Implementation of medicinal cannabis in Australia: innovation or
                        upheaval? Perspectives from physicians as key informants, a qualitative
                        analysis

Hallinan, Christine Mary; Gunn, Jane; Bonomo, Yvonne

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054044

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The traditional requirements of drug trials, approvals, and postlicensure surveillance are either not applied or not consistently applied to medicinal cannabis. Consequently, there is a public health concern that evidence for the efficacy and safety of medicinal cannabis is not fully established for a range of clinical contexts [7]. The need for more knowledge about the efficacy, side effects, dosage, and use of cannabis products has led to an interest in collecting information about medicinal cannabis use and effects from many available sources, an important one being social media [6].…”

Section: Cannabis As Medicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Using Social Media Data to Investigate Public Perceptions of Cannabis as a Medicine: Narrative Review

et al. 2023

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Background The use and acceptance of medicinal cannabis is on the rise across the globe. To support the interests of public health, evidence relating to its use, effects, and safety is required to match this community demand. Web-based user-generated data are often used by researchers and public health organizations for the investigation of consumer perceptions, market forces, population behaviors, and for pharmacoepidemiology. Objective In this review, we aimed to summarize the findings of studies that have used user-generated text as a data source to study medicinal cannabis or the use of cannabis as medicine. Our objectives were to categorize the insights provided by social media research on cannabis as medicine and describe the role of social media for consumers using medicinal cannabis. Methods The inclusion criteria for this review were primary research studies and reviews that reported on the analysis of web-based user-generated content on cannabis as medicine. The MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases were searched from January 1974 to April 2022. Results We examined 42 studies published in English and found that consumers value their ability to exchange experiences on the web and tend to rely on web-based information sources. Cannabis discussions have portrayed the substance as a safe and natural medicine to help with many health conditions including cancer, sleep disorders, chronic pain, opioid use disorders, headaches, asthma, bowel disease, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. These discussions provide a rich resource for researchers to investigate medicinal cannabis–related consumer sentiment and experiences, including the opportunity to monitor cannabis effects and adverse events, given the anecdotal and often biased nature of the information is properly accounted for. Conclusions The extensive web-based presence of the cannabis industry coupled with the conversational nature of social media discourse results in rich but potentially biased information that is often not well-supported by scientific evidence. This review summarizes what social media is saying about the medicinal use of cannabis and discusses the challenges faced by health governance agencies and professionals to make use of web-based resources to both learn from medicinal cannabis users and provide factual, timely, and reliable evidence-based health information to consumers.

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Section: Cannabis As Medicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Using Social Media Data to Investigate Public Perceptions of Cannabis as a Medicine: Narrative Review

et al. 2023

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“…This indicated a general paucity of information on medical cannabis in practitioner training, and the need for professional education on the endocannabinoid system and cannabinoid therapy. Among practitioners from the online survey, pharmacists reported the highest knowledge levels 12 . In this current study, the respondent with the academic background in Medical Pharmacology expressed con dence in their level of knowledge on medical cannabis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an online survey conducted among US health practitioners (neurologists, nurses, and pharmacists),over 80% were in support of medical cannabis use, particularly for CBD. However, around half of participants reported feeling unfamiliar with cannabinoid pharmacology and their clinical applications 12 . This indicated a general paucity of information on medical cannabis in practitioner training, and the need for professional education on the endocannabinoid system and cannabinoid therapy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Knowledge and Attitudes of Medical Doctors in South Africa towards Medical Cannabis: A Qualitative Study

Audain

2023

Preprint

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Background The attitudes and perceptions of medical practitioners towards medical cannabis is important to understand. A qualitative study was conducted to examine the attitudes and knowledge of medical doctors in South Africa towards medical cannabis. Methods Twenty medical doctors were recruited for online semi-structured interviews, which were guided by predefined themes including knowledge, legislation, willingness to prescribe, and potential risks. The data collected was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results There is a general discomfort with the current level of knowledge about medical cannabis among participants, with many expressing a lack of personal knowledge and concern about the quality and accuracy of public information. There is also confusion and uncertainty about the legislation surrounding medical cannabis, with some participants stating that it is unclear or vague, and others reporting that their institutions have negative or exclusionary positions on the use of cannabis in medical treatment. Additionally, participants cited a lack of protocols and access to pharmaceutical grade cannabis as primary impediments to prescribing medical cannabis, and expressed concerns about the potential long-term side effects of abuse and the lack of head-to-head clinical trials with varying cannabinoid subtypes. Conclusion The study suggests a need for more education and training on medical cannabis, as well as clearer guidelines and protocols to facilitate its safe and effective use in medical treatment.

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“…Yet data from real-world and patient reported data sources could provide opportunities to address this evidence deficit [30]. This real-world data can be captured from a variety of sources such as found in routinely collected health care and health services records that include but are not limited to patient generated data from medical, administrative and claims data, as well as patient reported data from surveys, wearable trackers, patient registries, and social media [31][32][33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social media discourse and internet search queries on cannabis as a medicine: A systematic scoping review

Hallinan

Habibabadi²,

Conway³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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The use of cannabis for medicinal purposes has increased globally over the past decade since patient access to medicinal cannabis has been legislated across jurisdictions in Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia. Yet, evidence relating to the effect of medical cannabis on the management of symptoms for a suite of conditions is only just emerging. Although there is considerable engagement from many stakeholders to add to the evidence base through randomized controlled trials, many gaps in the literature remain. Data from real-world and patient reported sources can provide opportunities to address this evidence deficit. This real-world data can be captured from a variety of sources such as found in routinely collected health care and health services records that include but are not limited to patient generated data from medical, administrative and claims data, patient reported data from surveys, wearable trackers, patient registries, and social media. In this systematic scoping review, we seek to understand the utility of online user generated text into the use of cannabis as a medicine. In this scoping review, we aimed to systematically search published literature to examine the extent, range, and nature of research that utilises user-generated content to examine to cannabis as a medicine. The objective of this methodological review is to synthesise primary research that uses social media discourse and internet search engine queries to answer the following questions: (i) In what way, is online user-generated text used as a data source in the investigation of cannabis as a medicine? (ii) What are the aims, data sources, methods, and research themes of studies using online user-generated text to discuss the medicinal use of cannabis. We conducted a manual search of primary research studies which used online user-generated text as a data source using the MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus databases in October 2022. Editorials, letters, commentaries, surveys, protocols, and book chapters were excluded from the review. Forty-two studies were included in this review, twenty-two studies used manually labelled data, four studies used existing meta-data (Google trends/geo-location data), two studies used data that was manually coded using crowdsourcing services, and two used automated coding supplied by a social media analytics company, fifteen used computational methods for annotating data. Our review reflects a growing interest in the use of user-generated content for public health surveillance. It also demonstrates the need for the development of a systematic approach for evaluating the quality of social media studies and highlights the utility of automatic processing and computational methods (machine learning technologies) for large social media datasets. This systematic scoping review has shown that user-generated content as a data source for studying cannabis as a medicine provides another means to understand how cannabis is perceived and used in the community. As such, it provides another potential ‘tool’ with which to engage in pharmacovigilance of, not only cannabis as a medicine, but also other novel therapeutics as they enter the market.

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Implementation of medicinal cannabis in Australia: innovation or upheaval? Perspectives from physicians as key informants, a qualitative analysis

Cited by 22 publications

References 33 publications

Using Social Media Data to Investigate Public Perceptions of Cannabis as a Medicine: Narrative Review

Using Social Media Data to Investigate Public Perceptions of Cannabis as a Medicine: Narrative Review

Exploring the Knowledge and Attitudes of Medical Doctors in South Africa towards Medical Cannabis: A Qualitative Study

Social media discourse and internet search queries on cannabis as a medicine: A systematic scoping review

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