that is just fake news.
most people who take medical weed take it in edible form, where it is slowly released through the liver so as to provide relief for a number of hours so that you can get a nights sleep.
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. How well it metabolizes in your liver depends on a variety of factors. Stuff like whether you've eaten recently, if you're on any other medications or illegal drugs.
The other issue is timing. Edibles can take about 1-3 hours for full effect. Smoking it is almost instant, with other pain relieving effects showing up in as little as 3 minutes. MOST people don't want to wait an hour or three for pain relief.
In fact, I've had medicinal pot where I can feel the analgesic affect within 5 minutes or less after toking.
Some people vape it but I won't after learning a number of unscrupulous manufacturers of vape oils add nicotine to it.
The other issue with edibles is dosage. There's no standardization right now so there are products with varying degrees of active ingredient. Often times as well the product contains more or less of the active ingredient than is listed. This has led to a jump in hospitalizations in just a few years for a substance that is relatively harmless when smoked.