Survey: 9 Percent Of MN Doctors Will Participate in Medical Cannabis Program
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As Minnesota's medical marijuana program continues registration, many patients may find it difficult to get the newly legalized drug.
According to a new survey conducted by the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA), only 9 percent of doctors in the state say they plan to participate in the new medical marijuana program. That could make things difficult for patients hoping to acquire the drug, since they can't register for the program themselves -- their doctors have to register for them.
The MMA says the survey was sent to 14,000 physicians on June 2. Of the 457 who responded, 9 percent said they plan to participate in the program, 68 percent said they do not, 17 percent haven't decided and 7 percent said they don't have any patients who would have a qualifying condition for the drug.
Notably, only 9 percent of doctors who responded to the survey specialized in fields that would be more likely to encounter patients seeking access to medical marijuana -- oncologists, ophthalmologists and neurologists. Of the rest who responded to the survey, 32 percent were family medicine physicians, 11 percent specialized in internal medicine, 7 percent were pediatricians and 6 percent were psychologists.