

While Berger acknowledges that its probably easier to prescribe medical cannabis to adults because they can tell you how [theyre feeling], which is more difficult for a young child, its all about a physician's comfort level with the subject.

For me, as somebody who has been doing holistic and integrative medicine for two decades now, its not that big of a stretch, said Berger.

Due to current regulations in Florida, however, the number of people Berger is actually able to help right now (at least with medical cannabis) is a lot lower than you might expect.

As it stands in the state of Florida, certified physicians like Berger can only prescribe varying doses of cannabis to patients suffering from one of a handful of medical diagnoses. For cancer patients or those with conditions that produce symptoms of seizures or persistent muscle spasms, he can prescribe only low-THC medical cannabis. For those with terminal medical conditions, he can prescribe full-strength THC-containing medical cannabis.

Pair this with the fact that those seeking medical cannabis must be active patients of a certified physician for at least three months (along with the fact that children require a secondary recommendation) and the range of obstacles can seem daunting for all involved.

Its meant Berger has only been able to enter twopatients into the Compassionate Use Registry sofar.

Its verysad to tell someone who needs something tomorrow that they have ...