There are lots of medical professionals who have no knowledge of cannabis, which has prompted Thomas Jefferson University to offer America’s first cannabis education program.
The first American cannabis education certificate program will commence in autumn at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
According to the university authorities, they believe that America has a long history with cannabis prohibition, which has made many medical professionals be uneducated in medicinal cannabis sectors, applications, and its advantages.
Since the drug is not legalized, it is very common to see people who have negative views about the drug which is still shared by many professionals in the healthcare industry.
According to a group of Harvard Medical School students, “most doctors-in-training” don’t have knowledge about cannabis, which is very necessary due to its use in everyday life.
According to a study carried out in 2017, 10% of medical schools in the U.S. have courses on cannabis. Currently, there are 30 states with laws that allow the utilization of medical marijuana in some form.
The aim of Thomas Jefferson University is to close the gap by offering their cannabis education programs to educate healthcare professionals.
Dr. Charles Pollack, MD said that the goal at The Lambert Center is to assist in expanding the know-how of scientists and clinicians—doctors of all fields, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacists—and these new programs will assist in improving the knowledge and treatment which deals with medicinal marijuana.
Pollack is also the director of the Jefferson Institute’s Emerging Health Professions and The Lambert Center. He also launched the new cannabis education certificate program in his report.
The university will offer two cannabis education programs including “Cannabis Medicine” and “Cannabinoid Pharmacology.”
“Cannabis Medicine” will be based on teaching clinicians about the diseases that cannabis compounds are capable of treating, and additionally therapeutic potentials, peer-reviewed studies on therapies carried out from cannabis, how cannabis will perform when it is merged with current treatments, and the means by which cannabis serves as an alternative to other drugs.
Another objective of the cannabis education program is to put the medical concepts in context alongside the political, social, and cultural factors that have affected marijuana in the entire healthcare industry and economy.
The “Cannabinoid Pharmacology” certificate is made for scientists and researchers. It will be mostly focused on cannabinoids and the way they interact with the human body.
Another objective of the university is to start a graduate certificate program for “Cannabinoid Chemistry and Toxicology.”
This aim of the program will be to fulfill the reason of teaching scientists and the federal government to make sure that the advertising of quality control and safety in the products manufactured.
The Jefferson University cannabis education program will be available in the entire academic year and will be made up of 4 three-credit courses.
Cannabis is currently legal in 30 U.S states. The cannabis industry is worth billions of dollars and it will only keep growing.
But, healthcare providers and doctors in the nation lack the necessary infrastructures in cannabis science, which has made them be sluggish in terms of cannabis recommendation. The absence of top-class medical knowledge about cannabis is troubling. The fact that it’s still not legal at the federal level even though solid evidence of its medicinal benefits in curing extreme conditions have made doctors in the USA to be faced with a serious quandary.
A year ago, a survey based on the Washington University School of Medicines’ deans, occupants, and medical students showed that there was a lack of education based on medical cannabis from current medical schools. According to study’s senior author Laura Jean Beirut, MD, “Medical education should meet up with marijuana legislation,” She added that trained doctors need to know the positives and negatives linked with medical marijuana so as to better understand how to administer the drug”. A questionnaire was sent and got 101 responses, indicating that 66.7% of schools mentioned that their graduates lack the training needed to recommend medical cannabis. It was also noted that a quarter of deans responded that their instructors don’t have enough talent to respond to questions related to cannabis. About 90% of 258 occupants mentioned that they don’t have the skills in recommending medical cannabis, and 85% mentioned that they lack training on the uses of medical cannabis during their training at medical schools or residency programs all over the nation. Moreover, the students are well trained about opioids prescription in contrast to cannabis. According to Evanoff, who is one of the medical students questioned “We talk about how those drugs can affect every organ system in the body, and we learn how to discuss the risks and benefits with patients. But if a patient were to ask about medical marijuana, most medical students wouldn’t know what to say,”
We are hoping that will evolve with time to come. The Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia is now the nation’s first and only university to present a graduate-level cannabis science certificate program.
The Lambert Center for the Study of Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp at the Thomas Jefferson University was made solely to rectify the educational necessities of healthcare professionals in the cannabis industry.
This university will offer 3 certificate programs in cooperation with the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) at the Fredric Rieders Family Foundation, who was a pioneer in forensics for over 20 years. These programs include:
The Cannabis Medicine Certificate, which is created for physicians who want more understanding about the right medicinal cannabis use to be included in their practice. It will incorporate concepts based on pathology and pharmacology, present treatments for cannabinoids, and peer-reviewed data concerning cannabis as an adjunct or another option for traditional therapies. Moreover, the certificate program will be made up of a complete analysis of numerous talking points about cannabis in the social, cultural, and political perspective.
The Cannabinoid Pharmacology Certificate is focusing on scientists who have the willingness to understand how marijuana functions in the human body. It’s also going to be made up of data on how the body metabolizes and removes cannabis and cannabinoids.
The Cannabinoid Chemistry and Toxicology Certificate is created for people who have the task of controlling legalized cannabis items and scientists. It’s going deal with cannabis botany, cannabis propagation, biological samples, and items to learn more about the concepts underneath the quality control for cannabis items.
These certificate programs will cover the entire year and the 4 programs will be considered as three-credit academic courses that are focused on evidence-based medicine. They will also be offering 10 courses online.
The graduate certificates for Cannabis Medicine and Cannabinoid Pharmacology will start this fall, while in 2019 they will start the Cannabinoid Chemistry and Toxicology Graduate Certificate.
