New practice resource: Medical cannabis evidence guide

As part of its ongoing efforts to provide Canadian pharmacists with practice tools and resources, CPhA has developed a new medical cannabis evidence guide.

The Cannabis for Medical Purposes Evidence Guide was prepared to provide pharmacists and other health care providers with a curated summary of the best available evidence of the use of medical cannabis and cannabinoids for a variety of indications, including pain, multiple sclerosis (MS), chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting (CINV), and epilepsy.

While there are a number of trials of variable quality investigating the use of cannabis for medical purposes, there is a lack of robust evidence in this area. References selected for this guide include key systematic reviews, meta-analyses and randomized control trials. Guidelines reporting the quality of evidence for their recommendation and adverse effects were also included.

As research into the medical uses of cannabis and cannabinoids is constantly evolving, this document will be updated regularly to align with the most current evidence.

The evidence guide is part of a new suite of evidence-based practice tools and resources on medical cannabis that CPhA is developing to support pharmacists, drawing on the best available evidence and experts in the field. Other resources include the accredited, online course Introduction to Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids and a Medical Cannabis Q&A practice tool.