Multiple sclerosis and related disorders
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Mult Scler Relat Disord · Feb 2020
Cannabis use for symptom relief in multiple sclerosis: A cross-sectional survey of webinar attendees in the US and Canada.
With the expansion of medical and recreational legalization of cannabis, there is growing interest in cannabis use by people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Research supports that cannabis relieves MS-related pain and spasticity, two common symptoms of MS. However, there is limited information available about cannabis use in people with MS across the United States and Canada. ⋯ This study supports that cannabis use for MS symptoms is more common in states where cannabis laws are more permissive and where cannabis has been legal for longer, in those with more severe MS, and in men. Accurate knowledge of local cannabis legality is more common in those who report using cannabis for their MS in the past year. Those living in states where cannabis is legal for medical use only are less likely to be aware of legal status than those in either recreationally-legal or non-legal states, but awareness of legal status increases with time since medical legalization. Canadians are less likely than Americans to be accurate in their perception of the legal status of cannabis.