Social Perception on Medical Marijuana Among Medical Students in Melaka Manipal Medical College: A Cross-Sectional Study
[1]
Leow Kah Siew, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka-Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higer Education), Melaka, Malaysia.
[2]
Tee Jing Yang, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka-Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higer Education), Melaka, Malaysia.
[3]
Ushananthini Maniam, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka-Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higer Education), Melaka, Malaysia.
[4]
Cecelia Sneha Kondapaneni, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka-Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higer Education), Melaka, Malaysia.
[5]
Ian Bong Zhe, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka-Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higer Education), Melaka, Malaysia.
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug and with that, it comes with a lot of stereotypes and stigma. The most widely known stigmas would be like it acts as a gateway drug for use of other illicit substances etc. We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study that analyses the difference in the social perception of participants based on their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, knowledge about medical marijuana and knowledge on people who used or using medical marijuana in order to find out if the medical students need additional education on the topic. The total participation of 215 participants has completed the survey. 87.44% of participants have a neutral perception of medical marijuana. 65.12%(140) felt comfortable discussing medical marijuana, but based on the social perception scores, 87.44% of participants were neutral on their standpoint about medical marijuana. Medical students in Melaka Manipal Medical College has a neutral social perception towards medical marijuana and may be due to the lack of proper knowledge regarding the topic. With an increasing number of countries adopting medical marijuana use, further proper education on the topic should be given to the students in their curriculum as the results suggest lacking proper knowledge on medical marijuana among the medical students.
Medical Marijuana, Social Perception, Medical Students
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