Trends in U.S. Medical Cannabis Registrations, Authorizing Clinicians, and Reasons for Use From 2020 to 2022

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Ann Intern Med
• Personal Author:
  Boehnke, Kevin F. ; Sinclair, Rachel ; Gordon, Felicia ; Hosanagar, Avinash ; Roehler, Douglas R. ; Smith, Tristin ; Hoots, Brooke
• Description:
  Background:
  
  As medical cannabis availability increases, up-to-date trends in medical cannabis licensure can inform clinical policy and care.
  
  Objective:
  
  To describe current trends in medical cannabis licensure in the United States.
  
  Design:
  
  Ecological study with repeated measures.
  
  Setting:
  
  Publicly available state registry data from 2020 to 2022.
  
  Participants:
  
  People with medical cannabis licenses and clinicians authorizing cannabis licenses in the United States.
  
  Measurements:
  
  Total patient volume and prevalence per 10 000 persons in the total population, symptoms or conditions qualifying patients for licensure (that is, patient-reported qualifying conditions), and number of authorizing clinicians.
  
  Results:
  
  In 2022, of 39 jurisdictions allowing medical cannabis use, 34 reported patient numbers, 19 reported patient-reported qualifying conditions, and 29 reported authorizing clinician numbers. Enrolled patients increased 33.3% from 2020 (3 099 096) to 2022 (4 132 098), with a corresponding 23.0% increase in the population prevalence of patients (175.0 per 10 000 in 2020 to 215.2 per 10 000 in 2022). However, 13 of 15 jurisdictions with nonmedical adult-use laws had decreased enrollment from 2020 to 2022. The proportion of patient-reported qualifying conditions with substantial or conclusive evidence of therapeutic value decreased from 70.4% (2020) to 53.8% (2022). Chronic pain was the most common patient-reported qualifying condition in 2022 (48.4%), followed by anxiety (14.2%) and posttraumatic stress disorder (13.0%). In 2022, the United States had 29 500 authorizing clinicians (7.7 per 1000 patients), 53.5% of whom were physicians. The most common specialties reported were internal or family medicine (63.4%), physical medicine and rehabilitation (9.1%), and anesthesia or pain (7.9%).
  
  Limitation:
  
  Missing data (for example, from California), descriptive analysis, lack of information on individual use patterns, and changing evidence base.
  
  Conclusion:
  
  Enrollment in medical cannabis programs increased overall but generally decreased in jurisdictions with nonmedical adult-use laws. Use for conditions or symptoms without a strong evidence basis continues to increase. Given these trends, more research is needed to better understand the risks and benefits of medical cannabis.
  
  Primary Funding Source:
  
  National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Cannabis Chronic Pain Humans Medical Marijuana Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic Surveys And Questionnaires United States
• Source:
  Ann Intern Med. 177(4):458-466
• Pubmed ID:
  38588545
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11614148
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; K01 DA049219/DA/NIDA NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  177
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a76103031a68be174da0630a614407b9df9090f53bfbc90d3a3d776b4ba4398e06f845c01ff5553a3dd0b72574935b8aeee265b3a6a10b74fad003ab75f269f8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/174264/cdc_174264_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 325.10 KB ]