USA: Study shows that most doctors have no knowledge about medical cannabis

A study carried out in the United States of America (USA) reveals that almost two thirds of doctors are not aware of medical cannabis, announced yesterday to Forbes. The survey involved more than 400 healthcare professionals and found that 65 percent of those questioned about cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain failed to answer their patients' questions. The same percentage of doctors also admitted that patients themselves are their dominant source of information on the topic of cannabis for therapeutic purposes.

The study was commissioned by cannaceutics, a medical cannabis company, who interviewed 445 doctors who treat chronic pain, including general practitioners and specialists in fields such as orthopedics, rheumatology and sports medicine, about their knowledge of medical cannabis. Physicians participating in the study had two to 35 years of practice, some knowledge of medical cannabis, and at least some likelihood of recommending it to their chronic pain patients, assuming medical cannabis was legally available.

An overwhelming majority (84%) of healthcare providers surveyed said their patients had asked or asked about cannabis for chronic pain, with 72% reporting that they had been asked about it in the previous 30 days. Daniele Piomelli, director of the Institute for the Study of Cannabis at the University of California, Irvine, and a member of the UCI Institutional Review Board, which approved the research, said in a press release that the study “emphasizes the public interest in cannabis as analgesic and lack of reliable data and/or medical education on its correct use. ”

The study, which has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, also found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of physicians said patients themselves were their dominant source of cannabis information, followed by the Internet (44%) and medical journals. (40%). The survey reveals a glaring lack of knowledge about the therapeutic uses of cannabis among healthcare professionals, most of whom receive little or no training in medical cannabis or the Endocannabinoid System at the School of Medicine.