Pharmacy Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Medical Marijuana

OBJECTIVE:

To determine pharmacy students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward medical marijuana and to determine if pharmacy students need additional education on the topic.

METHODS:

Pharmacy students were asked to complete a survey on medical marijuana that assessed their knowledge of, medical uses of, adverse effects with, and attitudes toward medical marijuana through 23 Likert-scale questions.

RESULTS:

Three hundred eleven students completed the survey. Fifty-eight percent of the students felt that medical marijuana should be legalized in all states. However, the majority of students did not feel comfortable answering consumers’ questions regarding efficacy, safety, or drug interactions related to the substance. Accurate responses for diseases or conditions for permitted medical marijuana use was low, with only cancer (91%) and glaucoma (57%) identified by more than half the students.

CONCLUSION:

With an increasing number of states adopting medical marijuana use, pharmacy schools need to evaluate the adequacy of medical marijuana education in their curriculum.