CannaTracker educates people on the health benefits of cannabis

BY CRYSTAL SCHELLE Special to The News-Post

Kathy Reeder has witnessed the powerful effects that medical marijuana can have on people who deal with pain on a daily basis.

Through her Hagerstownbased business CannaTracker, Reeder is now helping others navigate through their medical marijuana experience. And as Maryland will officially make it accessible for anyone 18 and older on July 1, Reeder is helping those who have medical marijuana medical cards learn to navigate through the new laws.

Reeder, who previously owned Hempen Hill BBQ in Hagerstown with her husband, decided in 2019 that she wanted to branch out of the food business into science.

In August 2019, Reeder was accepted into the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy to work on her master of science degree in medical cannabis science and therapeutics. After taking classes through the COVID-19 pandemic, she graduated in 2021. Just a few months, ago, she finally had her post-pandemic graduation for the first-ever medical cannabis degree from the university.

In August 2020, she went to work for a local dispensary in Hagerstown, starting as a dispensary agent. A few months later, she became an inventory control specialist and purchasing agent. But she found that working in the fast-paced dispensary didn’t allow her the time to educate patients.

Because of her experience, she opened an educational consulting business, CannaTracker, first as a physical location at Hagerstown Community College’s David W. Fletcher Incubator + Labs before she transitioned to working from home.

“A lot of patients that I work with all come from referrals of physicians, primarily in the Hagerstown area,” she said. “I have about five physicians that refer patients to me. So whether they’re just a general practitioner and they have a patient that’s interested, they send them to me or providers that are registered with the state to give [medical marijuana] certifications to patients.”

It’s through her education, as well as seeing the positive effects cannabis has had on loved ones, that she’s focused on educating people about its benefits.

Her husband, for example, was issued a medical marijuana card years ago. “He has particular health ailments that he found relief through cannabis, where some of the traditional meds did not really help,” she said. “Just seeing the change was simply amazing.”

According to a 2017 article in Pharmacy & Therapeutics Journal, cannabis was listed for the first time in the United States Pharmacopoeia in 1850 and was prescribed as a medicine during the 19th and 20th centuries. But by 1937, the federal government restricted cannabis sale and use with the Marihuana Tax Act. In 1942, cannabis was removed from the United States Pharmacopoeia.

By 1951 and 1956, federal laws started to restrict the use even more, and with the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, the prohibition of cannabis under federal law was enacted.

“It felt good to right some wrongs for that plan and allow people to see it as a choice and not this terrible thing,” Reeder said.

Over the past 30 years, cannabis laws began to loosen. In 1996, California allowed legal access. As of April 24, 2023, 38 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, the United State Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of cannabis products. And as of June of this year, 23 states, two territories and the District of Columbia have enacted measures to regulate cannabis for adult nonmedical use.

Aside from educating people on the history, Reeder also makes sure to answer any questions clients have.

“I think the most common misconception I hear is that most people associate cannabis with inhalation. So a lot of patients will be like, OK, I want to try cannabis, but I don’t want to smoke,” she said. “I’m like, perfect, because you can eat it. You can put it in tea. You can make a topical. There are a thousand different ways that you can use the plant, just like any other herb.”

Some people still struggle with the stigma around marijuana. She said one of her patients parks their car in a different lot when they go to the dispensary because they don’t want to be seen.

“They’re older, so that’s what they know. There’s shame attached to it,” Reeder said. “I think that’s the saddest part.”

Like any prescribed drug, sometimes adjustments are needed to what kind of drug or its dosage, and it’s no different with cannabis. Reeder said she helps patients find the right Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) level.

“There’s over 120 different cannabinoids and over 300 different terpenes in the plant, so there’s all these components to the plant that make the plant work,” she said. “Finding different combinations of things is what I try to teach people, how to pay attention and what to look for.”

She also gets asked often about its addictive quality. She believes some personalities can become addicted to anything, so for people more prone to addiction, she suggests taking tolerance breaks from cannabis.

“You can do a five- or seven-day break, and it wipes your system clean, and you can start the dial back at day one,” she said. “With other drugs, that’s not the case, and it’s not easy. I