According to a team of researchers associated with the University of Bern in Switzerland, medical cannabis is “a growing issue” in psychiatry, with more patients asking about it now that cannabis policies are being modernized in Switzerland and beyond.
The researchers note that Switzerland amended its laws in 2021 to permit adult-use cannabis commerce pilot programs to be conducted at the municipal level and that there is a rising need to examine attitudes towards cannabis, including within the mental health professional community. The researchers surveyed psychiatrists in Switzerland in a recent study.
“From December 2021 to February 2022, we conducted an online survey of psychiatrists in Switzerland. The survey comprised questions on attitudes towards regulative models for CNMU and towards prescribing CMU for mental disorders,” the researchers stated about their survey methodology.
“We contacted 2010 psychiatrists in Switzerland. A total of 274 (14%) participated in the survey,” the researchers also stated.
“Sixty-four percent agreed to a regulated legalization of CNMU, and 89% would welcome pilot trials in Switzerland assessing models for regulating CNMU with those from a French-speaking region being more skeptical,” the researchers stated about their findings.
Forty-nine percent of psychiatrists agree that CMU might have a therapeutic effect in mental disorders, but 50% agree that there is not enough scientific evidence yet. Participants working in an inpatient setting or in a French-speaking region as well as those with a longer duration of practice were more skeptical on CMU for mental health.” the researchers also stated about their study’s findings.
“Most surveyed Swiss psychiatrists favor the regulation of CNMU and the conduct of pilot trials. Despite little evidence and potential negative consequences, many participating Swiss psychiatrists agreed that cannabis could be efficacious in the treatment of some mental disorders advocating for more research in this topic,” the researchers concluded.
This article first appeared on Internationalcbc.com and is syndicated here with special permission.
