Dr. Kyle Kingsley, Founder & CEO of Vireo Health and Minnesota Medical Solutions
The Vireo Story
Vireo Health is a physician-led company, based in Minneapolis that was founded in 2014 in Harmony, Minnesota. Vireo Health is dedicated to providing patients with best-in-class cannabis-based products and high quality care. Vireo has grown from its roots in Minnesota Medical Solutions, which continues as one of two manufacturers serving patients in the state of Minnesota to now serving patients across 10 states and Puerto Rico.
Minnesota Medical Solutions cultivates cannabis in our environmentally friendly greenhouses in Otsego Minnesota and manufactures pharmaceutical-grade cannabis extracts in our state-of-the-art labs. These products are then sold through our cannabis patient centers in Minneapolis, Bloomington, Rochester and Moorhead. We are also working on opening 4 additional dispensaries in 2020.
Our team is comprised of physicians, scientists, and horticulturists that have been successful in a variety of settings and bring a broad spectrum of experience in best practices and evidence-based
medicine.
Our founder, Kyle Kingsley, MD, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician, serial entrepreneur, and inventor. He was inspired to launch MinnMed after encountering numerous patients who successfully used cannabis to effectively alleviate their pain and suffering.
Initially a medical cannabis skeptic, Dr. Kingsley’s position on the issue evolved over time, as he delved into the science that was absent from his medical school training and became intrigued by the small, but building body of clinical evidence around the medical use of cannabis as well as the increasing number of real world patient stories he observed first-hand.
One particularly moving story came from a Gulf War veteran — originally from California — who had suffered a gunshot wound that resulted in a spinal cord injury. For years following the war, the vet continued to experience debilitating pain and muscle spasms in his back and legs that prevented him from leading a normal life. After a lengthy period of being prescribed large amounts of opiates with numerous adverse side effects – including constant states of sedation, dizziness, and nausea — he decided to try cannabis, which quickly provided him significant relief from his symptoms with little to no side-effects and helped pave the way for him to return to normal everyday life.
This is just one of the many first-hand accounts that inspired Dr. Kingsley to learn more about medical cannabis. Drawing on his significant experience and passion in medicine, business and horticulture, Dr. Kingsley decided to launch his own medical cannabis company, Minnesota Medical Solutions.
The MinnMed team is now focused on increasing awareness about the number of deaths caused each year from the use of highly addictive opioid pain medications such as oxycodone, morphine, hydromorphone and the illicit, related street drug heroin and conducting research on how medical cannabis could be used as a replacement to opioids.
Prescriptions of four potent opiates to veterans have more than tripled since 9/11, contributing to drug abuse, addiction and suicide. The Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to combat the problem, but results vary dramatically across the nation. (Source: CIR)
Could Cannabis Be Used To Treat Painkiller Addiction?
Watch Dr. Kyle Kingsley’s interview with WCCO – CBS Minnesota.