Search

Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and awareness of pharmacy students toward marijuana use. Methods: Pharmacy students were asked to complete a survey that assess students' knowledge, attitudes, and awareness toward marijuana use. This study also compared students' awareness about the harmful effects of marijuana in comparing with alcohol and smoking tobacco. Participants were asked about the possibilities of marijuana-induced cancer and addiction. Results: Twenty-three percent of pharmacy students reported having used marijuana at some point in their lives. In comparison with tobacco and alcohol, most of the students agreed that tobacco (49%) and alcohol (42%) are more harmful than marijuana (P <.0001). More than sixty percent of students considered marijuana as an addictive substance (P <.02). A 45% of students opposed the possibility of marijuana-induced cancer. Thirty-six percent of the students agreed that marijuana should be legalized for both medical and recreational use with a similar percentage of the students (30 – 32%) believed that marijuana should be legalized for medical use only. Conclusion: With the prevalence of marijuana use and discrepancy among pharmacy students' responses regarding knowledge, attitudes, and awareness pharmacy schools need to adopt educational activities about the benefits and risks of marijuana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to measure the performance of physical therapy students in the pharmacology course by using pre-and post-lecture online quizzes. Methods: A total of 119 graduate students from the physical therapy program in their second year participated in this study. Pre- and post-lecture online quizzes, created using Google forms, were delivered before and after each lecture, respectively. Each online quiz consisted of ten multiple-choice questions about the three different pharmacology topics covered in the classroom from midterm to final exam. Results: The average score of the post-lecture quiz was improved significantly compared with the pre-lecture quiz in all three pharmacology units: CNS (4.51/10 vs. 8.18/10) Endocrine (5.67/10 vs. 8.84/10), and Chemotherapeutics (3.27/10 vs. 6.77/100), p < 0.0001. By using the total percent of pre-and post-lecture quizzes, the results remained significantly higher in the post-lecture quiz (44.97% vs. 80.00%) (p < 0.0001). However, by comparing the effect of online quizzes on students' performance between the midterm and the final exam, our data revealed that students' grades on the final exam were insignificantly higher compared with midterm grades (85.37% vs. 86.58%, P-value <0.51). An experimental group that took the online quizzes had insignificantly higher grades on the final exam compared with the final exam scores of the control group that did not take the quizzes (86.58% vs. 84.21%, p-value 0.39). Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated significant improvement in students' performance in their online post-lecture quizzes compared to their pre-lecture quizzes, but that improvement did not reflect significantly on their final exam grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a psychoactive drug that comes from the Cannabis plant. Marijuana can be smoked, vaporized, or consumed through edibles in a variety of ways. Perception changes, changes in mood, and problems with coordination are all possible side effects. Marijuana is used for both recreational and medical purposes to treat a variety of health conditions. The literature review on the effects of marijuana on the human body has increased in recent years as more states legalize its use. It is important to investigate the benefits and harmful effects of marijuana on individuals due to the widespread use of cannabis-derived substances like marijuana for medical, recreational, and combined purposes. The paper will review different aspects of marijuana in 4 main domains. A thorough discussion of marijuana's definition, history, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, and effects on human cells will be given in the first domain. The second domain will concentrate on marijuana's negative effects, while the third domain will look at marijuana's possible positive impacts, such as its usage in controlling multiple sclerosis, treating obesity, lowering social anxiety, and managing pain. The fourth domain will concentrate on marijuana's effects on anxiety, educational attainment, and social consequences. Additionally, this paper also will provide a highlight of the history of marijuana use and governmental legislation, both of which play a significant role in determining how the public views marijuana. In conclusion, this paper provides a comprehensive review of marijuana's effects, which may be of interest to a large readership. This review adds to the continuing discussion about the use of marijuana by analyzing the data that is currently available about the possible advantages and disadvantages of marijuana usage., Competing Interests: The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)