76% Of Primary Care Patients Use Cannabis For Symptom Management, UCLA Study Finds
A UCLA-led study found that 76.1% of nearly 176,000 patients reported using cannabis for symptom management despite identifying as recreational marijuana users. The study was published on June 5 in JAMA Network Open.
“Patients may not tell their primary care providers about their cannabis use, and their doctors may not ask about it,” said lead author Dr. Lillian Gelberg, professor of family medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“Not asking patients about their cannabis use results in a missed opportunity for opening up doctor-patient communication regarding the use of cannabis generally and for management of their symptoms.”
The study noted, “Integrating screening efforts to include information regarding cannabis use for symptom management could help enhance the identification and documentation of medical cannabis usage, particularly in the health care context.”
The …