Integrated Medical Cannabis Consultations in a Palliative Care Program: Policies, Procedures, and Progress after Six Years of Practice.

Introduction

Our academic ambulatory palliative care program has counseled, monitored, and certified patients for cannabis as part of routine palliative care practice for six years.

Objective

We describe the population certified for cannabis and policies, procedures, and medicolegal challenges in our palliative care clinic.

Methods

We performed a retrospective review of patients, qualifying diagnoses for cannabis certification, reasons for referral, and number of annual certifications.

Results

Between 2015 and 2021, we certified 1711 patients for cannabis. The most common indications were cancer (64%), pain (24%), and neuropathy (9%). Other three months in 2021, 28% of new referrals to our practice were certified for cannabis and 15% of patients were referred explicitly for cannabis certification.

Conclusion

Despite legal and practical challenges to implementing a medical cannabis program, our palliative care program has fully integrated cannabis as part of our standard outpatient clinical practice.