from the American Medical Association:
Cannabis use and health: What physicians should know
With cannabis use on the rise, an AMA podcast series details cannabis pharmacology, screening tools and how to advise patients.
More patients are using cannabis to self-treat chronic pain, nausea and seizures, and psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression despite the lack of data assessing its safety and efficacy. As with any substance, cannabis comes with health risks. It’s important for physicians to monitor and screen for potential harms, especially in adolescents and when patients are pregnant. New screening tools are making it easier to pinpoint signs of cannabis addiction.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the AMA adopted policy to create a cannabis task force that would develop and share scientific evidence to health care providers and the public. Since then, the AMA Cannabis Task Force has launched a CME podcast series on AMA Ed Hub™ that serves as a primer on cannabis products, their uses and potential health effects.
The series—presented as part of the “AMA Moving Medicine” podcast—addresses Food and Drug Administration-approved indications and the different cannabis products available for adult use, offering guidance to physicians on how to counsel patients. The seven episodes are moderated by the co-chairs of the AMA Cannabis Task Force:
- Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, immediate past president of the AMA and anesthesiologist.
- Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees chair and an orthopaedic surgeon at the Geisinger health system.
Geisinger is a member of the AMA Health System Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Access podcasts and learn more here.