Lombardi Emilia, Gunter Joshua, Tanner Erin
Department of Public Health and Prevention Sciences, Baldwin Wallace University, 275 Eastland Rd, Berea, OH, 44017, USA.
J Cannabis Res. 2020 Apr 21;2(1):16. doi: 10.1186/s42238-020-00025-1.
Ohio's medical cannabis program is one of three states that require physicians to become certified to recommend medical cannabis to their patients. The current study examines the attitudes of Ohio physicians toward medical cannabis and Ohio's program to ascertain how likely physicians are to participate in Ohio's program.
Physicians were invited to complete an internet survey that asked them about their concerns regarding medical marijuana, Ohio's program, their likelihood of recommending medical cannabis, and becoming certified within the state. Ordinal and logistic regressions were used to understand the physicians' likelihood of recommending cannabis, of becoming certified to recommend cannabis, and their attitude toward Ohio's program.
In total, 11,665 physicians licensed to practice in Ohio were contacted by email, and 344 responses were received for a response rate of 2.9%. Only 42 physicians reported being certified or had plans to become certified to recommend marijuana, and 62% were unlikely to recommend marijuana to their patients. Overall, the belief that medical cannabis should be legal had the greatest association with the likelihood of recommending cannabis (OR = .37, 95% CI = .24-.54), of becoming certified (OR = .21, 95% CI = .10-.38), and believing that Ohio's program is too strict (OR = .39, 95% CI = .30-.51). However, the study sample precludes generalizing the results beyond this study. The 2.9% response rate could indicate a bias toward physicians who have strong opinions about the legality of medical cannabis.
The results show that many physicians have concerns about medical cannabis and Ohio's program, and many physicians may not participate in the program. This could be a problem for patients who would like to use cannabis for medical reasons; therefore, these patients, may need to utilize one physician for cannabis and another for regular care. Physicians will likely be caring for patients who are using cannabis regardless of their own beliefs about it. The lack of training regarding cannabis in healthcare, along with requiring "certified recommenders" to have training could result in a fractured healthcare system.
俄亥俄州的医用大麻计划是要求医生获得认证才能向患者推荐医用大麻的三个州之一。本研究调查了俄亥俄州医生对医用大麻及该州计划的态度，以确定医生参与该计划的可能性。
邀请医生完成一项网络调查，询问他们对医用大麻、俄亥俄州计划的担忧，推荐医用大麻的可能性以及在该州获得认证的情况。使用有序回归和逻辑回归来了解医生推荐大麻的可能性、获得推荐大麻认证的可能性以及他们对俄亥俄州计划的态度。
总共通过电子邮件联系了11665名在俄亥俄州获得执业许可的医生，收到344份回复，回复率为2.9%。只有42名医生报告已获得认证或计划获得推荐大麻的认证，62%的医生不太可能向患者推荐大麻。总体而言，认为医用大麻应合法化与推荐大麻的可能性（OR = 0.37，95%CI = 0.24 - 0.54）、获得认证的可能性（OR = 0.21，95%CI = 0.10 - 0.38）以及认为俄亥俄州计划过于严格（OR = 0.39，95%CI = 0.30 - 0.51）的关联最大。然而，本研究样本无法将结果推广到本研究之外。2.9%的回复率可能表明对医用大麻合法性有强烈看法的医生存在偏差。
结果表明，许多医生对医用大麻和俄亥俄州的计划存在担忧，许多医生可能不会参与该计划。这对于希望出于医疗原因使用大麻的患者来说可能是个问题；因此，这些患者可能需要一位医生负责大麻相关事宜，另一位医生负责常规护理。无论医生个人对大麻的看法如何，他们都可能会照顾使用大麻的患者。医疗保健领域缺乏关于大麻的培训，以及要求“认证推荐者”接受培训，可能会导致医疗系统的分裂。
