Profit from customers or educate them? Cannabis workers are torn, a new poll shows

Through Johanna Skopl

A new study by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute shows that despite pharmacy staff’s commitment to educating users about medicinal cannabis, pharmacies often prioritize sales over education, and the level of on-the-job training at pharmacies is notably uneven.

“If the results are confirmed by a larger, quantitative study, they will oblige the medical community to ensure patients have reliable sources of information about medicinal cannabis,” the study authors said. “Cancer patients use cannabis for medicinal purposes – and oncology teams typically offer little guidance on its use – patients often turn to cannabis dispensary staff for advice.”

About the study

The study, published in the journal JCO Oncology Practice, is based on in-depth interviews with 26 cannabis dispensary workers in 13 states. Researchers conducted telephone interviews with employees about managerial positions and consumer experiences.

Photo by Health Korvola via Getty

“Our study opens the door to the discussion that we, as clinicians, may not be able to fully shift the responsibility of advising patients to pharmacies,” said Ilana Braun, MD, the study’s first author and a Physician at Dana- Farber and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “We need to find ways to address this problem.”

The results showed a heartfelt commitment to their field. However, the inconsistent level of cannabis therapeutics training among pharmacy staff was notorious.

“The pharmacy staff we interviewed are really passionate about what they do and really go out of their way to give good advice. They work hard in their free time, pay for their own tuition and do everything they can to learn,” added Dr. Brown added.

According to the researchers, pharmacies often make hiring decisions based on their sales skills rather than their expertise in cannabis therapeutics. Many pharmacy employees said that workplace training in cannabis therapeutics was non-standard and weak.

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“We hear from patients that they want this information from their oncology team,” said Manan Nayak, Ph.D., study co-author of Dana-Farber.

“Right now the system is set up so that everyone – oncologists and pharmacy staff – work in silos. It’s up to the patient to figure out where to go, get information from the pharmacy staff, try different products, and possibly report back to their oncologist. The patient is often responsible for communicating with the pharmacy. There has to be a way to close the loop between the pharmacy and the clinical team,” added Nayak.

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The key: cannabis education

A previous study by Braun and her colleagues found that “although 80% of the oncologists we interviewed discussed medical marijuana with patients, and nearly half clinically recommended the use of the agent, less than 30% of the overall sample actually felt knowledgeable enough to do this such recommendations.”

In the absence of clinical guidelines, pharmacy staff often becomes the default source for information about medicinal cannabis, the study finds.

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In a 2020 article based on interviews with cancer patients, Braun’s team found that almost all respondents received the majority of their medical cannabis advice from non-medical sources, mostly pharmacy staff, on topics ranging from dosage to types of use Characteristics of the different strains ranged.

“When patients are transferred to the pharmacies, we wanted to know who works there, how they are trained and what they say to patients with cancer,” concluded Braun.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.

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