Primary care practitioners have a duty to inform patients about cannabis-impaired driving risks, provide harm reduction care, and report when necessary, while maintaining the therapeutic relationship.
Primary care physicians, family medicine practitioners, and medical ethicists.
3 ethical dutiesidentified for primary care: inform, provide care through harm reduction, and report when necessary
What the researchers found
The ethical approach for primary care practitioners can be summarized as the duty to always inform, provide care through prevention and harm reduction strategies, and report when necessary.
Why it matters
As cannabis legalization expands, primary care providers lack ethical guidance on addressing impaired driving, creating a gap between increasing patient cannabis use and clinical responsibility.
The numbers in context
Not quantified; ethical analysis reviewing evidence from four databases searched in December 2021.
How the study worked
Ethical analysis in the form of a critical interpretive review, using systematic search methods to develop an ethical framework for primary care practice.
Who was studied
Not applicable (ethical framework for primary care practitioners).
What this study cannot tell us
High-level ethical discussion may not translate to specific clinical scenarios. Ethical recommendations vary by jurisdiction. Limited empirical basis for some recommendations.
How to read the evidence
Ethical analysis based on critical interpretive review; provides framework rather than empirical evidence.
When this study was published
Recent ethical framework published as cannabis legalization expands.
The bigger picture
This framework fills an important gap between cannabis legalization and clinical practice, providing primary care providers with a structured approach to a sensitive patient safety issue.
Replication
Ethical framework; applicability depends on local legal and policy context.
Funding
Not specified in abstract
Conflicts of interest
Not specified in abstract
Questions still open
- How do reporting duties vary across jurisdictions?
- Can motivational interviewing effectively reduce cannabis-impaired driving?
Read the original research
Cannabis-Impaired driving: ethical considerations for the primary care practitioner.
Annals of medicine, 55(1), 24-33
Citation
Huerne, Katherine; Ells, Carolyn; Grad, Roland; Filion, Kristian B; Eisenberg, Mark J. (2023). Cannabis-Impaired driving: ethical considerations for the primary care practitioner.. Annals of medicine, 55(1), 24-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2022.2151716