Medicinal Cannabis
- Who are the stakeholders both in support of and in opposition to medicinal cannabis use?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) recognize cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds’ opportunities for clinical use. FDA has approved THC and CBD-based medication for nausea treatment on cancer patients and severe cases of childhood epilepsy, respectively. However, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has categorized cannabis under the Schedule I Substances Act meaning it is a controlled substance because of the increased potential for abuse and dependency. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified marijuana as highly addictive globally. (Vedelago, L. et al.,2020). These are some of the bodies that support and oppose the use of medicinal cannabis.
- What does current medical/nursing research say regarding the increasing use of medicinal cannabis?
The use of medications derived from the marijuana plant has been proven to be more therapeutically promising, unlike marijuana in its crude form. Pardal, M et al. (2018) states that generally, the development of drugs from botanicals such as cannabis is difficult due to the numerous unknown active chemicals, hence challenging to get accurate and consistent products. The increased use of medical cannabis poses adverse health effects of smoking and THC-induced cognitive impairment. Additionally, there lacks evidence towards the long-term health and age-related impact on the numerous strains and preparations of cannabis available comparative efficacy to standard medications, dosage, tolerability, and safety; therefore, it remains an alternative medicine.
- What are the policy, legal and future practice implications based on the current prescribed rate of cannabis?
The federal government and the Us department of Justice hold that marijuana is illegal; however, the capital and 18 other states have made marijuana legal for all adults. Of 36 states, it allows for comprehensive public medical marijuana programs. Despite the known advantages of medical marijuana policies that prohibit its medical use, hurt palliative care and disrupts treatment of debilitating and chronic medical conditions. The lack of policies supporting the use f medical marijuana can lead to problems for physicians as they would not be able to prescribe the drug for the patients effectively. (Abazia, D. T., et al.,2018) The lack of uniform policies and regulations in the future may wreak other issues linked to the increased probability of abuse, use, and trafficking.
References
Abazia, D. T., & Bridgeman, M. B. (2018). Reefer madness or real medicine? A plea for incorporating medicinal cannabis in pharmacy curricula. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 10(9), 1165–1167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2018.06.003
Pardal, M., & Decorte, T. (2018). Cannabis Use and Supply Patterns Among Belgian Cannabis Social Club Members. Journal of Drug Issues, 48(4), 689–709. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042618791295
Vedelago, L., Metrik, J., & Amlung, M. (2020). Differentiating Medicinal and Recreational Cannabis Users via Cannabis Use Motives. Cannabis, 3(1), 52–63. https://doi.org/10.26828/cannabis.2020.01.006