Cannabinoid Awareness, Reporting Use to Health Care Providers, and Perceptions Regarding Safety – Pennsylvania, March 2023–April 2023

Abstract

Introduction: With the continued societal and policy interest in cannabinoids, the Penn State Harrisburg Center for Survey Research (CSR) conducted a web survey (Cannabinoid Lion Poll) for adult-aged Pennsylvanians between March 6 and April 2, 2023. Methods: The Lion Poll omnibus survey asked questions of adult-aged Pennsylvanians to assess awareness of cannabidiol (CBD) and products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), including marijuana, the likelihood of reporting cannabinoid use to health care providers (HCPs), and perceptions regarding safety. Results: Of these 1,045 respondents, 51.2% were female; 83.0% were white, non-Hispanic; and 48.6% and 27.5% were within the 35–64-year and 18–34-year age ranges, respectively. Of the respondents, 52.1% and 53.9% told their HCPs they took CBD or products containing THC, respectively. Alcohol was perceived by the large proportion of respondents as unsafe (47.3%), followed by products containing THC (25.2%), anxiety/depression medications (21.7%), CBD (16.1%), and over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications (8.1%). Most combinations were perceived to be unsafe when asked to consider the safety of taking them with other prescription medications. Again, alcohol was perceived to be unsafe by the largest proportion (77.4%), followed by anxiety/depression medications (43.2%), products containing THC (42.6%), CBD (33.4%), and then OTC pain medications (24.8%). Conclusions: Adult-aged Pennsylvanians perceive CBD and THC containing products as safer than alcohol. There is considerable underreporting of cannabinoid use to HCPs, and therefore significant implications for patient safety. It remains vital that HCPs have open communications with their patients about cannabinoid use.