Medical experts disagree about the effectiveness and safety of cannabis products, which are not regulated for dosage, content, and purity in the same way as prescription drugs. Laws allow medical cannabis for pain and other ailments, but physicians lacking in formal education about the substance may be reluctant to recommend it to their patients.
“The research has not kept up with modern-day clinical practice and patient accessibility of cannabis treatments,” says Mark C. Bicket, MD/PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology. “I find myself in a gray zone, even as a medical researcher, in terms of being able to best advise my patients.”