Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background: The medicinal use of cannabis is extensive throughout world history but was criminalised in the United States in 1937, which spurred the international community and most countries across the globe to follow suit, including Norway.Despite in recent years being reintroduced as a medical treatment in many countries, the use of cannabis in Norway is confined to a select few patient groups whereby medical specialists must formally apply for authorisation from the Norwegian Medicines Agency and the Norwegian Directorate of Health in order to prescribe the drug, and remains a controversial and heated topic of debate.The majority of available published studies examining the perspectives of physicians' towards medical cannabis display positive attitudes towards the therapeutic potential of cannabis and it being available by prescription.Objective: To uncover, for the first time, the knowledge, experiences and attitudes of physicians' in Norway towards medical cannabis.Methods: A cross-sectional survey consisting of 31 close-ended items that capture the demographics of respondents as well as knowledge on central cannabis-related themes, experience with cannabis in a clinical setting and attitudes on cannabis in medicine.Results: 102 physicians' participated in this study (34% response rate).A majority of those with an opinion agreed that cannabis is a legitimate treatment option (n = 45, 62%), and the vast majority indicated that medical cannabis is a therapeutic agent for treating cancer and chemotherapy induced side effects (n = 88, 86%) as well as have the potential to reduce unnecessary opioid use in patients with chronic pain (n = 45, 75%).Of those with an opinion, acceptance was found towards medical cannabis being available by prescription (n = 32, 52%) and a slight majority of physicians' would prescribe cannabis if they were eligible to do so (n = 29, 51%).Statistically significant differences were found between subgroups in the sample such as: years of practice, gender, specialty, age, place of obtaining medical diploma and practice type. Conclusions:As the majority of studies assessing medical cannabis this study found acceptance of cannabis as a therapeutic agent as well as acceptance towards medical cannabis being introduced by prescription in Norway.Further large-scale in-depth studies are warranted on provider perspectives towards medical cannabis.Key words: medical cannabis, physicians' perspectives, attitudes, experiences, knowledge, drug policy.in in the study.Without you this project would not have been possible.Additionally, I would like to
Author: John Laurence Arnfinsen
Language: English
Subfield: Pharmacology (medical)
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2996525416