There also exists a substantial amount of cross-disciplinary research that suggests the quality of life of a cancer patient,whether receiving treatment or not, can be improved with the use of medicinal cannabis .All content was educational in nature with a balanced approach, including positive and negative aspects of medical cannabis. Each video clearly stated that no recommendation for medicinal cannabis was being made and anybody considering its use should seek the advice of a medical professional for any diagnosing, dosage, or administration specifics. To accurately gauge the attitudes of participants in this study, the Recreational and Medical Cannabis Attitudes Scales published by Arora et al.  was utilized. This scale accurately determines the attitudes of participants regarding recreational cannabis and medicinal cannabis,separately. Both components that comprise the scale are reported to be reliable, with the Medical Cannabis Attitudes Scale reporting a reliability coefficient of 0.86, and the Recreational Cannabis Attitudes Scale reporting a reliability coefficient of 0.91.

Each component of the scale was designed to measure different aspects that may inform attitudes: questions were targeted at measuring social beliefs, current legal restraints, past beliefs, vertical grow rack and perceived future risk.For this current study, only the MCAS was implemented, but modified to remove the one question that measured older participants’ past views on medical cannabis when they were younger: “When I was 18, I believed that using marijuana for a medical purpose was acceptable.” This question was omitted from the analysis because the researchers designed the survey to not display this question to anyone under the age of 35 out of concern it would be perceived as confusing given younger participants’ relative closeness in age to 18. Omitting this question from the analysis left five questions remaining for all participants so that a standard MCAS score could be used regardless of age. Using a five-point Likert scale, with appropriate questions reverse-coded so that a higher score reflected positive attitudes, a total score range of five to 25 was possible.Additionally, two patient scenarios were devised to measure real-world beliefs of medicinal cannabis use with a practical application.

In the first of the two, an individual was presented as having military related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder . The patient had not sought the advice of a medical professional and had not tried prescription medication but had success with medical cannabis after the recommendation from a friend. The second scenario detailed an individual who was suffering from chronic pain due to a car accident. The patient had tried opioid therapy and was unable to tolerate the side effects, relief from the patient’s chronic pain was found after trying medical cannabis.After reading the scenarios, participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement that the patient should have access to medical cannabis for their respective ailments using a five-point Likert scale. Most participants were supportive of the patients in both scenarios having access to medical cannabis: 79.3% and 75.7% of participants selected“ strongly agree” that the patients should have access for the PTSD and chronic pain patients, respectively, cannabis grow racks at baseline. After viewing the educational lectures, the proportion of participants selecting “strongly agree” increased to 85.6% and 82.9%, respectively. The change in support for access to medical cannabis increased significantly for both patient scenarios as a whole after participants viewed the educational lectures .

The change was also significant for the individual scenarios:PTSD  and chronic pain scenario . The results of this study support the use of formal education as a means of changing attitudes toward medical cannabis. Education, thus, will likely help reduce stigma that many medical cannabis patients have experienced. Utilizing public health resources and existing relevant medical cannabis health policy, an established plan to educate the public more effectively can be developed, therefore reducing future stigma, and increasing patients’ access to care.The health policy in the United States has shifted from the War on Drugs perspective toward a more medical one over the last three decades, as it relates to cannabis. California was the first state to see medical cannabis legalized in 1996, and as of August 2021, thirty-five states have followed the path set by California in legalizing cannabis medically. This relatively rapid increase in acceptance of medical cannabis can be connected to the impact that the media has had in influencing the public. Attitudes toward cannabis in both television and print media had a significant, positive relationship toward the legalization of cannabis from the period of1991–2012 .