Cannabis News
NHS Cannabis: Are UK Doctors Clueless About Cannabis?
Although medical cannabis has been legal in Canada for two decades, healthcare professionals know little about it. Is it possible to prevent the UK from following a similar path with NHS cannabis?
Most Canadian healthcare providers admit to having little knowledge of medical cannabis and receiving no training in medical school despite the federal government legalising access to it two decades ago.
Approximately 56 percent of healthcare professionals across Canada felt either uncomfortable or ambivalent about their knowledge of medical cannabis, according to anonymous data collected from around 70 respondents.
While only six percent of medical professionals received any formal training about it during medical school, 60 percent attended either a workshop or a conference about it.
Approximately one-third of patients (27%) are familiar with the regulations concerning their access to medical cannabis.
This study was published in the journal BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies.
The Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) were introduced in 2016, under which patients can grow a limited amount of cannabis for their own use and purchase products from licensed producers.
In the survey, over 80 percent of respondents reported they had a patient under their care who consumed cannabis for medicinal purposes.
The study reports: “The majority of HCPs received little, if any, formal training in cannabinoid-based medicine in medical school or residency.
“Over half of respondents reported receiving more questions regarding MC [medical cannabis] since the legalisation of recreational cannabis, and nearly one-third were unfamiliar with the requirements for obtaining CMP [Cannabis for Medical Purposes] in Canada. Respondents endorsed discomfort with their knowledge of MC despite over 80 per cent having patients who use CMP.
“These findings suggest that medical training programs must reassess their curricula to enable HCPs to gain the knowledge and comfort required to meet the evolving needs of patients.”
NHS Cannabis: Doctors lack sufficient understanding
In spite of the fact that the survey results are consistent with a number of other surveys conducted in the United States and elsewhere, which have shown that healthcare professionals rarely receive formal training on cannabis and lack sufficient understanding of the topic, these latest findings are not unusual.
In medical schools, including here in the UK, the endocannabinoid system and medicinal uses of NHS cannabis remain largely unknown, despite its discovery in the early 1990s.
To avoid the UK following a similar path to countries with more established medical markets, Professor Mike Barnes founded the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society in 2019.
“Prejudice and false propaganda” are to blame for cannabis being excluded from medical schools and the lack of formal training.
“It is sad but not surprising to see such a lack of training in Canada and it is the same situation in the UK,” he commented.
“Cannabis medicine is barely taught in any medical school and most students leave university with no understanding of cannabis and not even much, if any, knowledge of the endocannabinoid system which is after all the most important neurotransmitter system in the body. All I can presume is that this is due to deep prejudice against the plant after years of false propaganda.”
Professor Barnes finally noted: “The Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society is doing its best to correct the situation with both an online training course and a face to face course every month for any clinician member. Over 200 doctors have now been trained which is at least a start.”
