ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A study performed by the University of Michigan found that only 10% of doctors surveyed had signed medical cannabis authorization forms for patients, while only a third had recommended that patients take the drug.

“We still have a real separation between the medicinal use of cannabis and mainstream health care, and that creates risks and problems,” said Daniel Kruger, a research investigator at the U-M Institute for Social Research. “We need to have better integration to promote health, both for individuals and society.”

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Kruger and his colleagues created the study to better understand the effects of rapid changes in legalization and use of medical cannabis throughout the United States. More than 1,500 doctors in a university-affiliated healthcare system were surveyed anonymously through an online form.

“Most Americans have lived under cannabis prohibition for most of their lives, and we’ve seen a very rapid transition from cannabis being something that’s considered illegal and a substance of abuse to millions to Americans having access to cannabis legally and millions of Americans using cannabis to treat all sorts of different health or medical conditions,” Kruger said.

According to the study, physician discussions on cannabis primarily focused on risk rather than specific dosage and harm reduction. Physicians perceived that their influence on patient decisions was weak compared to other information sources, and they demonstrated unfavorable attitudes toward medical cannabis dispensary staff.

The study concluded that more research is needed to develop treatment guidelines and standardized physician education for medical cannabis use.

“Most, if not all, of the previous surveys of physicians have basically been attitude surveys,” Kruger said. “Generally, they found that people overall did not support [the use of medical cannabis]. But this is the first study to actually go in depth and get into the actual specific behaviors of doctors and patients and the patient/physician interaction.”