Toward a Patient Registry for Cannabis Use: An Exploratory Study of Patient Use in an Outpatient Health‐Care Clinic in Oregon

• Published date: 01 September 2017
• Author: Javier Ponce Terashima,John Muench,Dennis McCarty,Kim A. Hoffman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.237
• Date: 01 September 2017

Toward a Patient Registry for Cannabis Use: An

Exploratory Study of Patient Use in an Outpatient

Health-Care Clinic in Oregon

Kim A. Hoffman , Javier Ponce Terashima, Dennis McCarty,

and John Muench

Movement toward legalization of cannabis grows in the United States yet little is known about

long-term use effects. This study was an initial step in the instrument development of a patient

registry questionnaire of cannabis users who will be followed over time. Cannabis-using patients (12

females, 10 males) aged 20–64, were sampled from a Portland, Oregon primary care health center.

Respondents completed semistructured qualitative interviews describing methods of cannabis use,

motivations for use, and perceptions of risks and benef‌its. Qualitative analysis used a content

analysis approach to assess and extract salient themes. Patients smoked, inhaled, ingested, and

applied a wide variety of cannabis products. All participants but one reported using cannabis for

perceived physiological or psychological pain and several used cannabis to alleviate cravings for

opioid medications. Other motivations included relief from suicidal thoughts and depression,

anxiety, migraines, and neuropathic pain. Relatively few perceived risks as compared to benef‌its

were reported. This study provides relevant insight into how and why these primary care patients

use cannabis. Results will be used to construct a quantitative questionnaire for a patient registry

that can provide critical information about long-term use effects.

KEY WORDS: cannabis, marijuana, patient registry

Introduction

State-level initiatives have legalized and/or decriminalized nonmedical

marijuana use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, the District of Colum-

bia, California, and Nebraska. Twenty-eight other states and the District of

Columbia allow medical cannabis use. Nationally, cannabis use more than

doubled between 2001–02 and 2012–13 with corresponding increases in cannabis

use disorders (Hasin et al., 2015). Given changing laws, usage, and attitudes

toward cannabis, concerns are being raised about the impacts policy changes may

have on individual and community health and well-being (Lipari, Williams,

Copello, & Pemberton, 2016; Volkow et al., 2016).

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2017

307

doi: 10.1002/wmh3.237

#2017 Policy Studies Organization