A survey from EO Care, Inc. found that 88% of medical cannabis consumers said medical cannabis reduced their use of prescription drugs, alcohol, or both. Another 51% said they would be likely or very likely to use cannabis if it were offered by their health plan.
The survey, which included 1,027 Americans from states where cannabis was legal for either medical or adult use, also found that 65% of respondents would feel more comfortable using cannabis for medical purposes if it were screened and dosed by a clinician.
In all, 18% of respondents had consumed cannabis for health reasons in the past year, 19% had consumed cannabis recreationally, and 14% had consumed it for both purposes. The top three reasons for the respondents’ consuming cannabis were anxiety, pain, and sleep.
In a statement, Sean Collins, co-founder and CEO of EO Care, noted that “Finding clinical guidance for medicinal cannabis is difficult because most doctors lack the knowledge and retail dispensaries are not equipped to provide medical advice.”
“As a result we have tens of millions of Americans using cannabis for health reasons without guidance on specific product recommendations, dosage amounts, possible drug interactions, or consideration of their health history and other potential health risks. Given that sales of cannabis for health reasons is far higher than most prescription drugs, this is a highly concerning situation for healthcare generally.” — Collins in a press release
The survey also found that 56% of respondents said they would be more likely to take a job at a company whose health plan offered cannabis care and 44% would reconsider applying for a job at a company that tested for prior use of cannabis use or prohibited cannabis outside of the workplace.
“94% of Americans live in a state where cannabis is legal in some form,” Collins added. “And we know a large percentage of Americans have used cannabis in the past year, so this is definitely impacting employees and health outcomes. With the right medicinal cannabis guidance employers have an opportunity to help their employees, improve health outcomes and be progressive leaders in offering this important benefit that employees will come to expect.”
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