Here’s the full press release
July 24, 2017
“With legalization of both medical marijuana and recreational marijuana growing in states across the U.S., it is imperative that physicians be prepared to answer questions about marijuana use and to counsel their patients about any potential impact of cannabis,” said Dr. Henry L. Dorkin, FAAP, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
The online course was reviewed by the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Committee on Sponsored Programs and by Dr. Alan Ehrlich, an assistant clinical professor in Family Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester and deputy editor for DynaMed.
“The Comprehensive Cannabis Curriculum is neither an endorsement of the usage of cannabinoid medications by the Massachusetts Medical Society nor a recommendation to impede healthcare professionals from considering utilization of medical cannabis,” Dorkin said. “We are confident that the curriculum, which was subject to multiple layers of expert review, will provide the data needed to facilitate (between patients and their healthcare providers) informed, balanced, transparent and important conversations, based upon the strongest and most comprehensive research available at present.”
The Comprehensive Cannabis Curriculum expands significantly on the Society’s existing continuing medical education offerings on the medical uses of cannabis.
The course provides details of the endocannabinoid system and its interactions with medical cannabis, cannabis administration, dosing, contraindications, metabolism and drug interactions. Studies addressing the physiologic, cognitive and mental health effects of cannabis are reviewed in detail.
Additional modules are focused on the medical use of cannabis for 10 distinct disease states, including ALS, cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, Huntington’s Disease, IBS, multiple sclerosis and spasticity, neuropathic pain and Parkinson’s Disease.
“The course addresses a huge knowledge deficit clinicians have regarding risks and benefits of marijuana and other cannabinoids,” Dr. Ehrlich said. “The chapters have been written by leading experts and the presentation is very balanced with an emphasis on the best available evidence. This is just what doctors need to be able to have constructive conversations with their patients when the subject of medical marijuana comes up.”
TheAnswerPage has been offering medical educational content worldwide since 1998, providing peer-reviewed content focused on medical cannabis, pain and the opioid epidemic.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with some 25,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education providing accredited and certified activities across the globe for physicians and other health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.
