BOSTON – EO Care, Inc., the first clinically guided cannabis health and wellness solution for employers, announced today the results of a new survey it conducted of 1,027 Americans regarding their use of and views on cannabis. All respondents were employed at least part-time and were from US states where cannabis is legal for medical and/or recreational use.
Key findings include:
18 percent of respondents have used cannabis for health reasons in the past year, 19 percent have used cannabis for recreational reasons, and 14 percent have used it for both.
The top three reasons for their cannabis use are anxiety, pain and sleep.
- 88 percent of medical cannabis users say it reduced their use of prescription drugs, alcohol, or both.
- 51 percent said they would be likely/very likely to use cannabis if it were offered by their health plan.
- 65 percent of respondents said they would feel more comfortable using cannabis if it were screened and dosed by a clinician.
“Finding clinical guidance for medicinal cannabis is difficult because most doctors lack the knowledge and retail dispensaries are not equipped to provide medical advice,” said Sean Collins, co-founder and CEO of EO Care. “As a result we have tens of millions of Americans using cannabis for health reasons without guidance on specific product recommendations, dosage amounts, possible drug interactions, or consideration of their health history and other potential health risks. Given that sales of cannabis for health reasons is far higher than most prescription drugs, this is a highly concerning situation for healthcare generally.”
EO Care emerged to fill that gap. Members gain access to clinicians who, based on a person’s needs and medical history, develop a personal cannabis care plan including specific products and dosages and then connect the member to local dispensaries who can fill the order. Clinical recommendations are based on data models developed with leading clinicians and researchers, and are further approved by a physician, with feedback further tuning the care of each individual.
Members gain access to EO Care through their employers, who offer the program as an employee benefit. Most members are seeking relief from chronic conditions such as neuropathic pain; cancer treatment symptoms including nausea, appetite, sleeplessness, pain and anxiety; as well as other health issues like seizure disorders and Parkinson’s disease.
The EO Care survey also measured employee sentiment related to employer cannabis policies:
56 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to take a job at a company whose health plan offered cannabis care.
44 percent would reconsider applying for a job at a company that tested for prior use of cannabis use or prohibited cannabis outside of the workplace.
“94 percent of Americans live in a state where cannabis is legal in some form,” said Collins. “And we know a large percentage of Americans have used cannabis in the past year, so this is definitely impacting employees and health outcomes. With the right medicinal cannabis guidance employers have an opportunity to help their employees, improve health outcomes and be progressive leaders in offering this important benefit that employees will come to expect.”
For more detail, view the full Executive Summary of the survey results here.
About EO Care
EO Care is the first clinically guided cannabis health and wellness solution for employers. Its digital health service gives HR and benefits leaders the necessary tools to help employees determine if cannabis should be part of their healthcare journey or not by providing clinical education and personalized care guidance – including cannabis overuse, which is increasingly common given the lack of medical guidance.. Built on data from leading cannabis clinicians and researchers, EO Care provides clinician guidance and proprietary data models to help employers tackle unguided cannabis use and give employees an effective option for relief in cancer treatment, pain management, opioid replacement, anxiety, and sleep management. The company is led by a team of experts in CX healthcare, biotech and data intelligence. To learn more visit www.eo.care/employers.
