People are more curious than ever about marijuana as medicine, so it may come as a shock for many to find that their doctor is unlikely to know anything about the plant or its therapeutic benefits.
A June 3, 2019 op-ed by Stanford University School of Medicine resident physician Dr. Nathaniel Morris, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) documented a growing disparity of medical marijuana awareness between American doctors and their patients. Based on recent statistical evidence and his anecdotal experience as a physician, Morris concluded that most doctors are woefully uneducated on the biochemical effects, legality, and current clinical research associated with marijuana, especially in comparison to the ever-growing pool of American patients who use medical cannabis.
Among the research cited by Morris was a 2016 survey that found 85% of physician participants reported having no marijuana education in medical school, and a 2017 study which found that 38% of a pool of 51 resident physicians didn’t know that marijuana is still a Schedule I drug under the Federal Controlled Substances Act, meaning that the government considers the drug to have no medicinal benefits and a high potential for abuse.
Current research has identified cannabis as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fibromyalgia, arthritis, and even cancer. The pathway to treatment is often through the endocannabinoid system (ECS) — the body’s receptors, lipids, and enzymes that interact with cannabis compounds and help maintain internal balance and regulate several bodily functions. There’s also no shortage of research to back up the theory that many illnesses may arise from cannabinoid deficiencies and thus are treatable with marijuana.
According to Dr. Bonni Goldstein, Medical Director of Canna-Centers, a medical marijuana evaluation service in Lawndale, California, and a medical adviser to Weedmaps, dysfunction of the endocannabinoid system is “scientifically proven as the root cause of many illnesses,” which in turn makes access to cannabis medicine “a right that should not be politicized.”
Goldstein also noted that when doctors say there is not enough research to support the prescription of medical marijuana, most of them are unaware of the abundance of research on medical cannabis, especially for common ailments. Many studies are easily accessible on Google Scholar and PubMed.
“Unfortunately, most doctors know nothing about cannabis as medicine or about the endocannabinoid system. There is no formal education about these topics in the majority of medical school or residency programs,” Goldstein told Weedmaps News in a report about disclosing cannabis use to doctors from June 23, 2019. “Only about 9% of medical schools even mention cannabis as medicine in their curriculum. And the reality is that we as doctors are taught that cannabis is a drug of abuse.”
You can find the full article here: https://news.weedmaps.com/2019/08/your-doctor-probably-doesnt-know-anything-about-marijuana/
