Does religiosity matter? University student attitudes and beliefs toward medical cannabis

Religious and spiritual beliefs and attitudes towards addiction and addiction treatment: A scoping review

“…It appears that in student provider samples, the substance/behaviour in question may affect beliefs about addiction. In samples of medical, nursing, and social work students in Russia and Israel, there were no differences between religious and secular students in terms of beliefs about the addictive nature of cannabis, but there were differences in terms of how it should be used, with secular individuals being more supportive of legalization and medical use ( Edelstein et al, 2020 , Gritsenko et al, 2020 ). Crothers and Dorrian (2011) also found no significant differences between r/s affiliations or service attendance in terms of attitudes towards alcohol use disorder, using three different measures of attitudes (Marcus Alcoholism Questionnaire, Seaman-Mannello Nurses’ Attitudes toward Alcoholism Scale, Shortened version of the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Perception Questionnaire) in nurses at a teaching hospital in Australia.…”

“…Nevertheless, seven studies ( Dermatis et al, 2004 , Dermatis et al, 2010 , Flórez et al, 2015 , Goldfarb et al, 1996 , Lucchetti et al, 2014 ) reported that the majority of participants were not White. One study from Israel ( Edelstein et al, 2020 ) reported participant identification as Jewish or Arab and another study from Kuwait ( Bilal et al, 1990 ) reported participant identification as Arab or Kuwaiti. Finally, 17 studies did not report race or ethnicity.…”

Religious and Spiritual Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Addiction Treatment: A Scoping Review

“…It appears that in student provider samples, the substance/behaviour in question may affect beliefs about addiction. In samples of medical, nursing, and social work students in Russia and Israel, there were no differences between religious and secular students in terms of beliefs about the addictive nature of cannabis, but there were differences in terms of how it should be used, with secular individuals being more supportive of legalization and medical use (Edelstein et al, 2020;Gritsenko, Konstantinov, Reznik, & Isralowitz, 2020). Crothers and Dorrian (2011) also found no significant differences between r/s affiliations or service attendance in terms of attitudes towards alcohol use disorder, using three different measures of attitudes (Marcus Alcoholism Questionnaire, Seaman-Mannello Nurses' Attitudes toward Alcoholism Scale, Shortened version of the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Perception Questionnaire) in nurses at a teaching hospital in Australia.…”

“…Nevertheless, seven studies (Dermatis, Guschwan, Galanter, & Bunt, 2004;Dermatis, James, Galanter, & Bunt, 2010;Flórez et al, 2015;Goldfarb, Galanter, McDowell, Lifshutz, & Dermatis, 1996;Lucchetti et al, 2014) reported that the majority of participants were not White. One study from Israel (Edelstein et al, 2020) reported participant identification as Jewish or Arab and another study from Kuwait (Bilal et al, 1990) reported participant identification as Arab or Kuwaiti. Finally, 17 studies did not report race or ethnicity.…”

“…Most studies found similar relationships between religion/spirituality and attitudes to various substances or measured attitudes towards addiction to several substances together. However, Christians appeared to view cannabis as more harmful and secular individuals appeared to more strongly support legalization and medical use of cannabis (Edelstein et al, 2020;Gritsenko et al, 2020;Pedersen & Von Soest, 2015).…”