Industry-Leading Telemedicine Platform NuggMD is Improving Cannabis Access in Oklahoma

Cannabis

NuggMD, the nation's leading telemedicine platform for cannabis, is expanding their services into Oklahoma. NuggMD helps patients find doctors who are willing to talk about and approve patients for medical cannabis, a service that they believe is desperately needed in the Midwest.

Despite the physician protections built into the medical marijuana laws, most doctors are unwilling to broach the subject with their patients for fear of reprisal. To complicate matters, many physicians are contracted with hospitals and health care systems that openly forbid their providers from discussing cannabis treatment with their patients. 

Saint Francis, St. John Health System and the Oklahoma State University Medical Care System have all made the news recently for denying cannabis treatment options, citing "lack of clinical evidence for therapeutic purposes" and the need to comply with both state and federal laws among their reasoning.

The founders of NuggMD believe that everyone deserves the right to medical marijuana if it can help to relieve their suffering. "I don't think it's any secret that our medical system is slow to catch on sometimes," says NuggMD CMO Alex Milligan. "And while, in most cases, it's important to be cautious about new medications, cannabis has been used as medicine for thousands of years. The people have spoken. There's no more reason for withholding a treatment that has been shown to help relieve suffering."

The problem is further complicated by the sheer shortage of doctors in the state. Currently, nearly every county in Oklahoma has an inadequate number of available primary care physicians. This is why telemedicine is desperately needed to expand access to poorly served rural communities.

NuggMD's video-capable telemedicine platform complies with Oklahoma's stringent standard-of-care requirements. In Oklahoma, this requirement includes meeting with patients in a real-time, face-to-face encounter, but the state allows this encounter to be completed via telemedicine if it's medically appropriate. It's the same platform they've used to capture 20% of the medical marijuana patient population in New York.

"Although New York approved medical marijuana in 2014; barely 14,000 people in the state legally had access to it until we entered the market because there were restrictions on visibility and number of doctors," says Collin Mann, NuggMD's CEO. "We've seen this trend time and time again in states with new medical marijuana laws. Access just isn't feasible in most areas. We're here to change that. Our network of cannabis experts can bring about that change better than anyone else."

True to their word, New York now has over a hundred thousand cannabis patients, and contrary to what some anti-cannabis groups would have us believe, most users aren't teenagers looking to get high. In fact, more than 40% of New York's medical marijuana cardholders are between the ages of 50 and 70, with chronic pain being the most commonly cited condition.

In Oklahoma, no specific ailment is required for a cannabis recommendation. Instead, this choice is left to the physicians, which NuggMD feels is a common-sense policy that other states should learn from. They feel this decision really should be up to the doctors and patients themselves. Wait times to get specific medical conditions approved for cannabis treatment in more restrictive states can take months, or even years, while the patients continue to suffer. 

"Oklahoma has one of the most forward-thinking state policies we've seen to date," said NuggMD COO Kam Babazade. "It's really encouraging to finally see legislators embrace cannabis as medicine. It's the way it should be. This is going to make a lot of lives better."

The cost of a medical visit with a state-licensed medical practitioner on their platform is just $149 in Oklahoma and New York, $79 for a one-year recommendation and $99 for a two-year recommendation in Nevada, and $39 in California. All medical practitioners are fully licensed in their states of practice. 

About NuggMD

NuggMD is the nation's leading cannabis technology platform, facilitating access to cannabis in California, Nevada, New York, and now in Oklahoma. Patients with a serious medical condition can undergo online consultations from the comfort and privacy of their own homes. Qualifying conditions vary by state. Since 2016, NuggMD has helped more than 400,000 medical marijuana patients in California, Nevada and New York obtain their medical cannabis recommendations, furthering its mission to improve quality of life through cannabis. NuggMD's sister companies, Nugg and Nugg Club, facilitate access to cannabis dispensaries and delivery services, with Nugg Club providing delivery in under an hour. They are currently in the process of expanding their services nationwide.

For further information, visit https://getnugg.com/md/oklahoma.