Text Version
MEDICAL CANNABIS IN SCHOOLS: THE EXPERIENCES OF CLINICIANS AND CAREGIVERS
A scoping review was first undertaken to identify policies and publications associated with medical cannabis in Canadian schools. The five identified articles pertained to implications for school nurses in the United States and were not relevant to the Canadian context. Semi-structured interviews with clinicians and caregivers of school-aged children taking medical cannabis were conducted separately to better understand their respective experiences.
Clinicians
N=13
Authorize medical cannabis and provide care for school-age children across 7 Canadian provinces.
Caregivers
N=12
Caregivers of school-aged children who take medical cannabis across 4 Canadian provinces.
Clinician Encounters with Schools
3 out of 13 (23.1%) clinicians had no interactions with schools (doses exclusively around schools’ hours).
5 out of 13 (38.5%) clinicians had limited interactions with schools (between one and a few encounters).
5 out of 13 (38.5%) clinicians had several interactions with schools (many encounters).
Caregiver Experiences
10 out of 12 (83%) caregivers voiced concern with the high cost of acquiring medical cannabis.
8 out of 12 (67%) caregivers recounted stigma with school administrators, staff or family.
5 out of 12 (42%) caregivers had challenges obtaining medical cannabis and finding an appropriate dose.
Challenges and Recommendations
Lack of Knowledge
Challenges:
Rampant misinformation.
Knowledge gap among other healthcare providers.
Recommendations:
Treat medical cannabis like any other medication.
Standardize in-school policies that provide specific information around administration, documentation, storage and disposal of medical cannabis.
Stigma
Challenges:
Prohibitive policies that prevent medical cannabis authorization.
Other medications are used off-label without scrutiny.
Recommendations:
Foster open communication between caregivers, administrators, teachers and the medical team to identify barriers and solutions to navigating use of medical cannabis in schools.
Lack of Policy
Challenges:
Inconsistent policies within institutions for teachers, administrators, and patients.
Recommendations:
Create accessible evidence-based education resources on medical cannabis.
Provide support for families through knowledgeable practitioners who advocate for their patients.
Pragmatic Challenges
Challenges:
Availability of person responsible for administering medical cannabis during school hours.
Lack of secure storage.
Recommendations:
Invest in high quality research on cannabis used for medical purposes in children.
For more information, visit www.medcannkids.ca
Produced by Hammad Kazani & Sophia Mbabaali in May 2023.
C4T is an academic partnership. Funding details and COI are available on our website. This work has been supported by a seed grant from the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Cancer Society (Grant No. 707031).