"Medical Cannabis" as a Contested Medicine

Fighting Over Epistemology and Morality

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5338093
AutoresDana Zarhin (0000-0001-5299-4711, University of Haifa, autor de correspondencia), Maya Negev (0000-0002-5523-3210, University of Haifa), Simon Vulfson (0000-0002-7703-0561, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology), Simon Vulfsons (Institute for Pain Medicine, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel), Sharon R Sznitman (0000-0002-9398-0727, University of Haifa)
Año2020
Volumen45
Número3
Páginas488-514
Fecha de publicación2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0162243919862866
OpenAlexW2964848022
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas40

Few empirical studies have explored how different types of knowledge are associated with diverse objectivities and moral economies. Here, we examine these associations through an empirical investigation of the public policy debate in Israel around medical cannabis (MC), which may be termed a contested medicine because its therapeutic effects, while subjectively felt by users, are not generally recognized by the medical profession. Our findings indicate that beneath the MC debate lie deep-seated issues of epistemology, which are entwined with questions of ethics and morality. Whereas some stakeholder groups viewed evidence-based medicine and mechanical objectivity as the only valid knowledge base, others called for recognition of a particular experience-based knowledge, championing regulatory, administrative, or strong objectivity. Stakeholders' interpretations of what should be considered as ethical courses of (in)action corresponded to their epistemological views, with most criticizing the regulators for relying on regulatory subjectivity instead of objectivity. Our in-depth mapping of this arena allowed us not only to shed light on the emergence of the new entity called "medical cannabis" but also to reexamine the link between epistemology, ethics, and action and to elucidate how heterogeneous groups view the validity and objectivity of knowledge and the interface between medicine, science, and policy

Cannabis · Epistemology · Medical cannabis · Medical law · Morality · Political science · Psychiatry · Sociology · Subjectivity · Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research · Law · Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare · Philosophy · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Psychology