New York, NY: More than seven in ten practicing physicians support allowing qualified patients the option to use cannabis therapeutically, according to survey data published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
New York University investigators surveyed the attitudes of practicing physicians in New York State. Seventy-one percent of respondents said that cannabis ought to be legal for medical purposes, and 76 percent acknowledged having patients who reported using marijuana for symptomatic relief at some point in their lives. Eighty-four percent of respondents said that they believed that opioids posed greater risks to patients’ health than cannabis.
The statewide findings are consistent with those of a 2014 nationwide WebMD survey of over 1,500 doctors which reported that a majority of physicians endorse the use of medical cannabis.
For more information, contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org.