94% Of Nurse Practitioner Students Say Medical Marijuana Should Be Legalized Across The US

A new study finds that while an overwhelming majority of nurse practitioner students favor legalizing medical cannabis and think information about marijuana’s medical benefits should be taught as part of their training, fewer than a third reported actually receiving in-depth education on the topic.

Conducted by two professors at Simmons University’s school of nursing in Boston, the research was published in the September issue of the journal The Nurse Practitioner. Authors looked at survey results of 115 nurse practitioner (NP) students who were asked about medical marijuana.

“Most students (94%) felt that [medical marijuana] should be legalized in all US states,” the research says. “Likewise, 97% felt that MM education should be included in NP program curricula; however, only 30% reported receiving in-depth education on the topic.”

Participants were also asked to identify which of 18 different medical conditions “were approved indications for MM use.”

“Accurate response rate was low,” the research found, “though cancer, pain, cachexia, nausea/vomiting, posttraumatic stress disorder, and epilepsy were identified correctly as indications by more than half of participants.”

In light of the results, and with more and more jurisdictions legalizing medical marijuana, the study says nurse practitioner programs “must evaluate their current curricula and integrate content that addresses the gap in knowledge of MM mechanism of action, indications, and adverse reactions.”

The study comes on the heels of separate research from the nurse practitioner community finding that medical marijuana is associated with reduced prescription drug use and improved well-being and symptom intensity among adults with anxiety, depression, insomnia and chronic pain.

Earlier this year, meanwhile, the American Nurses Association (ANA) cheered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s (HHS) recommendation to move marijuana to Schedule III, calling the action “a positive step toward developing an evidence-based approach for marijuana and related-cannabinoids use in disease and symptom management.”

ANA—which represents more than 5 million nurses across the U.S.—also recently recognized cannabis as a nursing specialty practice area.

“This recognition highlights the essential role and special contribution of cannabis nurses to the health care system and promotes enhanced integration of cannabis therapies for health care consumers across diverse health care settings,” ANA President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy said at the time.