Lincoln Park Doctor Fighting Opioid Epidemic With Marijuana

CHICAGO, IL — A Lincoln Park doctor has launched a pain management clinic to help patients reduce or eliminate their use of opioids. Dr. Rahul Khare said he's worked with thousands of patients to replace their reliance on opioids with marijuana. His clinic also uses other health and wellness treatments for chronic pain, such as counseling, meditation and yoga.

There were 1,946 opioid overdose deaths in Illinois in 2016, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. A state report shows that prescription opioid overdose deaths quadrupled between 2013 and 2016. Khare said that for decades, patients who suffered from chronic pain had no alternatives to opioids, and their prescription dosages were often increased to dangerous levels. He said patients began asking him about marijuana as an alternative.

"I'll be honest—I didn't know much about it," Khare said. "But I saw how my patients were decreasing the amount of narcotics they were on—decreasing their benzos like Zanox and Ativan—and I thought, 'there's something here.' So I started certifying my patients."

But Khare said there was a lot of opposition in the medical community. He said many of his colleagues didn't feel comfortable recommending marijuana as an alternative to opioids.

"There's still such a stigma with marijuana," Khare said. "But why wouldn't you want to legally help somebody with cancer or permanent pain?"

But Khare said he understands where the stigma comes from.

"We've been taught since about three years ago—for our whole lives—that marijuana is illegal, you shouldn't do it, it's addicting, and it leads to possible heroin use," Khare explained. "When you hear that, you're like 'I'm never going to give my patients that.'"

But Khare said that with every marijuana certification, he saw patients' lives improve as they were weaned off opioids. Khare's clinic, Innovative Express Care at 2400 N. Ashland Ave., has certified more than 3,000 patients.

"The way marijuana works is so different than opiates—it doesn't take away the pain, it makes patients not care about the pain. And I ask patients 'is that a good thing? That doesn't sound right to me' and they say 'no it's great.'"

He said his patients explain to him that opiates would cause them to be too drowsy and miss out on life. That would lead to depression, he said.

"I have patients who say, 'now if I have a date with my granddaughter, and I'm in so much pain, I can take four puffs [of marijuana], then go out to dinner with her...whereas I'd normally just take two Norcos and then sit on the couch and fall asleep.' So now they're actually getting out and doing things."

Khare spent over a decade at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as an emergency physician, and was an associate professor at Northwestern University, where he received more than $700,000 in federal grants to evaluate how to improve healthcare. He founded the Innovative Express Care clinic after researching ways to keep patients out of emergency rooms—he said his patients don't have to make an appointment to receive high quality, efficient healthcare.

While Khare admits that marijuana legalization would hurt his business, he said he's ultimately for it. For now though, he said he's working to expand its use medically.

Read Also:

• Illinois Among States Lacking In Opioid Addiction Drug Providers
• Give Opioid Users Access To Medical Marijuana: Senate Committee

Main image: Dr. Rahul Khare, courtesy of Innovative Express Care