Medical Cannabis Use among Adults in the Southeastern United States.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the self-reported reasons for medical cannabis use within the southeastern United States and compare recreational and medical cannabis users.

METHODS:

This study was a cross-sectional survey administered in 2017 through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and enrolled 432 adult, regular cannabis users. Measures included demographics, cannabis use characteristics, and medical reasons for cannabis use.

RESULTS:

Under half (47%) of respondents endorsed using cannabis for both medical and recreational reasons and 12% reported medical use only. The most commonly cited reasons for medical cannabis use were psychiatric and 60 unique medical conditions were listed. Recreational and medical users were similar on several measures of current use, but did vary in their use history, methods of use, and product knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS:

Despite state laws and conclusive scientific evidence to support medical cannabis use for certain conditions, cannabis is still used frequently for a range of medical issues.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS:

These data may assist healthcare providers in better understanding medical cannabis use in states with tightened restrictions and tailoring information to medical cannabis users about their specific conditions and prioritizing therapeutic options.