Since 1996, 33 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S.
Virgin Islands, and all Canadian provinces have passed legislation legalizing the
use of marijuana for medical purposes. Another 13 states allow use of low delta-9
tetrahydrocannabinol/high cannabidiol products for medical reasons in some situations
or as a legal defense to its use. Yet cannabis remains a Schedule I Controlled Substance,
impacting not only the legality of a healthcare provider's prescription of cannabis
outside of a medical marijuana program, but also the accessibility of marijuana available
for research. The classification of cannabis as a Schedule I Controlled Substance
therefore directly limits the amount of moderate- to high-quality human evidence regarding
the effectiveness of cannabis for certain conditions, dosage, adverse effects, or
safety. Regardless of the limited evidence, individuals are using medical cannabis
products more frequently, and nurses are left without evidence-based, clinical resources
when caring for them. To address this lack of resources, the National Council of State
Boards of Nursing Board of Directors appointed members to the Medical Marijuana Nursing
Guidelines Committee to develop recommendations to guide nurses’ care of patients
using medical marijuana. This article presents their recommendations, which were published
in July 2018, and various updates since that publication.
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Biography
Kathleen A. Russell, JD, MN, RN, is an Associate Director, Division of Nursing Regulation, National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois.
Article info
Footnotes
Content for this article has been excerpted, adapted, and updated from The NCSBN National Nursing Guidelines for Medical Marijuana (Journal of Nursing Regulation, Volume 9, Issue 2, July 2018 Supplement). Contributors include The NCSBN Medical Marijuana Guidelines Committee: Maureen Cahill, MSN, RN; Olivia Gowen, MA; Rene Cronquist, JD, RN; Valerie Smith, MS, RN, FRE; Cathy Borris-Hale, MHA, RN; Holly Fischer, JD; Diana Heywood, MN, RN; James (Dusty) Johnston, JD; and Sherri Sutton-Johnson, MSN, RN.
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© 2019 National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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