Survey: People with MS often receive cannabis information from nonmedical sources
Individuals with MS typically received information about cannabis treatments from dispensaries, unregulated product labels and friends, signaling a need for evidence-based patient and physician education, according to a study.
“Among people with MS, the high prevalence of pain, sleep disturbance and comorbid symptoms, coupled with the lack of sufficiently effective treatment options for those symptoms, there has been increased interest in cannabis products,” Amber Salter, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Texas, and colleagues wrote in Neurology: Clinical Practice. “In our 2020 survey of participants in the North American Research Committee in Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) self-report registry, 31% of [people with MS] had ever used cannabis to treat MS symptoms, and 20% had used cannabis within 30 days of survey administration. The survey definition of cannabis/marijuana did not include products marketed as only cannabidiol (CBD) or hemp CBD.”
Between March 2020 and April 2020, 3,249 individuals with MS from the NARCOMS registry answered a supplemental survey on delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol-containing cannabis use, in which they reported dialogue with health care providers on cannabis use, information sources for making product decisions and money spent on cannabis.
Among the participants, 31% ever used cannabis, and 20% currently used it for MS. Those who had ever used cannabis, or ever users, most often used information provided by the dispensary (39%), word of mouth/dealer/friend (29%) and unregulated product labels (24%) for determining presumed cannabis contents. Ever users most often received general information on cannabis for MS from dispensary staff (38%) and friends (32%). Most (48%) ever users reported “nobody or myself” as the primary source of medical guidance, followed by a dispensary professional (21%), with 12% having relied on their MS physician; however, 70% had discussed cannabis with their MS physician. A total of 62% of current users often obtained their cannabis via a dispensary. Perceived quality and safety (70%) represented the most common factor in selecting a cannabis product.
“Involvement of health care providers in decision-making surrounding cannabis use by [people with MS] is limited, despite patient willingness to discuss cannabis with providers,” Salter and colleagues wrote. “Evidence-based education is needed to increase clinician knowledge, and further information is needed to determine what is most needed to take a more active role in providing medical guidance to their patients.”