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Editorial
. 2025 Jul 7.
doi: 10.1007/s11606-025-09680-7. Online ahead of print.

"Medical Cannabis": Advising Patients While Navigating Medical Ethics and Limited Evidence

Anna-Maria South  1 , Shanna L Babalonis  2 , Laura C Fanucchi  3 , Michelle R Lofwall  4
Affiliations
Editorial

"Medical Cannabis": Advising Patients While Navigating Medical Ethics and Limited Evidence

Anna-Maria South et al. J Gen Intern Med. .

Abstract

Cannabis is increasingly legalized in more areas of the USA and marketed under the misnomer "medical cannabis." Yet, there are no official dosing guidelines or approved medical uses for plant cannabis by the Food and Drug Administration. Due to significant federal barriers, research on efficacy, safety, and adverse effects of cannabis is limited. Patients are interested in cannabis as potential treatment of medical issues and/or symptoms and clinicians should include a discussion of the risks of cannabis consumption. However, many risks are not yet known, and clinicians might be unaware of the emerging literature. This perspective summarizes the potential harms of cannabis, including the risk of cannabis use disorder, while providing a framework grounded in principles of medical ethics to educate patients on cannabis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations:. Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate:: Not applicable Conflict of Interest:: MRL has been a scientific consultant in the last three years (unrelated to this paper) for Berkshire Biomedical, Braeburn, Camurus, and Journey Colab. SB has previously been a scientific consultant to Canopy Growth Corporation (unrelated to this paper). The other authors report no conflicts of interest.

References

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    1. Food and Drug Enforcement Administration. Full prescribing information. Available at https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2017/018651s029lbl.pdf . Accessed on 17 Feb 2025.

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