Demographic Trends Among Patients and Clinicians in Seven States

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A recently published study examined sociodemographic characteristics of medical cannabis patients and authorizing physicians in the US. The researchers intended to gather more information at a county-level on patients and the rates of licensure. As noted in the introduction, as of December 2022, there were more than 4.1 million registered patients and 29,500 authorizing clinicians in the US. The cross-sectional study, “Characteristics of Medical Cannabis Patients and Clinicians in 7 US States,” was published in JAMA Network Open in April 2025 (1).

The seven states studied were Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Utah, and West Virginia and included 262 counties (consisting of 103 metropolitan and 159 nonmetropolitan counties). The researchers examined deidentified data on characteristics of male-to-female ratio, median age, percentage from minoritized racial and ethnic groups, median household income, unemployment percentage, uninsured percentage, poverty percentage, disability percentage, and veteran percentage. The social vulnerability index (SVI) was also calculated.

Highlighted results include:

• Per 10,000 population, there were 75.5 medical cannabis patients and 1.38 authorizing clinicians
• "Stepwise multivariate negative binomial regression analyses of patient rate demonstrated negative associations with higher percentage of individuals from minoritized racial and ethnic groups and unemployment percentage" (1)
• Positive associations were demonstrated with median income and uninsured percentage

Also noted were alignments between certain factors in the models, such as veteran population and higher rates of authorizing physicians, which was suggested to be due to efforts from veterans to expand access to medical cannabis and its qualifying conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTDS). Some discrepancies were also noted, such as uninsurance percentage and patient rate, as well as SVI and authorized clinician rate.

“As cannabis policy evolves, it is important to continue future research efforts focused on understanding factors associated with MC patient and clinician rates,” the researchers stated in the discussion. “Doing so will help more accurately target appropriate substance use resources and education related to cannabis in communities with the most need.”

Some limitations to the study were noted, including the possibility of the data not being representative of every state, the lack of data on authorization rate for physicians, and the potential for influence from unmeasured confounders.

Reference

1. Boehnke, KF.; Sinclair, R.; Gordon, F.; Smith, T.; Roehler, DR. Characteristics of Medical Cannabis Patients and Clinicians in 7 US States JAMA Network Open, 2025, 8(4) DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.6925.