Journal of general internal medicine
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As more states legalize cannabis for medical use, people increasingly use cannabis to treat medical conditions. Well-documented harms of cannabis use include increased risk of fatal auto accidents, neurocognitive deficits, and increased risk of addiction. Observational data supports the use of cannabis for pain, nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy, and multiple sclerosis spasticity symptoms. ⋯ We discuss the commercialization of cannabis for financial gain, contributing to potent and addictive cannabis. We highlight the concerning phenomena of cannabis dispensary workers as proxy clinicians. Finally, we present three strategies to reduce public harms associated with potent cannabis use including required testing and reporting of tetrahydrocannabinol/cannabidiol concentrations, rigorous study of high-potency cannabis available for purchase in dispensaries across the USA, and large-scale efforts to measure cannabis consumption in medical records so prospective, longitudinal studies can be conducted to correlate consumption measures with medical and psychiatric outcomes.
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Specialty-to-specialty variation in use of outpatient evaluation and management service codes could lead to important differences in reimbursement among specialties. ⋯ Within the same duration visits, specialties whose incomes depend more on evaluation and management codes on average addressed more clinical issues and managed more medications than specialties whose incomes are more dependent on procedures.
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Prior research on the restaurant environment and obesity risk is limited by cross-sectional data and a focus on specific geographic areas. ⋯ Increased exposure to chain restaurant calories per capita was associated with increased weight gain among Black or Hispanic adults.