AUTHOR=Rubin-Kahana Dafna Sara , Hassan Ahmed Nabeel , Sanches Marcos , Le Foll Bernard 

TITLE=Medical Cannabis and Past-Year Cannabis Use Disorder Among Adult Recreational Users in the United States: Results From a Nationally Representative Sample

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.836908

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.836908

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Introduction: With the increasing number of cannabis users and more jurisdictions allowing medical cannabis, more evidence-based knowledge about the prevalence of cannabis use disorder (CUD) among medical users is greatly needed. 
Objectives: To examine and compare the prevalence and severity of cannabis use disorder and the prevalence of different CUD criteria among two groups: those who combine recreational and medical use versus those who exclusively use cannabis recreationally. To examine the association between cannabis use disorder and sociodemographic characteristics, medical conditions, and psychiatric co-morbidities between these two groups.
Methods: The National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions III data was used, a US nationally representative in-person interview of 36,309 adults age ≥18 years collected in 2012–2013. The statistical examination included proportion comparison hypothesis testing and linear regressions, all using complex survey design analysis procedures.
Results: Recreational users that used cannabis also for medical purposes had a higher prevalence of CUD in general, as well as mild and moderate CUD than users that used cannabis only for recreational purposes. CUD is more prevalent in recreational medical users with the following characteristics: young, male, non-white, living in the Midwest, using a greater amount of cannabis, having a concurrent mental disorder, had CUD before the past year. 
Conclusion: Recreational medical cannabis users have a higher likelihood of having cannabis use disorder. Although the results should be taken with caution, given the lack of established validity of CUD among medical users, health care professionals who prescribe or recommend the use of cannabis for medical purposes should take this into consideration while evaluating the risks/benefits ratio of cannabis. They need to assess patients` recreational cannabis use, screen for cannabis use disorder and educate users about the possible complications caused by cannabis use.