Dr. Melanie Bone | Cannabis Industry Physician & Educator

Dr. Melanie | Cannabis Industry Physician & Educator

By Heather DeRose

Women in cannabis are affecting the industry in powerful ways. They are leading the industry in executive roles that exceed other industries. Many are sharing their knowledge and expertise to educate and empower others.

Dr. Melanie Bone is one of the women driving the industry forward as a physician and educator in West Palm Springs, Florida. She is a board-certified gynecologist, robotic surgeon, and medical cannabis practitioner.

She sees women, men, and children and certifies them for medical cannabis. Dr. Bone works with her patients to maintain total body health by finding a role for cannabis, in addition to diet, exercise, and mind-body work.

Dr. Bone sat down with Florida Grass Roots Magazine to tell us about her journey to cannabis as medicine through a family health crisis. She also shared with us her goals for the future of her practice and cannabis.

Cannabis medicine was not always a part of Dr. Bone’s practice. She discovered one of her five children, Carlton, was overusing cannabis as a teenager. Because of Carlton’s overuse of cannabis, Dr. Bone and her husband decided to send him to a wilderness program to try to help.

“Carlton was given a mood stabilizing medication and ultimately developed Stevens Johnson Syndrome, a rare, life-threatening reaction which causes the body to look and act like it has been burned,” Dr. Bone said.

Carlton was in the Intensive Care Unit and Dr. Bone said that she was “Vowing to bring an alternative to the drug that caused the disease.”

Afterwards, it was clear how cannabis was helping her son treat his social anxiety, and she began to study the benefits of cannabis for anxiety as well as many other conditions. With the support of Carlton, Dr. Bone opened her own practice in Florida.

Her practice is devoted to improving the lives of people of all ages through the use of cannabis. Her specific area of interest is the “intersection of women’s health and cannabinoids, both for treatment of disease states and for global wellness.” She treats women of all ages and has an interest in managing menopause symptoms with bio identical hormones and natural plant medicines.

Her mission as an educator is to provide guidance and support to her patients, especially to those with no experience with cannabis. One of her passions is to educate her patients about their Endocannabinoid Systems (ECS) and how it interacts with the cannabis plant. After office hours, Dr. Bone spends her time fulfilling her mission by presenting lectures to her colleagues or speaking about topics from cancer to medical cannabis patients. She is dedicated to educating others and offers second opinions to patients all over the United States.

She plans to continue her work with leaders in the industry, and she has plans to develop a line of products utilizing cannabinoids for her patients’ overall health and wellness. Dr. Bone’s goals for her future are to continue learning about cannabis as medicine and to educate others to improve the quality of life for millions around the world.