A Clinical Framework for Assessing Cannabis-Related Impairment Risk

Overview

Journal Front Psychiatry

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2022 Jul 14

PMID 35832600

Authors

Caroline A MacCallum

Lindsay A Lo

Carly A Pistawka

April Christiansen

Michael Boivin

Melissa Snider-Adler

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Clinicians play an important role in promoting safe and responsible medical cannabis use. One essential component to safe use is considering a patient's risk of neurocognitive impairment. However, there remains a lack of practical guidance on how clinicians can evaluate this risk for medical cannabis patients. Here, a practical framework is presented for clinicians to assess and stratify cannabis-associated impairment risk. The proposed framework is intended to practically guide healthcare providers in gaining a more comprehensive review of a patient's impairment-related factors. This framework can be used to assess impairment risk for patients currently using or considering medical cannabis and is recommended for all patients who perform safety-sensitive duties. Healthcare providers (HCP) managing patient's medical cannabis or those conducting assessments to determine risk of impairment for safety-sensitive workplaces can utilize this framework to stratify patients' risk of impairment. Such assessments can inform patient-specific needs for support, education, and guidance, to ensure cannabis is used safely and responsibly.

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