More cannabis education needed for both doctors, medical students
Some educators cite the paucity of formal evidence around cannabis consumption as a major challenge to integrating this content into the evidence-based curricula of faculties of medicine
Doctors themselves are intimately aware that cannabis-related education could be better. At the Canabo Medical Clinic in midtown Toronto, Dr. Michael Verbora equips resident doctors from the University of Toronto with the fundamental need-to-knows when it comes to treating medical cannabis patients.
When the fledgling physicians arrive at the clinic on day one, their cannabis knowledge is “primitive,” says Dr. Verbora, a physician and chief medical officer for medical cannabis company Aleafia. By the end of their placement, though, residents should be familiar with the endocannabinoid system, the best methods of medical cannabis consumption, its risks and benefits, and when cannabis may or may not be appropriate for a particular patient.
“Education is so important,” Dr. Verbora says, noting the Ontario Cannabis Store, the province’s legal recreational marijuana retailer, points medical users towards their doctors for guidance about its consumption. “Everybody’s thinking that we’re the experts… but there still are many physicians who are not experts on this or who don’t even have the basic knowledge or understanding, and that’s not ideal.”
At the end of June, notes Health Canada, there were more than 330,000 active client registrations with licensed producers for medical cannabis.
Attempts to bridge the divide
Canadian faculties of medicine are facing a chasm between best practice and reality when it comes to educating doctors of tomorrow about medical and recreational cannabis […]
