Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 14;18(1):106.
doi: 10.1186/s12954-021-00547-8.

Facilitators and barriers to the regulation of medical cannabis: a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature

Mohammad Ali Ruheel #  1 , Zoya Gomes #  1 , Sana Usman  1 , Pargol Homayouni  1 , Jeremy Y Ng  2
Affiliations

Facilitators and barriers to the regulation of medical cannabis: a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature

Mohammad Ali Ruheel et al. Harm Reduct J. .

Abstract

Background: In recent decades, several political, legislative, judicial, consumer, and commercial processes around the world have advanced legalization efforts for the use of medical cannabis (MC). As the use of MC evolves through legislative reform, with an increase in public acceptance and therapeutic potential, a need exists to further investigate the facilitators and barriers to MC regulation.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted to identify the facilitators and barriers associated with the implementation of MC regulations. MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED and PsycINFO databases were systematically searched; no restrictions were placed on geographic location/jurisdiction. Eligible articles included those that evaluated the MC regulatory framework of one or more countries.

Results: Twenty-two articles were deemed eligible and included in this review. Themes identified include: (1) effects of conflicts, mindset, and ideology of state population, (2) the use of comparisons to analyze MC regulation, and (3) the need for more knowledge, advice, and empirical/clinical evidence to inform future MC policies.

Conclusion: Policymakers should be aware of facilitators to the MC regulation implementation process, such as the influence of state and federal congruence, increased transparency, and the incorporation of stakeholder concerns, in order to effectively respond to a growing societal acceptance of MC and its use among patients. Given a comprehensive understanding of these influential factors, policymakers may be better equipped to meet the consumer and commercial demands of a rapidly evolving MC regulatory environment.

Keywords: Medical cannabis; Medical marijuana; Policy; Regulation; Scoping review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA Diagram. MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, and PsycINFO search results are recorded following deduplication using the “deduplicate” function on OVID. Records after duplicates removed are reported based on a subsequent manual deduplication of all records
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lucas PG. Regulating compassion: an overview of Canada’s federal medical cannabis policy and practice. Harm Reduct J. 2008;5(1):5. doi: 10.1186/1477-7517-5-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bridgeman MB, Abazia DT. Medicinal cannabis: history, pharmacology, and implications for the acute care setting. Pharm Ther. 2017;42(3):180–188. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bradford AC, David BW. Factors driving the diffusion of medical marijuana legalisation in the United States. Drugs Educ Prev Policy. 2017;24(1):75–84. doi: 10.3109/09687637.2016.1158239. - DOI
    1. Pacula RL, Smart R. Medical marijuana and marijuana legalization. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2017;13:397–419. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045128. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pratt M, Stevens A, Thuku M, Butler C, Skidmore B, Wieland LS, Clemons M, Kanji S, Hutton B. Benefits and harms of medical cannabis: a scoping review of systematic reviews. Syst Rev. 2019;8(1):320. doi: 10.1186/s13643-019-1243-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances