Patient-Centered Priorities for Medical Cannabis Research in the UK

With a doctor’s prescription in the UK, patients with certain health conditions can now access medical cannabis. As of November 2018, cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs), also known as medical cannabis, have become legal in the United Kingdom. Medical cannabis, however, continues to lack quality evidence supporting its efficacy and safety, despite the change in legislation. Considering cannabis is a Schedule I drug, primary research is severely restricted.

In order to address this issue, patients in the UK receiving active medical cannabis treatment were invited to participate in a focus group study. Based on the findings of the study, a local research agenda was developed. Participants recruited from Sapphire Medical Clinics, the UK’s first regulated medical cannabis clinic, participated in a focus group conducted online.

The study found that cannabis-based products are available at a wider range of prices, availability, and effectiveness of treatment are the top priorities for UK medical cannabis patients. Research into medical cannabis, training and education for healthcare professionals, and patient support were all priorities.

The UK needs more medical cannabis research, according to this study. A variety of cannabis-based products could be tested for effectiveness and safety, cost-effectiveness could be examined, and healthcare professionals could be trained and educated about cannabis for medical purposes. In addition, patients can be involved in the design and conduct of medical cannabis research to ensure that it meets their needs.

Since medical cannabis was legalized in the UK, a number of health conditions have been treated with the plant. It is still unclear whether medical cannabis is effective and safe. By engaging patients in medical cannabis research, we will be better able to understand their priorities and improve the quality of our research. This will provide patients with safe and effective treatment options.

Key Problems to Solve for Conducting the Study

• Funding for researching the medicinal properties of the plant is still limited.
• It is important to involve patients and the public in the design and conduct of research to maximize funding and avoid waste.
• Incorporating patient views can improve the clinical relevance and recruitment and retention in studies.
• There is limited published literature on patients’ priorities for biomedical research.
• Previous studies have attempted to determine these priorities for a small number of chronic conditions.
• Research suggests that patients’ priorities are not consistently met in biomedical research.
• There have not yet been any attempts to determine the priorities of medical cannabis patients in the UK.

Key Points on the Purpose of the Study

• Medical cannabis, also known as marijuana, is used to treat various health conditions
• In the UK, medical cannabis is only available to patients who have been prescribed it by a specialist doctor
• One method of studying the use of medical cannabis is through focus group studies
• In this study, participants were patients undergoing active treatment with medical cannabis in the UK
• The focus group study was conducted remotely
• The focus groups were conducted according to local ethics and information governance practices
• Participants provided written informed consent before taking part in the study
• The focus group study provides valuable insights and experiences from patients using medical cannabis to treat their health conditions
• This research is important for improving the understanding and use of medical cannabis in the UK.

Key Points on Participants of the Medical Cannabis Study

• Participants were recruited from Sapphire Medical Clinics, the first regulated medical cannabis clinic in the UK
• Recruitment was conducted via email invitation and focus groups were filled on a first-come, first-served basis
• To be eligible, participants had to be current medical cannabis patients with at least one prescription documented in their health records within the previous three months
• Participants also had to be at least 18 years old and have sufficient comprehension of conversational English
• By requiring participants to meet these criteria, the study was able to include a diverse and representative group of patients using medical cannabis to treat their health conditions.

Key Points of How the UK Medical Cannabis Study was Conducted

• The focus groups were conducted using Microsoft Teams, a video conferencing platform
• Each focus group lasted for approximately 2 hours and was led by the same author who had prior training and experience in conducting research focus groups
• Before the focus group, participants were provided with a written information sheet that outlined the ground rules for the discussion
• During the focus group, participants were encouraged to keep their cameras on and use the hand-raising function to indicate when they wanted to speak
• The focus groups were conducted in a way that facilitated productive and engaging discussions among the participants
• Participants did not receive any incentives for participating in the focus groups.

Key Points on the Data Collection for the United Kingdom

• An online survey tool was used to capture basic demographic information on each participant
• The focus groups aimed to facilitate discussions about research priorities with an open-ended question
• Through a semi-structured approach, participants were also asked to consider the biochemistry, medical applications, research design, pharmacology, and socioeconomic impact of medical cannabis
• The focus group discussions provided valuable insights and perspectives on medical cannabis research in the UK
• This data will be used to inform future research and improve the understanding of medical cannabis and its uses.

Key Points of the Medical Cannabis Exploration

• The focus group study aimed to gather insights on medical cannabis research in the UK
• Participants were asked to share their thoughts on the most important research priorities and the facilitator used a semi-structured approach to guide the discussion
• To assess the participants’ research priorities, they were asked to complete a financial allocation task
• This task involved assigning ten counters, each equivalent to £1 million GBP, to different research priorities
• Participants were provided with a list of potential research priorities, but could also add their own topics
• The financial allocation task helped identify the research priorities that were most important to the participants
• After sharing their responses and reasoning, participants were given the opportunity to adjust their financial allocations for final recording
• This ensured that the data accurately reflected their research priorities.

Key Points of the Results

• Audio and video recordings were made with participants’ informed consent
• The transcriptions were cross-matched with the recordings and edited verbatim to ensure accuracy
• The transcriptions were analyzed using an inductive thematic approach
• Each transcript was read and coded independently according to themes derived from the participants’ responses
• The themes were compared and discussed among the study authors, and a final coding framework was developed
• The focus group discussions were conducted until thematic saturation was reached through a consensus approach
• This allowed for a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the data and helped identify the most important research priorities for medical cannabis in the UK.

Sources

Erridge, Simon, Fabian Olsson, and Mikael H. Sodergren. “Patient priorities for research: A focus group study of UK medical cannabis patients.” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 50 (2023): 101693.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2022.101693