One of the great ironies of medical marijuana is how ignorant most medical professionals are about it. In the 19th Century, cannabis was among the most common medical compounds but, due to prohibition, it was dropped from medical curricula early in the 20th C.
Today, despite the great work of groups like Patients Out of Time in putting on an annual cannabis CME, most doctors learn about cannabis from their patients who are already using it. Where is the ongoing medical training doctors need?
The situation is finally changing. The Massachusetts Medical Society, a leader in continuing medical education (CME) providing accredited and certified activities across the globe for physicians and other health care professionals, endorsed the TheAnswerPage.com Comprehensive Cannabis Curriculum, as their comprehensive curriculum on the endocannabinoid system and medical cannabis.
This is among the highest validations for an endocannabinoid and medical cannabis curriculum.
TheAnswerPage’s medical cannabis content is a key component in Cannabis Care Certification (CCC), a joint project of Americans for Safe Access, a national nonprofit dedicated to ensuring safe and legal access to medical cannabis for therapeutic use and research, and TheAnswerPage, an international resource for providing accredited continuing medical education since 1998.
Cannabis Care Certification (CCC) is an online program designed to provide quality information about medical cannabis to individuals who are starting or considering cannabis therapy, and healthcare professionals looking to learn about the endocannabinoid system and medical cannabis. Cannabis Care Certification is the only resource of its kind that educates both patients and their healthcare providers in an effort to optimize the safety and quality of medical cannabis therapy.”
“Presently, most healthcare providers do not have access to comprehensive quality education on the endocannabinoid system and medical cannabis,” said Stephen B. Corn, MD, a specialist with over 30 years of experience in anesthesiology, perioperative, and pain medicine.
“Whether or not doctors or other healthcare professionals have any intention of recommending medical cannabis for patient care, they all need to be well educated in this clinical area because their patients will be seeking their expert advice and guidance for this medication. Further, some patients may already be utilizing medical cannabis and doctors and other healthcare providers will need to be aware of the physiological effects of cannabis as well as potential drug interactions and side effects. As such, expertise in medical cannabis will be necessary for most doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals,” Dr. Corn noted.
“This course was developed by TheAnswerPage.com, which is a medical education website founded by Stephen B. Corn, MD, with Meredith Fisher-Corn, MD, serving as Editor-in-Chief. TheAnswerPage has been offering medical educational content worldwide since 1998 providing peer-reviewed content focused on medical cannabis, pain and the opioid epidemic.”
“The Comprehensive Cannabis Curriculum is an extensive course that is designed to introduce the clinician to the details of the endocannabinoid system and its interactions with medical cannabis. The course builds on this foundation to address cannabis administration, dosing, contraindications, metabolism and drug interactions.
“Studies addressing the physiologic, cognitive and mental health effects of cannabis are reviewed in detail. In addition, Modules 8 through 16 are focused on the medical use of cannabis for ten distinct disease states. These courses significantly expand the Massachusetts Medical Society’s continuing medical education courses in cannabis and its use for medicinal purposes.”
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) continues “Doctors and healthcare professionals must understand the medical, legal and social issues to best respond to their patients’ questions and attend to their needs. This content area is not intended to encourage or dissuade the use of medical marijuana, but has been created to provide a balanced portrayal of the research in this area.”
“Medical Professionals hold the key to patients having access to medical cannabis,” said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access. “What healthcare providers need is unbiased accredited educational content aimed so that they can best address their patients’ questions and needs related to medical cannabis. We applaud the Massachusetts Medical Society’s efforts to get this information out to medical professionals.”
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