"Medical Cannabis Maintenance" and Your Sober Living Home: Friend or Foe?

As medical cannabis becomes more prevalent, many sober living home operators are redefining the word “sober” to include prescription marijuana. Proponents say that cannabis aids in recovery from more damaging drugs, like heroin and alcohol, and helps address co-occurring disorders. Recovery traditionalists (exemplified by AA) remain suspicious of any creative re-imagining of “sobriety” even (and especially) if that reimagining comes in a prescription bottle. “Marijuana Maintenance Therapy” is strongly discouraged in many 12-step spaces.

How do you run a sober living home with medical cannabis patients? Why would someone do such a thing? Is it discriminatory to exclude medical cannabis patients from your sober living home?

In this post, we will dive into these questions and weigh the costs and benefits of welcoming medical cannabis patients at your sober living home.

A Real World Example: Utah’s First Sober Living Home to use Medical Cannabis

Men’s Tribal House in Utah serves recently incarcerated people who are in recovery. It also helps residents get medical cannabis to address a range of conditions, from PTSD to chronic pain. When residents complete their admission at the sober living home, they are examined by a doctor who determines if they need medical cannabis.

A little over half of their residents do.

Why Medical Cannabis for Addiction at a Sober Living Home?

Men’s Tribal House owner Shane Ericksen bases his belief that medical cannabis reduces the likelihood of opioid overdose on first-hand experience. Medical cannabis is more commonly used to treat chronic pain, PTSD, schizophrenia, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, and Crohn’s disease.

That said, substance use disorder places patients at a higher risk for many other health conditions, as well, chronic pain and PTSD among them. We know that treating co-morbid conditions while simultaneously targeting substance use disorders is the gold standard of care—because it works. Could medical cannabis play a role in holistic patient-centered care?

Is Banning Medical Cannabis From Your Sober Living Home Discriminatory?

Ericksen argues that it is discrimination against medical cannabis users that turns them away from other sober living homes. He told 2KUTV that he sees his sober living home as a stand against discrimination when he said “‘all I think I’m doing is not discriminating against somebody’s right to use medical cannabis.’”

While it’s likely that Ericksen’s claims of discrimination would not hold up in court - especially against recovery residences, who already reap significant benefits of anti-discrimination laws - it is provocative. How productive is the sober living home community’s resistance to medical cannabis in light of evidence that it helps some people with SUD heal?

If the evidence for medical cannabis continues to grow, it seems likely that we will see a proliferation of this model as the recovery industry continues to evolve in the future, for better or for worse.

If Your Sober Living Home is Considering Incorporating Medical Cannabis, We Can Help

At Sober Living App, we build digital tools to make it easier, more lucrative and more fun to operate sober living homes.

Our all-in-one app helps you manage properties, vehicles, residents, rent collection, care coordination, community contacts, admissions, alumni - and more. Because our app is flexible and intuitive, you can easily manage all the details that go along with hosting residents who use medical cannabis.

And, you access everything 24/7 from the device of your choice.

Claim your free trial today and see why more sober living homes prefer the Sober Living App.