Medical Marijuana Research Proposal

Research Question and Objectives Before moving into further interpretation of the study results and their implications, it is important to revisit the research question and the research objectives posed within this study. The research question was formulated to explore the central phenomenon related to the identified social problem—the potential risk of medical marijuana use by vulnerable populations. The research objectives were developed to narrow the scope and guide the specific actions taken to obtain the information necessary to draw the conclusions that address the purpose of this study. In this section, the themes from both the literature and the research data are summarized and discussed in relation to the research question and to …show more content…
Additionally, the professionals and experts in the field medical marijuana were asked during the interviewing process about their knowledges of any specific stipulations in the state laws. As expected, based on the information found in the literature review, no individual state medical marijuana policies, laws, or regulations that specifically address vulnerable population were found in California, New York or Minnesota. When this study commenced, it was hoped that in New York and Minnesota, were the marijuana regulations are much more narrow and restricted than in California, that clinical standards and exceptions in the policies that would regulate the recommendation and distribution of medical marijuana to vulnerable populations might be found. This, however, was not the case, as neither clinical standards nor exceptions in the policies related to vulnerable populations were found in either of these states medical marijuana …show more content…
Federal prohibition of medical marijuana does, however, pose a direct risk to the legal protection of the those individuals from vulnerable populations who chose to use marijuana for either recreational or medicinal purposes in that they risk federal prosecution for the use of marijuana. Current state laws in California, New York, and Minnesota provide some legal protection against prosecution to individuals, including those from vulnerable populations, who use marijuana for medical purposes. Current federal do not specifically address the recommendation or distribution of medical marijuana among vulnerable populations, as its distribution, either recreationally or for medicinally, is prohibited by federal law. The individual state laws do not specifically address the recommendation or distribution of medical marijuana among vulnerable populations either. However, as stated above, some of the policies and regulations in the individual state laws might indirectly protect vulnerable populations. These include the medical conditions treated, delivery method, the ease of access of medical marijuana, home cultivation, a bona fide doctor-patient relationship, and dispensary staffing requirements. Of these, the quality of the doctor-patient relationship was found to be most prominent response