According to a survey published Thursday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, nearly half of the cancer doctors in the United States who responded to a survey do not feel prepared when it comes to medicinal marijuana use but are recommending the drug anyway.
According to the study’s authors, the “results reflect how marijuana policy in some states has outpaced research.”
All 29 states with medical marijuana programs allow doctors to recommend it to cancer patients however there are no rigorous studies in cancer patients so this means the doctors have to assume from other research on similar prescription drugs.
“The big takeaway is we need more research, plain and simple,” said lead author of the study, Dr. Ilana Braun of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
The survey was conducted in a random sample of cancer doctors with completed surveys received from 237 doctors.