NuggMD Editorial Process

NuggMD’s Commitment to Accurate, Timely Information

Our mission is to provide accurate, up-to-date content our readers can trust. That means holding ourselves to strict standards around how we create, review & revise content to maintain accuracy in a rapidly changing environment, how we evaluate products and brands we reference on our site, the language we use, and how we approach representation, inclusivity, and the historical context of cannabis, healthcare, and inequality within our content.

How We Make Content Credible

Accuracy	Innovation	Expertise
Depending on the nature of a particular piece of content; either a cannabis-focused physician, legal expert, or researcher from our team will conduct a review to ensure the content is valid and complete.	In addition to regular reviews completed at least twice each year, content reviews are prompted by new cannabis research (now coming from around the world) and practice recommendations coming from doctors nationwide.	Our team of cannabis and healthcare experts ensures that new and existing content reflects the most accurate information. Content is regularly updated as laws and available information change.

We sift through the sea of information, to bring you the truth.

High Journalistic Standards

We don’t just want to help you get your medical marijuana card. We want to keep you informed of the latest legal, medical, and product developments so you can better take care of your health and get the most out of your MMJ card. It starts with providing content that helps you understand your rights, your options, and the way that changes in the industry may affect your day-to-day. But it doesn’t end there.

It’s our responsibility to keep to the highest journalistic standards. That means our content is unbiased, timely, honest, and comprehensive. And the information we provide is actionable, backed by research, and provided with respect for practitioners, current cannabis consumers, and individuals with questions or concerns about the use of cannabis as a part of their treatment regimen.

Here’s how we strive to meet these standards with every page we publish:

Careful selection of contributors (including writers, editors, fact-checkers, and the individuals or brands featured in editorial content).
Information relating to health and wellness is reviewed by our medical team.
Information regarding local, state, and national laws and regulations is reviewed by our legal team.
Brands and products we reference in our content are selected based on user reviews and the product’s unique chemical profile (cannabinoids, terpenes, and other ingredients).
Our medical, legal, and editorial teams are constantly reviewing the latest developments and cannabis research, so we can keep our content current and provide new information in a timely manner.
All content is reviewed by multiple NuggMD teams before being published to ensure accuracy, clarity, and inclusive language and images.

Prioritizing Inclusivity & Clarity

We want every article we publish to be accessible to our readers, whether you’re a current MMJ card holder, a prospective patient, a researcher, or a journalist looking for credible sources. That means ensuring every piece of content is inclusive in approach, language, and media used.

Content on the NuggMD website follows our in-house style guide and includes medical or legal review so our writers and editors can focus on readability, clarity, applicability, identifying quality sources, and using inclusive and empathetic language.

Our voice is personable and sophisticated. We aren’t in the market of selling “weed” - we’re providing information you can trust and understand about cannabis as medication. Our goal isn’t to help individuals get “high” - we’re helping our readers understand available products, methods of usage, and medically recommended dosage.

In addition to these measures, we recognize that cannabis and healthcare have been and continue to be less accessible and trusted in certain communities. As such, we attempt to use conscious, respectful, and inclusive language that promotes equality and understanding. Our goal with every word is to remove bias while recognizing the role bias has played in past and current inequality.

At the same time, we recognize that providing the greatest clarity about legislation and potential benefits to the most patients often means using 1) the terms that patients use when searching online and 2) the language that state programs employ when referring to their medical cannabis programs. That has necessitated the use of less formal and historically problematic terms (eg “marijuana” or "weed") with some frequency. Any inclusion of such terms is done solely to provide greater clarity and ease-of-access when referring to medical cannabis programs and issues that directly affect medical cannabis patients. Our editorial team reviews every piece of content at least twice a year and we will continue shifting our terminology toward the most inclusive language.

We regularly engage with our customers and the cannabis community at large - using direct and indirect outreach, both online and in-person - with the goal to empower our readers in every step of their cannabis journey. It is our belief that language and experience are constantly evolving, and that it is our responsibility to evolve with it.

Consistent Content Review & Updates

Cannabis and healthcare laws and regulations are constantly and rapidly changing. New studies and research are introduced every day, while previously accepted truths and terminology are shown to be inaccurate or out of date. As such, we continue to monitor and update every piece of content for as long as it lives on our site.

We accomplish this by working with teams of industry leading editors, fact-checkers, medical experts, and legal reviewers focused on identifying and removing inaccurate or unclear information. Additionally, our readers are always able to contact our team through the NuggMD website, via email, or by phone to suggest any changes.

Every piece of content goes through our editorial process, and topics related to medical use, qualifying conditions, or laws and regulations go through an additional round of expert review with the NuggMD medical team and legal team, respectively. This thorough process ensures our content is updated to reflect the most recent and accurate information, the latest insights, and the most inclusive language.

To help readers understand our editorial process at a glance, each piece of content includes multiple dates and NuggMD team members.

The “written on” date is when the article was originally published on our website.
The “last reviewed” date is when the article was last edited by one of our expert fact-checkers, medical team members, or legal team members. Every piece of editorial content is fact-checked. Every piece of content about medical use or application of cannabis is reviewed by a member of our medical team. And every piece of content about cannabis laws and regulations is reviewed by a legal expert at Nugg.
The “updated on” date shows the last time a piece of content was modified. Modifications may include adding new information, removing outdated or inaccurate information, correcting inaccuracies, updating sources, changing images, or any other change intended to improve the value, accuracy, currency, and clarity of content we provide to our readers.

Our content review process is always underway, ensuring each piece of content is reviewed for accuracy and clarity at least twice every year. This is done using several processes:

Assessing new developments. Our editorial, medical, and legal teams are consistently reviewing the latest legal and medical developments with a goal to keep all content on our website current and accurate.
Biannual audits. Every piece of content is reviewed at least once every six months to assess and address changes in laws, treatments, research, terminology, and trends in the healthcare and cannabis industries.
Brand and product review. Products and brands referenced in our content are re-evaluated during our biannual audits to ensure they meet our criteria for inclusion and to update any information, such as availability or ingredients, that may affect our readers.
Updates based on reader feedback. We immediately address any potential issues our readers identify, and we invite all readers to provide feedback if they believe information on our website is inaccurate, unclear, or out of date. If a potential error is brought to our attention, our editorial, medical, and/or legal teams research the issue, identify the necessary revisions, and update the content as quickly as possible.

How We Select Products and Brands

We value the trust our readers place in us, and we do not offer preferred placement or sponsored reviews for any brands or products on the NuggMD website.

Companies and products we highlight are selected exclusively for the value they add to NuggMD patients, and every product has been researched and tested to ensure brand integrity. Product reviews and roundups are conducted based on consumer feedback, availability, external research from trusted and non-biased sources, and the cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds or ingredients found in the product.