In 2008 Michigan voters legalized the medical use of marijuana, but unlike most other medicines, marijuana does not come with a standard dosing procedure.

The responsibility of dosing the medicine falls to the patient because the effects of marijuana vary depending on the individual, the condition being treated and the type of marijuana used. Until scientists do more research on the individual compounds in marijuana, their effects on medical conditions will remain unpredictable.

Dennis Hayes, one of the founders of the Ann Arbor Medical Marijuana Patient Collective (A2M2PC) and a lawyer who specializes in medical marijuana legislation, said that even veteran marijuana users don’t have a way to calculate important effects such as timing, intensity and duration.

Mike McLeod, another founder of A2M2PC, , said experts may be able to devise an optimal dosing approach for marijuana in the future, but it won’t be possible without federally-supported research on the individual compounds in marijuana. Until then, he said, patients will have to navigate the dosing landscape themselves.

“Even the most experienced doctors say you’ll have to experiment a little,” he said.

McLeod has worked with a doctor in California who has a lot of experience with medical marijuana. They have made efforts to compile data on what works best for different patients, but McLeod said the situation is “just a real political hot potato,” adding that more research is needed, but it won’t come until there’s a change in federal drug policy.

Dr. Daniel Clauw, director of the University’s Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, helped write the University Hospital’s medical marijuana guide — a comprehensive summary of how marijuana reportedly affects patients with the qualifying medical conditions specified in Michigan’s medical marijuana law. He said because marijuana hasn’t undergone the same level of testing that “classic drugs” have, marijuana is “more like a nutritional supplement.”

Clauw, who has given written certifications to some of his patients, said without more knowledge of the intricacies of how the drug works, physicians don’t know what dose to recommend to their patients. He also said the strength and purity of the medicine varies depending on where it comes from.

Mike Meno, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project — the organization responsible for drafting Michigan’s medical marijuana law — said substantial research has been done on marijuana, but none of it has been done through the Federal Drug Administration because marijuana is a schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act and is therefore held to a “ridiculous standard.”

The Drug Enforcement Agency has put marijuana, along with GHB, heroin and LSD, in the schedule I drug classification — the most restrictive out of the five drug classifications listed under the CSA. The category consists of drugs that have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use in the United States. In 2001 the DEA denied a petition to make marijuana a less restricted classification, citing its lack of medical use as the primary reason.

Meno disagrees with DEA’s decision and said several studies confirm marijuana’s safety and medicinal properties.

“It’s a blatant lie for the federal government to say (marijuana) has no medical efficacy,” Meno said. “There are patients who are benefiting from it right now.”

According to Dr.